The men’s and women’s draws at the French Open have been released and it has produced some interesting first round matches as well as some potential clashes to watch out for over the next fortnight.
The men
Before we get to the men’s draw analysis, let’s just quickly throwback to 1999 – the last time Roger Federer missed a Grand Slam tournament.
John Howard was prime minister, Jeff Kennett was ousted as Victorian premier by Steve Bracks, Bill Clinton was a year away from completing his term as US president and Tony Blair was prime minister of the United Kingdom.
Britney Spears, N’SYNC, the Backstreet Boys, Mariah Carey and Destiny’s Child were among those who ruled the music charts, with the former bursting onto the scene as a 17-year-old with the smash hit Baby One More Time.
North Melbourne were on their way to their fourth and most recent AFL flag, while the Melbourne Storm were on their way to becoming the quickest expansion side ever to win the NRL premiership, 1999 being just their second year of existence.
And in the tennis world, Serena Williams won her first Grand Slam (and US Open) title aged just 17, defeating Martina Hingis in the final, while Andre Agassi won his last title at Flushing Meadows at the expense of countryman Todd Martin.
Agassi would finish the year ranked world number one, unseating another compatriot and career rival Pete Sampras, while Hingis would finish the year on top of the women’s charts, ahead of Lindsay Davenport and the Williams sisters.
Seventeen years and 65 Grand Slam tournaments later, Federer will be missing at a Major for the first time since he failed to qualify for the 1999 US Open as an 18-year-old.
Let’s now get to the analysis of the men’s draw.
The top two seeds, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, are on opposite sides of the draw which means they cannot face each other until the final, neither can Stan Wawrinka or Rafael Nadal who are seeded third and fourth respectively.
Top seed Djokovic, attempting for the fifth time to complete his career Grand Slam with a maiden French Open title, will open his campaign against Taiwan’s world number 100, Lu Yen-Hsun.
His first seeded threat could come in the form of Argentina’s Federico Delbonis, while Australia’s Bernard Tomic is also in this section for the second year running and plays Brian Baker in his first match.
Should Tomic, who has endured a winless clay court swing and had to retire after just eight minutes against Benoit Paire in Rome nearly a fortnight ago, get to the third round for the first time, then Spaniard Roberto Bautista-Agut could await, with the winner set to face Djokovic in the fourth round.
2013 finalist David Ferrer or 2010 semi-finalist Tomas Berdych could then await the world number one in the quarter-finals.
Ferrer, who has dropped out of the top ten for the first time since October 2010, faces Evgeny Donskoy in his opening match while Berdych is up against Canadian Vasek Pospisil.
Nine-times champion Rafael Nadal headlines the second quarter of the draw and his opening match will see him take on Australian serving machine Sam Groth, with Italian 32nd seed Fabio Fognini set to await the Spaniard in the third round.
The Italian has history against Nadal, coming from two sets down to defeat the 14-time Grand Slam champion at the US Open as well as defeating him on clay twice last year.
Another player who has history against Nadal is Austrian 13th seed Dominic Thiem, who could await the Spaniard in the fourth round. The 22-year-old edged Nadal out in Buenos Aires back in February but the Spaniard has defeated him twice at major events: here at Roland Garros in 2014 and recently at Monte Carlo.
Local favourite and sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga should await Nadal in the quarter-finals. The 2008 Australian Open finalist starts against a qualifier and could face Marcos Baghdatis in the second round.
We now move down to the bottom half of the draw, which is anchored by world number two Andy Murray, defending champion Stan Wawrinka, Canadian eighth seed Milos Raonic and 2014 US Open finalist Kei Nishikori.
Raonic starts off against former top ten player Janko Tipsarevic, who has a protected ranking following a prolonged period plagued by injury. Former US Open champion Marin Cilic is his projected fourth round opponent.
Wawrinka, whose victory last year denied Novak Djokovic the completion of his career Grand Slam, will kick off his title defence against Lukas Rosol, with his first seeded opponent set to come in the form of local Jeremy Chardy in the third round.
In the bottom quarter, Murray starts against a qualifier with serving machine Ivo Karlovic set to await the Scot in Round 3. American marathon man John Isner would then stand in the way of a possible quarter-final clash with Nishikori.
Nishikori, Richard Gasquet and Australian Nick Kyrgios headline a packed seventh section of the draw. If the latter two meet in the third round, it will be their third Grand Slam meeting (after two at Wimbledon) and first at the French Open.
For that to happen, Gasquet would have to first defeat Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci and then an American player while Kyrgios must defeat Italy’s Marco Cecchinato in his first match and then a qualifier in the second round.
Barring any major upsets in the men’s draw, the quarter-finals onwards could look like this:
Quarter-finals
Novak Djokovic versus Tomas Berdych
Rafael Nadal versus Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Milos Raonic versus Stan Wawrinka
Kei Nishikori versus Andy Murray
Semi-finals
Novak Djokovic versus Rafael Nadal
Stan Wawrinka versus Andy Murray
Final
Novak Djokovic versus Stan Wawrinka
Champion
Novak Djokovic
The women
The world’s top two women, Serena Williams and Agnieszka Radwanska, are on opposite sides of the draw and thus cannot face each other until the final. Angelique Kerber and Garbine Muguruza are on these respective sides of the draw.
Williams, who is shooting for a fourth French Open title and the quadruple career Slam, will start her campaign against Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova, with local favourite Kristina Mladenovic looming as her first seeded threat in the third round.
Mladenovic opens against 2010 champion Francesca Schiavone while 2008 champion Ana Ivanovic also starts against a Frenchwoman, wildcard Oceane Dodin, who knocked Jelena Jankovic out in the first round of last year’s US Open.
Ivanovic, who hasn’t won back-to-back matches in three months, could face Elina Svitolina in the third round in a rematch of their quarter-final from last year, which the Serb won to reach her first Grand Slam semi-final in seven years.
Should Williams and Ivanovic meet in the fourth round, it would be their first Grand Slam meeting since the Serb famously knocked the world number one out of the 2014 Australian Open. The American has since won their last five meetings, though only two of them were in straight sets.
Possibly awaiting Williams in the quarter-finals is fifth seed Victoria Azarenka, who opens against Italian Karin Knapp and could face the resurgent Dominika Cibulkova in the fourth round.
Azarenka has history against both Knapp and Cibulkova, with both players defeating the Belarussian at Roland Garros in 2007 and 2012 respectively. Additionally, Cibulkova also defeated Azarenka at last year’s Australian Open.
The second quarter of the draw is led by reigning Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber, who starts her campaign against the Netherlands’ Kiki Bertens. The German could face any of British 20th seed Johanna Konta, 15th seed Madison Keys or Australia’s Daria Gavrilova in the fourth round.
Gavrilova starts against Mariana Duque-Marino and could face Keys in the second round, provided the recent Rome finalist gets past Croatian Donna Vekic, who reached the third round last year.
But should Kerber get past the fourth round for the first time since 2012, then she could find herself faced against either Venus Williams, Eugenie Bouchard, Jelena Jankovic or Bacsinszky in the quarter-finals.
Williams and Jankovic could meet in the third round while Bouchard faces Jankovic’s Australian Open conqueror, Laura Siegemund, in her opening match. Swiss eighth seed and last year’s semi-finalist Timea Bacsinszky is the leading seed in this section of the draw and she faces a qualifier in her opening match.
Moving down to the bottom half, and Italian seventh seed Roberta Vinci and dual Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova could meet in the fourth round for a shot at Spanish fourth seed Garbine Muguruza in the quarter-finals.
Vinci starts against Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko while Kvitova faces Danka Kovinic in her first match. The Czech could then face compatriot Karolina Pliskova in the third round for a shot at Vinci in the round of 16.
Muguruza starts against Anna Karolina Schmiedlova with her first seeded threat coming in the form of Russian left-hander Ekaterina Makarova in the third round. 2009 champion and 13th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova could then await in Round 4.
And down in the bottom quarter of the draw, second seed Agnieszka Radwanska opens up against Bojana Jovanovski, with any of 2012 finalist Sara Errani, 2013 Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki or former Australian Open semi-finalist Sloane Stephens set to await the Pole in the fourth round.
Should Radwanska reach the quarter-finals for only the second time, then Romanian sixth seed Simona Halep could await. The 2014 finalist starts against Nao Hibino; 2010 finalist Samantha Stosur is also in this section and so too is last year’s runner-up Lucie Safarova, who starts against Russian Vitalia Diatchenko.
Barring any major upsets in the women’s draw, the quarter-finals onwards could look like this:
Quarter-finals
Serena Williams versus Victoria Azarenka
Angelique Kerber versus Timea Bacsinszky
Roberta Vinci versus Garbine Muguruza
Simona Halep versus Agnieszka Radwanska
Semi-finals
Serena Williams versus Angelique Kerber
Garbine Muguruza versus Simona Halep
Final
Serena Williams versus Garbine Muguruza
Champion
Serena Williams
The French Open gets underway this Sunday night at 7:00pm (AEST).
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