PARIS — One of them focuses on numbers, hoping they will produce the validation he has always craved.
Another one has come to play on the court that turns him into an apotheosis of his sport, and to protect this place as his personal kingdom.
The third yearns for whatever there is left, and prepares for what comes next.
The Big Three on the men’s side of tennis — Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer — are playing in a Grand Slam for the first time in 18 months. Through a quirk in the sport’s seeding system, they are all in the same half of the draw.