Grand Slam French Open 2023

[Drummond]

Tournament starts 28th May.

Qualifying starts tonight. Some big names in the draws, including former FO finalist Sofia Kenin and recent Madrid SF’ist Aslan Karatsev.

Andy Murray has pulled out to focus on grass. Understandable, but odd given he played all those clay tournaments even winning a challenger event.

Draw will come out later this week, and I’ll get a preview up later also. For now let’s see what happens in the qualifying singles! 16 year olds Brenda Fruhvirtova and Miira Andreeva are in the draw, with Andreeva on a collision course to meet Osorio in the final round.

 

[BobbyMorri]

Geech, Qualies are starting early. dont they normally start on like Tuesday or Wednesday.

Shaping up to be the most open French Open in the mens for a generation. Funny that. Womens looks open in a good way as well, with a limited number of potential winners.

 

[matt_897]

French qualies always start on Monday night. Actually I think they all do now

 

[BobbyMorri]

French qualies always start on Monday night. Actually I think they all do now

True. They also do the 3-day 1st round as well.

Its probably for the best they start this early.

 

[HODGEYROAD]

Very interested to see how Djokovic goes in this after having a poor Clay season to this point.

 

[Drummond]

Mirra Andreeva and Camila Osorio likely to meet in final qualifying round, such a waste as I think both could’ve won a match or two in the MD. Both playing QR2 matches and both won opening sets 6-0.

 

[Drummond]

Mirra Andreeva first set 7-6 against Osorio. Tight opening!

 

[danstar]

Anyone know if any coverage will be on FTA please?

9Gem will have coverage mostly from Centre Court and some of the Aussies. Just the one channel on FTA the rest is on Stan Sports

 

[Drummond]

Draw presentation just occurred.

If seeds hold:

Alcaraz/Tsitsipas
Djokovic/Rublev
Rune/Ruud
Sinner/Medvedev

Womens:

Swiatek/Gauff
Rybakina/Jabeur
Sakkari/Pegula
Garcia/Sabalenka

Of course they won’t hold though. Will do a more detailed rundown when qualifiers/LL get placed.

 

[BobbyMorri]

Couple real interesting 1st rounders, as always

Azarenka v Andreescu
Collins v Pegula

 

[matt_897]

Couple real interesting 1st rounders, as always

Azarenka v Andreescu
Collins v Pegula

that's going to annoy men when Andreescu and Azarenka will be one of the night matches.

The Aussies got pretty good draws, hopefully get a couple of wins but we'll see.

 

[Allezjuel]

Every year the French Open men's draw seems to be imbalanced on one half, with this year being no exception - Alcaraz, Djokovic and Tsitsipas all on the side. Hoping this year we can finally get a Djokovic v Alcaraz matchup in a grand slam in the SF.

 

[BobbyMorri]

that's going to annoy men when Andreescu and Azarenka will be one of the night matches.

The Aussies got pretty good draws, hopefully get a couple of wins but we'll see.

you say that as if it is a certainty that the French will have a womens night match at all,

Or if they did, they wouldn't put Garcia on it, regardless of her current form.

 

[danstar]

Is it the same as last year where theres just one night match at 845pm local time over there?

 

[matt_897]

you say that as if it is a certainty that the French will have a womens night match at all,

Or if they did, they wouldn't put Garcia on it, regardless of her current form.

They will be evenly split this year after the flack they have had in the past so maybe....

 

[Drummond]

Couple real interesting 1st rounders, as always

Azarenka v Andreescu
Collins v Pegula

And Sakkari/Muchova!

 

[AdelaideGT]

Can Storm Hunter win her first ever GS singles main draw match?

Kim Birrell's match is a coin toss.

And 'The Kokk' has the toughest draw, but may as well go out swinging, I guess.

 

[AdelaideGT]

9Gem will have coverage mostly from Centre Court and some of the Aussies.

With coverage from about 7pm to 5am, that's about the best ever we have seen on FTA for Roland Garros. Still, I'm sure plenty (including me) will whinge about which matches are covered.

Presume Todd, Jelena & Sam (thankfully Stosur, not Groth) will be calling the matches from a studio in Melbourne and not Paris.

 

[danstar]

They will be calling the matches from Melbourne

 

[danstar]

Interesting to see if Svitolina does anything this tournament, presume shes in on wildcard/protected ranking, i havent looked at draws. She won tournament overnight, good to see her getting back into it

 

[Drummond]

I had a whole preview typed up, but I lost it, so here’s my very condensed version.

It’s a pretty even draw, no one seems to have got super lucky or be super disadvantaged with the draw. I think it’ll be an Alcaraz/Medvedev final. Djokovic has probably probably been holding something in reserve and clearly goes to a new level come slams however I struggle to see at 36 how he can just flick the switch on especially on clay. The other contenders are Rune, Ruud and Sinner. I would throw in Tsitsipas however to win he will likely need to get past the number 1, 3 and then 2nd seed to win the title and I just don’t see that happening. Especially not with his questionable form and still weak backhand.

Sinner looked like he was ready to win a slam earlier this year however his form has faded. Most likely due to his body, which I think will prevent him from going deep here. There’s no doubt he’s got the game to win but mentally and physically I don’t think he’s there yet. Rune is in a similar category to me because while I think he has the tools to win, I don’t think he will handle the physicality of best-of-five tennis over two weeks, especially when he looks gassed at the end of masters tournaments. Ruud and Rune should meet in the quarter-finals because they are no challenges before them, especially when Fritz and Paul are in their sections. The bottom half semi should be a repeat of the Rome final, same result.

Alcaraz has the most hype and expectations, but will he be able to handle it? It seems weird that despite his hype, aura and number one ranking that he has won “only” one slam. There’s something that tells me he won’t win this when all logic seems to say he will.

 

[Drummond]

For the women, it seems to be a race between for women. Swiatek, Rybakina, Sabalenka and Krejcikova. Three of the last four champions and a former French Open champion. The winner will surely be from this group. But there will be many interesting storylines on the women’s side.

Can Potapova make a deep run? Can 16 year old Mirra Andreeva have another fairytale tournament and cause some damage? I was thinking Vondrousova might go on a deep run however she has Parks first, then Kasatkina, then former champion Ostapenko, so if she can escape that early carnage then definitely.

Since the year started, it has really been a domination by Swiatek, Rybakina and Sabalenka. It’s nice to see the tour with consistent champions and players to beat, rather than different winners all the time. Swiatek comes under a slight injury cloud but the two time and defending champion would be the favourite. Rybakina, like Medvedev on the men’s side, seems to have figured out clay, and is therefore a huge chance, especially considering her 3-0 H2H record over Swiatek this year. And then there’s Sabalenka, Madrid champion, AO champion, and intimating presence.

Some outstanding early matches, including Sabalenka vs Kostyuk which opens the tournament tonight. Also excited for Andreescu/Azarenka, Rybakina/B.Fruhvirtova, Yastremska/Vekic, and Sakkari/Muchova.

You feel like the French Open is always wide open, well until Swiatek started her Nadal like domination. This year is seems like a battle between 3/4, and a winner outside this group would surprise me. But can the next tier like Pegula, Kudermetova, Bencic and Garcia make a run? To me the dark horse is Potapova, and while I’m biased, I think she’s got the belief and mindset to go on a run. It’d be fun to see! I will go for a Rybakina/Sabalenka final, even though Sabalenka’s FO record doesn’t exactly give much optimism. But then again, sometimes you don’t need much prior history at this tournament to achieve great things.

 

[danstar]

Was there a lineup of what 9Gem will be showing tonight, i missed the start of preview

 

[JamisonRun40]

And the second GS of the year has started with Sablenka v Kostyuk first up. Both ladies have started strong.

 

[danstar]

Sabalenka/Kostyuk could be an instant classic here, 3 hour match, shame 9gem will cut out of it soon