CNN
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It felt like the start of the tip of an period French Open when Rafael Nadal introduced his absence from the event earlier this month.
After struggling a hip damage because the Australian Open, 14-time Roland-Garros champion Nadal misses the second Grand Slam of the 12 months for the primary time since his debut in 2005.
He additionally introduced that subsequent 12 months shall be his final in skilled tennis, which, when it comes, shall be a defining second within the historical past of the clay-court main, a contest that Nadal has dominated for therefore lengthy.
For now, there’s probably the most urgent matter of who will win this 12 months’s French Open in Paris when it begins on Sunday and concludes on June 11.
In the US, the French Open is out there to observe on NBC, the Peacock streaming service, Tennis Channel and Bally Sports activities. In European territories, besides France, the event is broadcast on Eurosport.
A global listing broadcasters and the full draw can be found on the French Open web site.
High seed Carlos Alcaraz is a clay courtroom specialist and was unbeaten in 12 matches earlier than struggling a stunning loss to world quantity 115 Fábián Marozsán on the Italian Open.
![Alcaraz celebrates against Jan-Lennard Struff at the Madrid Open.](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230526131334-05-french-open-preview.jpg?c=16x9&q=h_720,w_1280,c_fill)
If he’s to win his second main title, the 20-year-old could have to beat Novak Djokovic – double champion of the French Open – within the semi-finals.
Victory in Paris would see Djokovic win his twenty third grand slam title and overtake Nadal for the highest spot on the lads’s all-time listing, additional cementing his declare as the best males’s tennis participant in historical past.
However the Serbian, victorious on the Australian Open earlier this 12 months, has struggled this season on clay, failing to make the quarter-finals of three occasions and lacking one other with an elbow damage.
“A brand new technology is already right here,” Djokovic stated after his quarter-final loss on the Italian Open.
“I imply, Alcaraz has been No. 1 on the planet since (Might 22). Clearly, he is enjoying unbelievable tennis. I believe it is also good for our sport that now we have new faces, younger guys. It’s regular.
“We have been saying this for years, that we are able to look forward to it to return, for that second to return the place you’ve a form of generational change.”
![Djokovic hits a backhand against Holger Rune at the Italian Open.](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230526131454-07-french-open-preview.jpg?c=16x9&q=h_720,w_1280,c_fill)
Djokovic’s failure to win a title because the Australian Open and Alcaraz’s shock defeat in Rome could give hope to a number of the different rivals in Paris this 12 months.
Daniel Medvedev – final week’s Italian Open champion – is on a wonderful run of type and has the benefit of being on the alternative facet of the draw to Alcaraz and Djokovic.
Casper Ruud and Stefanos Tsitsipas, each former French Open finalists, shall be hoping for deep runs, whereas the sixth seed Holger Rune appears to be a star for the longer term after toppling Djokovic on the Italian Open.
Within the ladies’s draw, two-time French Open champion Iga Światek is the favorite, though she has not proven the identical dominance on clay as final 12 months, when she captured the title as a part of a document 37 victories. stripe
Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina, ranked second and fourth on the planet respectively, have emerged as Światek’s fierce rivals on the high of the ladies’s recreation and each beat the Polish star prior to now month.
![Światek in action during the Australian Open in January.](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230526131227-03-french-open-preview.jpg?c=16x9&q=h_720,w_1280,c_fill)
That trio, now referred to as the “Massive Three” by some, has gained the final 4 Grand Slams: Światek on the French and US Opens, Rybakina at Wimbledon and Sabalenka at Australia.
“The situations in Paris ought to favor Światek, she feels comfy there and is exhibiting that she is certainly enjoying at a excessive degree of tennis.” stated Eurosport pundit and former world quantity 7 Barbara Schett forward of the event.
“I believe it is good for Iga to have these two gamers (Sabalenka and Rybakina) who can problem her and make her keep within the high spot,” Schett added.
Światek, who has been world No. 1 for greater than a 12 months, might be dethroned by Sabalenka on the high of the rankings after the French Open. She begins her marketing campaign towards the Spanish Cristina Bucșa.
Girls’s tennis has been affected by the controversies of the previous couple of weeks, so the main target has returned to the programming of the Roland-Garros ladies’s draw.
No Madrid Open: The ball ladies on the primary courtroom have been instructed to put on brief tops and brief skirts and the gamers within the doubles last weren’t allowed to talk after the match.
The ballgirls’ skirts have been later modified to lengthy shorts, though the crop tops remained, and event organizer Gerard Tsobanian stated it was “unacceptable” to not give the finalists an opportunity to talk to followers on the finish of their recreation
Then, on the Italian Open, the ultimate between Rybakina and Anhelina Kalinina was rescheduled on account of rain and didn’t begin till 11pm native time on Saturday, a scenario for former participant Rennae Stubbs. described as an “abomination”.
![Rybakina lines up a forehand against Markéta Vondroušová at the Italian Open.](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230526131412-06-french-open-preview.jpg?c=16x9&q=h_720,w_1280,c_fill)
The WTA, nonetheless, stated that shifting the sport later was the “proper factor” in an announcement to Reuters.
Doubts in regards to the schedule could persist within the coming weeks given the way in which the night time classes finally 12 months’s French Open panned out.
Solely one of many 10 matches scheduled as a night session in 2022 featured a ladies’s match: the second-round match between Alizé Cornet and Jelena Ostapenko. Match director Amelie Mauresmo defined how males’s tennis has extra “enchantment” than ladies’s, to which Światek responded by labeling Mauresmo’s feedback as “disappointing”.
There is no such thing as a scarcity of star attraction at this 12 months’s French Open.
Alongside the proficient trio of Światek, Sabalenka and Rybakina, Jessica PegulaCaroline García, Coco Gauff and Ons Jabeur – none of whom have gained a grand slam – will compete for the title at Roland-Garros.