Rankings respected for the seedings
The tournament directors have published the lists of the 32 seeds in the men's and women's draws, which are based on the ATP and WTA rankings as of 16 May. Rafael Nadal and Caroline Wozniacki will therefore be the top seeds, while Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, no.33 in the world, is the lucky player who squeezes in as no.32 seed due to the withdrawal of David Nalbandian. The French have a sizeable contingent of seeds, namely Gaël Monfils (no.9), Richard Gasquet (no.14), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (no.18), Gilles Simon (no.19) and Michaël Llodra (no.23) in the men's draw and Marion Bartoli (no.11) in the women's. Due to the withdrawal of both Williams sisters, Klara Zakopalova from Czech Republic and Tsvetana Pironkova from Bulgaria have also made it onto the list of 32.
Razzano in mourning
It was with great sadness that we learnt of the death of Virginie Razzano's long-time boyfriend Stéphane Vidal who had been suffering from a brain tumour. Razzano spoke in moving terms in an interview with L'Equipe newspaper of the man who had also been her coach. She has decided not to withdraw from this year's French Open, and will doubtless be able to count on the full and indeed emotional support of the French crowd.
Federer putting in the hours
Roger Federer trained for the second day in a row on Tuesday out on Philippe Chatrier court. The Swiss is the most conscientious of the top seeds, with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic yet to arrive in Paris. Monfils came out onto centre court and had a quick chat with the 16-time Grand Slam champion, while Gasquet and Simon were also hard at work on the training courts, along with Lleyton Hewitt and Maria Sharapova. Plenty of big names are scheduled to arrive tomorrow to start getting reacquainted with the Paris clay, which according to those players who have already been practising here appears to be quicker at the moment due to the recent spell of dry weather and the new Babolat balls being used.
Kuznetsov ousts Kuznetsov
There were plenty of epic battles on the first day of the men's qualifiers, most notably the match between Steve Darcis of Belgium and Monaco's Jean-René Lisnard. It took three and three-quarter hours to separate the two, with Darcis edging the tie 6-7(8), 7-5, 9-7. There was also the "surname" derby between Russia's Andrey Kuznetsov and Alex Kuznetsov of USA. The chair umpire was obliged to use the players' first names during the match, which ended with a win for Andrey 6-3, 6-4.
Follow the draw on Twitter
The draw for the men's and women's singles will take place on Friday at 11.30 am in the FFT's tennis museum on-site at Roland Garros and will be carried out by defending champions Nadal and Francesca Schiavone. To find out as it happens who will be facing whom in the first round and beyond, follow the draw on the Roland Garros Twitter accounts.
Gonzalez forced to withdraw
Injury-plagued Fernando Gonzalez has been forced to withdraw from this year's French Open. The Chilean had a protected ranking of no.55 but is currently languishing at no.370 in the world. He underwent a hip operation on 4 October 2010 but has only played three tournaments in 2011 and was forced to pull out of the first round of the recent Challenger event in Bordeaux. Argentina's Brian Dabul will take his place in the main draw.
Women's qualifiers: young guns go for it
The women's qualifying draw will get under way on Wednesday, and as with the men's, there are 128 players all vying for 16 spots. Whilst there are a number of French players involved in the competition, as is to be expected at their home tournament, there is a variety of nations represented and plenty of names which, while they may not yet be well-known in wider terms, are certainly on the radar of the avid tennis fan.
Perhaps the two main stars of the future to look out for are Noppawan Lertchewakarn and Heather Watson. Lertchewakarn, from Thailand, is 19 years old and is the girl who took Laura Robson's junior Wimbledon title off her last year. She takes on Karolina Pliskova in the opening round and could then face Vitalia Diatchenko, who made the second round proper here at Roland two years ago, followed by Urszula Radwanska, sister of top ten stalwart Agnieszka.
Watson meanwhile, who hails from Guernsey in the UK's Channel Islands, has overtaken her compatriot Robson as the great young hope of British tennis. She was unlucky not to gain direct acceptance to Roland Garros this year, with her ranking of 119 not far below the cut-off point after she made the quarter-finals in Memphis. She also received a wild-card to Miami, which is almost her "home" tournament since she trains at the Nick Bollettieri academy in Bradenton.
She will face Ioana Raluca Olaru in the first round, with potential match-ups against Canada's Heidi El Tabakh and Stefanie Vögele in the following rounds, all of whom have Grand Slam experience.
The tournament directors have published the lists of the 32 seeds in the men's and women's draws, which are based on the ATP and WTA rankings as of 16 May. Rafael Nadal and Caroline Wozniacki will therefore be the top seeds, while Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, no.33 in the world, is the lucky player who squeezes in as no.32 seed due to the withdrawal of David Nalbandian. The French have a sizeable contingent of seeds, namely Gaël Monfils (no.9), Richard Gasquet (no.14), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (no.18), Gilles Simon (no.19) and Michaël Llodra (no.23) in the men's draw and Marion Bartoli (no.11) in the women's. Due to the withdrawal of both Williams sisters, Klara Zakopalova from Czech Republic and Tsvetana Pironkova from Bulgaria have also made it onto the list of 32.
Razzano in mourning
It was with great sadness that we learnt of the death of Virginie Razzano's long-time boyfriend Stéphane Vidal who had been suffering from a brain tumour. Razzano spoke in moving terms in an interview with L'Equipe newspaper of the man who had also been her coach. She has decided not to withdraw from this year's French Open, and will doubtless be able to count on the full and indeed emotional support of the French crowd.
Federer putting in the hours
Roger Federer trained for the second day in a row on Tuesday out on Philippe Chatrier court. The Swiss is the most conscientious of the top seeds, with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic yet to arrive in Paris. Monfils came out onto centre court and had a quick chat with the 16-time Grand Slam champion, while Gasquet and Simon were also hard at work on the training courts, along with Lleyton Hewitt and Maria Sharapova. Plenty of big names are scheduled to arrive tomorrow to start getting reacquainted with the Paris clay, which according to those players who have already been practising here appears to be quicker at the moment due to the recent spell of dry weather and the new Babolat balls being used.
Kuznetsov ousts Kuznetsov
There were plenty of epic battles on the first day of the men's qualifiers, most notably the match between Steve Darcis of Belgium and Monaco's Jean-René Lisnard. It took three and three-quarter hours to separate the two, with Darcis edging the tie 6-7(8), 7-5, 9-7. There was also the "surname" derby between Russia's Andrey Kuznetsov and Alex Kuznetsov of USA. The chair umpire was obliged to use the players' first names during the match, which ended with a win for Andrey 6-3, 6-4.
Follow the draw on Twitter
The draw for the men's and women's singles will take place on Friday at 11.30 am in the FFT's tennis museum on-site at Roland Garros and will be carried out by defending champions Nadal and Francesca Schiavone. To find out as it happens who will be facing whom in the first round and beyond, follow the draw on the Roland Garros Twitter accounts.
Gonzalez forced to withdraw
Injury-plagued Fernando Gonzalez has been forced to withdraw from this year's French Open. The Chilean had a protected ranking of no.55 but is currently languishing at no.370 in the world. He underwent a hip operation on 4 October 2010 but has only played three tournaments in 2011 and was forced to pull out of the first round of the recent Challenger event in Bordeaux. Argentina's Brian Dabul will take his place in the main draw.
Women's qualifiers: young guns go for it
The women's qualifying draw will get under way on Wednesday, and as with the men's, there are 128 players all vying for 16 spots. Whilst there are a number of French players involved in the competition, as is to be expected at their home tournament, there is a variety of nations represented and plenty of names which, while they may not yet be well-known in wider terms, are certainly on the radar of the avid tennis fan.
Perhaps the two main stars of the future to look out for are Noppawan Lertchewakarn and Heather Watson. Lertchewakarn, from Thailand, is 19 years old and is the girl who took Laura Robson's junior Wimbledon title off her last year. She takes on Karolina Pliskova in the opening round and could then face Vitalia Diatchenko, who made the second round proper here at Roland two years ago, followed by Urszula Radwanska, sister of top ten stalwart Agnieszka.
Watson meanwhile, who hails from Guernsey in the UK's Channel Islands, has overtaken her compatriot Robson as the great young hope of British tennis. She was unlucky not to gain direct acceptance to Roland Garros this year, with her ranking of 119 not far below the cut-off point after she made the quarter-finals in Memphis. She also received a wild-card to Miami, which is almost her "home" tournament since she trains at the Nick Bollettieri academy in Bradenton.
She will face Ioana Raluca Olaru in the first round, with potential match-ups against Canada's Heidi El Tabakh and Stefanie Vögele in the following rounds, all of whom have Grand Slam experience.
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