Roland Garros will pay tribute to his biggest champion with a ceremony for Rafael Nadal retired, while Aryna Sabalenka puts her French open campaign on the day of the tournament. Nadal, the record champion 14 times on the Paris clay, retired tennis last November after an illustrious career. He returned to the court Philippe Chatrier a year after having suffered an outing in the first round in the hands of Alexander Zverev in what turned out to be his last French open.
The Spaniard finished with a remarkable record of 112-4 victories in Roland Garros, dominating the tournament since he won the title during his beginnings in 2005.
Nadal hung up his racket after the Davis 2024 Cup final in Malaga, initially refusing him the opportunity to show goodbye to his worshipers in Paris.
His counting of 14 victories in a single grand slam seems little likely to be beaten, with the 11 open Australian titles of Margaret short second on the list of all time.
Nadal’s heir, Carlos Alcaraz, will start his title defense next week as a slight favorite to become the first man to lift the coupe of the valves since the retirement of his compatriot.
The victory on the world number one of Jannik Sinner in the final of the Italian Open of last weekend gave Alcaraz the second stay for Roland Garros.
This raises the possibility that the two best players in the world meet in a Grand Chelem final for the very first time on June 8.
“I think that for people, for tennis fans, I think it’s great to have a match of some players who excite them at the idea of watching this match,” Alcaraz told his press conference before the budding tournament with Sinner.
“I think that for people and probably people who don’t like to look at tennis, I think that (our rivalry) is something because of that (they) started to look at tennis.”
Novak Djokovic will launch his sixth offer for a record triumph of the 25th Grand Chelem against the American Mackenzie McDonald, fresh out of his 100th ATP title in Geneva.
The 28 -year -old became the third man to reach a century of tournament victories, after Jimmy Connors and Roger Federer, defeating Hubert Hurkacz in a three -hour epic in Switzerland on Saturday.
But questions remain in the form of Djokovic after losing in his opening matches in Monte Carlo and Madrid in Alejandro Tabilo and Matteo Arnaldi respectively.
The Serbian faces a draw, with Alexander Zverev from last year, an opponent in the potential quarter-final and a sinner who may be waiting in the last four.
– Sabalenka looking at the first French open –
Sabalenka, number one female, will not prove his proof of the opening action with his first round match against the 75th Russian Kamilla Rakhimova.
The Belarusie will launch the calendar on the court Philippe Chatrier while it is looking to take a good start of the inclination during a first French title.
Sabalenka has never reached the final at Roland Garros, but the tournament seems more open than in recent years given the difficulties of the triple reigning champion IGA Swiatek.
The post slipped to the fifth row in the ranking and has not reached a WTA final since it raised its fourth Trophy of the French Open last year.
Sabalenka thinks that it is as well placed as ever to enjoy it.
“Over the years, I have improved a lot (on Clay) and today I feel physically, mentally … My game is more or less ready to play on Clay. Yes, I feel really stronger than ever,” said Sabalenka, who won the Madrid Open earlier this month.
The Italian Open Champion Jasmine Paolini, who was well beaten by Swiatek in the 2024 final, plays Yuan Yue.
Chinese star Zheng Qinwen, Elina Svitolina from Ukraine and Russian star Diana Shnaider are among the hopes of other women in the court.
The eighth male seeded, Lorenzo Musetti, who at least reached the semi-finals of the three master’s degree in clay terrace this year, faces the German Yannick Hanfmann.
(With the exception of the title, this story has not been published by NDTV staff and is published from a unionized flow.)
Subjects mentioned in this article
