Last season, Novak Djokovic came to Roland Garros without losing a single match on tour and there was a great buzz in the tennis fraternity, as speculations were doing rounds that could he stop Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros. Well, things were looking in favour of this surging Serbian until he met the Swiss Maestro Roger Federer in the semi-final and failed to post a stiff challenge before Rafael Nadal in the final. Many tennis pundits also asserted that the outcome of the 2011 French Open final would have been different, if Nadal had faced the in-form Serbian Novak Djokovic. With that victory in the semi-final, Roger Federer also snapped Djokovic’s 41 matches winning streak and then we all realized that this Serbian is also a human.

Well, this season things are quite different and once again Rafael Nadal is looking better than Djokovic on red-soil. But now that the clay-court season has reached its culmination point, Djokovic will be eying great glory by winning the 2012 French Open title at Roland Garros. It’s too early to get carried away as the play has only reached the third-stage, where Djokovic will take on local contender and World No. 286 Nicolas Devilder of France, who will be playing one of the most challenging matches of his tennis career on Friday.

Though, Djokovic has not been able to replicate his last season’s exploits in 2012, he still has a very good 30-5 win-loss record on tour. The Serbian has claimed two titles already with Aussie Open and Miami Masters. Interestingly, he lost in two finals to Rafael Nadal – that too on clay in Monte-Carlo and Rome Masters. Djokovic had to suffer a shocking defeat on the blue-clay of Madrid Masters. The Serbian is gunning for his 50th career title. It would be pretty apt to say that Djokovic has been struggling against Nadal on clay this season, but playing at Roland Garros could bring out the best of this Serbian, who knows how to beat the bests – on any given day.

Djokovic’s opponent is World No. 286 Nicolas Devilder of France, who beat experienced Michael Berrer in his second-round encounter in straight sets and sent out a strong message that he is not a pushover – especially on clay. The thirty two years old Frenchman managed to qualify for the French Open and he will be playing the biggest match in recent times on Friday.

This will be a first meeting between these two and the Frenchman can give his best shot and enjoy tennis by playing against the World No. 1.