The 123rd edition of the French Open tennis championship begins today. The Roland Garros final will take place on June 9. The second Grand Slam of the year raises many questions, the answers to which we will find out in the next two weeks. Last year's women's and men's champions are Iga Šviontek and Novak Djokovic, respectively.
The Joker is a three-time winner of the trophy in Paris, and in 2023 he dealt with the Norwegian Kasper Ruud. The Serbian is the men's world No. 1 and will be gunning for a record 25th Slam title, but enters the tournament without a title since the start of the year for the first time since 2018. This is undoubtedly unsettling for his fans, with the most recent and for many unexpected loss coming to the Czech Republic's Tomas Makhach in the semi-finals in Geneva. Djokovic enters the Swiss city as a wild card, something that is not typical of him, but his form since the start of the season has been far from good. However, the Serbian himself, who turned 37 a few days ago, stated at one of his press conferences that he is "a slightly different tennis player" in the Grand Slam. Proof of this is in the years when Nole did not play well immediately before the most important tournaments, but then managed within two weeks to deserve the title. His first opponent in this year's edition is the representative of the hosts Pierre-Hugues Erber.
Second- and third-seeded Yannick Siner and Carlos Alcaraz respectively are two of the candidates poised to spoil a possible fourth Djokovic triumph at Roland Garros. However, both have had injury problems recently, casting doubt on their best fitness ahead of a tough fortnight in Paris. Ciner starts with a match against Christopher Eubanks and Alcaraz with a qualifier or "lucky loser".
The highly-anticipated men's first-round clash pits fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev against 14-time title winner Rafael Nadal. For Matador, this will likely be his last appearance in one of his favorite tournaments, where he has dominated for nearly 20 years. However, Nadal has not played much of late and is far from his best days, despite Djokovic naming him as the top favorite for the title. Against himself, the Spaniard will have a tough challenge in the face of Zverev, who recently became the champion in Rome. In another curious match, Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray will play a matchup of former Slam champions. The ninth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas will face Hungary's Marton Fuchovic.
Our first racket Grigor Dimitrov started his participation in the French capital with a match against the American Alexander Kovacevich. Our best tennis player has never faced the 88th in the world, and if successful he will play Fabian Marozhan or a qualifier/"lucky loser". In the third round, his likely opponent could be the Chilean Alejandro Tabillo, who played a semi-final in Rome. Grigor twice reached the round of 16 in Paris – in 2020 and last year.
On the women's side, world No. 1 Iga Šviontek begins her title defense against a qualifier or "lucky loser." The Pole is chasing a fourth Roland Garros title and has been in brilliant form, triumphing at the Madrid and Rome tournaments. Hardly anyone will be able to stop her, but still there is no lack of candidates for this. Aryna Sabalenka, who lost the finals in Spain and Italy, is second in the draw and starts against 19-year-old Erika Andreeva. Coco Goff is the third seed and has a tennis player from the qualifiers or a "lucky loser" as her opponent at the start.
Our best women's tennis player Viktoria Tomova got a tough draw at the start. The Bulgarian will face 16th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova from Russia. If he can fight her off, a matchup with Blue Wan or Taylor Townsend will follow. Vicky warmed up admirably for the French Open, reaching the semi-finals in Rabat, Morocco, where she crashed out in the semi-finals after a marathon battle with Peyton Stearns of the USA. Tomova never got past the first hurdle in Paris, playing in the tournament's main draw for the third time in a row.
The total prize money at Roland Garros this year is €53,478,000 – an increase of 7.82% compared to 2023. Both the men's and women's winners will walk away with a check for €2,400,000 each, and the runners-up with €1,200 000. /BGNES
