The French Open in 2013 will have some added excitement and anticipation, as two former champions are heading into the tournament after having dominant runs over the past month, with both Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams winning the Italian Open in Rome.
Williams is on a career-best 24 match winning streak and she has won four straight titles heading into the French Open, while Nadal won for the seventh time in his career at the tournament after defeating rival Roger Federer in the final. Both players won 6-1, 6-3, with Williams defeating Victoria Azarenka for the title. Williams is top ranked among the women and has won four straight times at Miami, South Carolina and Madrid before winning in Rome. Nadal and Federer played against each other for the 30th time in their careers and Nadal looked completely healed from the knee injury that sidelined him for most of the second half of last season, including the U.S. Open.
Nadal is now 20-10 against Federer over his career and he is on an amazing streak as well since returning from a knee injury, winning his sixth tournament since returning from the sidelines. Federer looked overmatched the entire time, as he won just four games over the match, with Nadal remaining in control for the entire time. Federer was less sharp than usual and had 32 unforced errors while Nadal had just eight with the match taking just over an hour to finish things off.
Williams looked just as dominant, keeping a 41-12 advantage in winners over Azarenka, who had no answers throughout the match. Williams is on a career best streak that gives her all the momentum heading into the French Open and the 24 straight wins are her best streak since winning 21 matches two different times, in 2002 and 2003, although it's nothing close to the 74 straight won by Martina Navratilova in 1984. Nadal won the French Open last year and is looking to get it for the second time in a row and it would be a great achievement after losing in the second round at Wimbledon and missing the US Open in 2012 with a knee injury.