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The second Grand Slam of the year is upon us, with the French Open starting in Paris on Sunday May 24.
This year is the 114th edition of the event and the 88th time it has been held at Roland Garros in Paris.
Venue: Roland Garros, Paris
Players in the draw: 128
Top seeds: Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams
Most wins at the French Open: Rafael Nadal (9) and Chris Evert (7)
Last year’s winners: Rafael Nadal for the fifth straight year and Maria Sharapova.
Fox Sports have the live and exclusive rights for the French Open and will cover every day of the event.
The coverage will be on Fox Sports 4 every night during the event with the first week starting at 7pm AEST. Unfortunately for fans they will not have red button content, which reduces the amount of matches shown here in Australia.
For those matches not shown The Roar will be live blogging them with all Australians covered in some way in the tournament on this.
As always, check local guides for details.
How will the Australians go?
For the first time since 1998, Australia has 12 or more players in the main draw of singles at the event.
Before qualifying, Australia had 11 players, but this extended to 12 after Olivia Rogowska qualified for the first time at a Grand Slam.
Anastasia Rodionova almost joined them but lost in the final round of qualifying to Andrea Hlavackova.
Out of the 11 that made the main draw with qualifying, 10 of them made it on ranking.
Only Thanasi Kokkinakis, who won the Bordeaux Challenger last week, needed a wildcard for the event.
Tennis Australia opted to not use the women’s wildcard for the event.
Three players, Bernard Tomic, Nick Kyrgios, and Sam Stosur, are all seeded for the event. For Nick Kyrgios it is the first time he has been seeded at a Grand Slam event.
Thank fully for Australia, the draw gods have been kind to them. Most have winnable matches and eight have been given favouritism for the match.
Leading the clashes is the all-Australian match-up between Ajla Tomljanovic and Casey Dellacqua.
Dellacqua, who was as high as 26 in the world in 2014, has struggled to maintain that level through form and injury.
Tomljanovic, who made the quarter final last week in Strasbourg, would be favoured to win that match. I expect her to be too strong for Dellacqua.
The winner of that match could face Angelique Kerber in the second round. That would be a tough match to win for either player.
Another all-Aussie match-up could happen in Round 2 if Jarmila Gajdosova and Sam Stosur win their opening round matches.
Stosur, who is the 26th seed, faces a tough test in Madison Brengle.
After winning the Strasbourg WTA event overnight, as a wildcard, I expect her to win against her American rival.
Gajdosova faces wildcard Amandine Hesse, and I expect her to have no troubles if she is fit for the match.
If Gajdosova and Stosur face off in the second round then the winner could face Maria Sharapova in the third round.
You’d expect Sharapova to be too strong for either player but Stosur did have match points against her last year at the French Open.
If Stosur is on her game, with Dave Taylor back as her coach, then she could do anything in this tournament.
Olivia Rogowska will face Magdalena Rybarikova in the first round before a potential match-up with Flavia Pennetta in Round 2.
The Victorian is a big chance to defeat Rybarikova if she plays the way she did in qualifying.
Finally, Daria Gavrilova has a run that could make her the last Australian standing in the women’s draw.
After facing Johanna Larsson first up, Gavrilova could face Sabine Lisicki and Lucie Safarova on her way to a fourth round meeting with Sharapova.
If Stosur can get that far as well, and beat Sharapova, it could be an all Australian fourth round.
It’s highly unlikely these two will get that far but Stosur and Gavrilova are Australia’s best chance of success here.
In the men’s draw, Marinko Matosevic and Sam Groth, drew tough first round opponents.
Matosevic faces Thomaz Bellucci, who just won the ATP event in Geneva.
That will be a tough match for the Victorian and I can’t see him winning that one.
The same applies to Groth who faces Pablo Cuevas. Cuevas is a seeded clay court specialist. His serve will need to be on fire to beat Cuevas.
3 other Australian men play qualifiers with Thanasi Kokkinakis, Bernard Tomic, and James Duckworth drawing well.
Tomic faces Luca Vanni, Kokkinakis battles Nikoloz Basilashvili, with Duckworth facing Andrea Arnaboldi.
All three should win their matches and are favourites to do so.
Tomic faces the biggest challenge out of the three with Vanni beating the Australian in Madrid a couple of weeks ago. I favour the Aussie to exact revenge though.
If Tomic and Kokkinakis win then they face each other in Round 2 with Novak Djokovic waiting for them in Round 3.
Those two matches will be something to savour if it happens. My tip to progress the furthest, Nick Kyrgios, starts his campaign against Denis Istomin.
Istomin, who is very consistent in the ATP, will provide trouble for Kyrgios but the Canberra youngster should win.
If Kyrgios can progress past the first two rounds then he could face Andy Murray in Round 3. He is 0-2 against the Brit but would play the match on the world number 3’s worst surface. He could trouble Murray if he is fit for the match.
It could be a good week for Australia at the French Open.
Can Nadal win his 10th French Open?
If Nadal is to win his 10th French Open this year then he will need to potentially beat Djokovic, Murray, and Federer in the last three matches to win the title.
That was the beast of the draw when it was released on Friday with three out of the big four drawing each other in the same half.
For Roger Federer, and Kei Nishikori, they have a dream run to make the final in the other half. I would favour them to make the semi-final.
The interest though is with Nadal. Can the Spaniard, in his worst form of the last 10 years, win the title at the place he has dominated at in the last 9 years?
His record is ridiculous with just one loss in 60 matches. He is currently on a 35 match winning streak at the venue.
His only loss came against a player who hasn’t played for a few years now.
You can never discount Nadal from winning his tenth title at Roland Garros. His form, and ability on clay, is better than the rest.
The question is all about his form.
Is it good enough to beat the best, and win when it counts?
I don’t think it can happen but I’m not going to write him off either. He will be the story once again at the French Open.
Who will win on the women’s side?
Five former winners of the French Open return this year as they try to add another Grand Slam to their collection.
Leading that charge is the number one and two seeds, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. They have won the last three titles with Sharapova winning last year and in 2012. Williams, who is the number one seed, has won it in 2004 and 2013.
In 2015 she hasn’t been defeated in a competitive match. The only two defeats have come through walkovers. She is virtually unstoppable at the moment.
It is a similar story for Maria Sharapova on clay. The Russian has only lost six matches on the surface in the last three years with two of them coming against Serena in 2013.
It’s hard to see these two getting beaten along the way this year.
Looking to stop them will be Simona Halep, Carolina Wozniacki, Petra Kvitova, Ana Ivanovic, Eugenie Bouchard and Carla Suarez Navarro.
Halep looks to be the best bet out of those players and did make the final last year. She will break through one day for a Grand Slam title. It might not be this year though as Sharapova and Williams look strong.
PREDICTIONS –
Serena Williams and either Novak Djokovic or Kei Nishikori.
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