Everything you need to know about French Open 2017 – History, notable absentees, top billings, prize money, timings and important dates

French Open is the second Grand Slam of the Year with Novak Djokovic and Garbine Muguruza as the defending champions.

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Novak Djokovic will come into French Open as defending champion but with poor form. (Source: Reuters file)

As the second Grand Slam of the year comes around with the action shifting from the hard courts of the Australian Open to the clay court in Paris, the action intensifies and things get dustier – if you will. During the 90s, French Open enjoyed the reputation of throwing in a surprise winner of even a surprise finalist. In the men’s singles, all the winners from 1990 till 1998, won their first Grand Slam at Roland Garros until Andre Agassi broke the trend in 1999. For women, Monica Seles began her sublime run with the title in 1990 to challenge Steffi Graf’s unquestionable control in women’s tennis. Through the decade, more players the likes of Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Iva Majoli entered the list too but Graf remained the queen with four titles.

The following decade saw a flurry of wins for clay court specialists in Gustavo Kuerten, Albert Costa, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Gaston Guadio before the era of Rafa Nadal began.

Amongst the women, there has not been sheer dominance on clay by one individual or strong competition from one player either. 2000 till 2004, like the men, produced five different champions winning their first on the Parisian clay. It began with Mary Pierce, Jennifer Capriati, Serena Williams, Justine Henin and continued till Anastasia Myskina. Thereafter, Henin proved her prowess on the red dirt with three straight titles.

Fast forward to now, the defending champions for 2017 French Open are Novak Djokovic and Gabrine Muguruza. But neither could lay to claim as strong title contenders with Nadal in sublime form and looking for his tenth French Open crown. Amongst the women, Simona Halep emerges as a viable contender for the trophy.

Notable Absentees

Let’s first talk about who is not here because that’s a glittering list. Roger Federer, after winning Australian Open and the sunshine tournaments (Indian Wells and Miami), has opted out from the French Open to focus on grass and hard court events.

Also missing from French Open list is the women’s champion at Australian Open – Serena Williams. Serena is expecting her first child in September and won’t be fighting for her 24th Grand Slam. Another former winner missing from the draw is Maria Sharapova who won’t feature after failing to draw a wildcard from the authorities in the aftermath of her controversial doping return.

Top Billings

Nadal remains the top draw by far for Roland Garros. As the Mallorcan guns for a tenth title – which he won in Barcelona and Monte Carlo, there is a drop in performances from Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic. Both the current and former World No 1 have had a poor 2017 and Djokovic parted ways with his entire coaching staff prior to Rome Masters. This leaves things to the young guns in Nick Kyrgios, Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem to challenge Nadal for the title.

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In the women’s side of things, Halep is one of the top contenders for the trophy having won the clay court event in Madrid and bagged a place in the final of Rome. Muguruza, despite her questionable fitness, is also an odds-on favourite to defend her title. World No 1 Angelique Kerber also has fitness concerns to deal with and hasn’t had the strongest of clay court runs.

When does it start? What time are the matches?

The tournament gets underway on Sunday, May 28. French Open is the only Grand Slam to start on a Sunday. The men’s final is scheduled to be played on June 11 with the ladies gracing the court a day prior. Play normally begins at 2.30 PM IST.

When is the draw?

The draw for the tournament takes place on Friday, May 26. So we will know the entire brackets and possible routes for players on that day.

What is the prize money?

The winner for both men and women’s singles takes home 2.1 million Euros with the finalists getting 1 million Euros each. The overall prize money pool for the tournament stands at 36 million Euros.