Uniquely, the first round of singles at the French Open is played across the first three days of the tournament, at the only Major that commences on a Sunday.

For the first time since 2004, 14-time champion Rafael Nadal is not present in Paris due to his ongoing injury issues.  The men’s singles draw only features two previous Roland Garros champions: Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka.  And they are both in a stacked top half of the draw alongside top seed Carlos Alcaraz and 2021 finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas.  Recent Rome champ and No.2 seed Daniil Medvedev leads the bottom half of the draw, along with last year’s runner-up Casper Ruud.

The WTA singles draw is headlined by two-time and defending champion Iga Swiatek, with Australian Open champ Aryna Sabalenka atop the bottom half of the draw.  The top two seeds split two big clay tournament finals this season.  Are they headed for a rubber match in Paris?  Overall the women’s draw includes nine Major singles champions, like reigning Wimbledon champ Elena Rybakina, who has defeated both Swiatek and Sabalenka this year.  Elena is in Iga’s half of the draw, as is 2021 champ Barbora Krejcikova, who also beat Swiatek this year.

Tsitsipas and Sabalenka are both featured in Sunday’s Order of Play, as are a few blockbuster WTA first round matchups.

Throughout the tournament, this preview will analyze the day’s four most prominent matches, while highlighting the other notable matches on the schedule.  Sunday’s play begins at 11:00am local time.

Marta Kostyuk vs. Aryna Sabalenka (2) – 11:00am on Court Philippe-Chatrier

This is Sabalenka’s first match at a Major since winning her first Slam title at the last Major in Australia.  And it will also be an awkward matchup, if not contentious, between a Ukrainian player and a Belarusian player, as Russia’s unprovoked attack of Ukraine continues.

Aryna is an excellent 29-5 on the year, and 9-2 on clay.  The Australian Open is just one of three titles she’s collected this year, along with Adelaide and Madrid.  But Sabalenka is just 7-5 lifetime at this event, and has never advanced into the second week.

Kostyuk has been expected to become a top player since impressing at the age of 14, when she won the 14-and-under annual competition at the Orange Bowl.  Marta also reached the fourth round of this event just two years ago, after she upset Garbine Muguruza in the first round.  But in her other two appearances at this tournament, she’s been eliminated in her opening match.

Sabalenka claimed their only previous meeting in straight sets, which occurred last year on a hard court in Dubai.  And while this is a complicated matchup, Aryna is the favorite to again prevail on Sunday.  Her aggressive game and confident form have made her the WTA’s most formidable player of 2023, leading the year-to-date rankings.

Maria Sakkari (8) vs. Karolina Muchova – Second on Court Suzanne-Lenglen

This is a an extremely challenging draw for the 2021 semifinalist.  Of course it was two years ago at this event when Sakkari was just one point from achieving her first final at a Major, when eventual champion Barbora Krejcikova came back to claim victory.  And a year ago, Maria was upset in the second round by the same opponent she faces on Sunday.

Muchova outlasted Sakkari in that 2022 matchup after two tiebreak sets.  Muchova is a former top 20 player and has three times reached the quarterfinals or better at a Major, but has struggled to regain her ranking after injuries interrupted her career.  Yet Karolina is a strong 19-7 this season, which is similar to Maria’s record of 20-10

At tour level, Muchova is 2-0 against Sakkari, with her other win coming two years ago in Madrid, and obviously also on clay.  That match went all the way to 7-5 in the third.  I fully expect another tight contest between these two on Sunday, but I must give the slight edge to Muchova to make it 3-0 against Sakkari.

Laslo Djere vs. Andrey Rublev (7) – Third on Court Suzanne-Lenglen

Can this become the Major where Rublev finally breaks through to a semifinal?  The 25-year-old is now 0-7 in Slam quarterfinals, after being dominated by Novak Djokovic this past January in Melbourne.  But Andrey broke through in another way last month, winning his first Masters 1000 title in Monte Carlo, after coming from behind to defeat Holger Rune.

Djere is far from an easy first round draw, especially on this surface.  Both of Laslo’s ATP titles have come on clay, and his five main draw victories at Roland Garros are more than he’s accumulated at the other three Majors combined.  Djere is 15-12 this year at tour-level, compared to 25-10 for Rublev, though Djere reached a Challenger final on clay earlier this month.

Rublev leads their tour-level head-to-head 3-0, and 4-1 including Challenger events from years ago.  Those three ATP victories all came during 2022, and include a five-set struggle in the first round of the US Open.  Andrey should be favored to win again on this day, and likely in less than five sets this time around.

Danielle Collins vs. Jessica Pegula (3) – Last on Court Suzanne-Lenglen

While Pegula is the third seed, Collins is the player who has achieved bigger success at a Major.  A year ago in Australia, Danillie went all the way to the final, before losing to Ash Barty in what ended up becoming the Australian’s retirement match.  Injuries and illness have plagued Collins’ career across the last few seasons, and this will be her first match in nearly two months, when she lost to another American, Shelby Rogers, in Charleston.

Pegula is 27-9 in 2023, and has advanced to the quarterfinals at four of the last five Majors, including here a year ago.  But she is coming off an opening round loss in Rome to yet another American, Taylor Townsend. 

However, this rivalry has been completed one-sided to date, with Jess leading 4-0 at all levels, and having taken eight of nine sets.  That includes a straight-set win just two months ago in Miami.  Pegula is a strong favorite to remain undefeated against Collins on Sunday.

Other Notable Matches on Sunday:

David Goffin vs. Hubert Hurkacz – Goffin made his big breakthrough at this event 11 years ago, but is now ranked outside the top 100, and has a losing record this season at tour level.  Hurkacz is 17-11, yet just 3-3 on clay.  They split two meetings last year on clay, with Hubi winning in straights in the third round of this same tournament.

Jiri Vesely vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas (5) – Tsitsipas is 25-8 on the year, though he’s now 0-5 in his last five finals, which includes the final of the last Major.  Vesely has only played four matches this season, all at Challenger level, and is just 5-10 lifetime at the French Open.

Magda Linette (21) vs. Leylah Fernandez – Linette was a surprise semifinalist at the last Major, but is only 8-9 since.  Fernandez suffered a bad foot injury in the round of 16 of this tournament a year ago, and has failed to regain her momentum since returning to action.  They have split two prior encounters, both on clay.

Lucas Pouille (Q) vs. Jurij Rodionov (LL) – Pouille was the story of the qualifying week, as the 29-year-old former top 10 player from France qualified for his home Major in an emotional scene, celebrating with his baby daughter after years of battling injury, depression, and alcohol issues.  The man he beat to qualify?  That’s also his opponent on Sunday, as this is the third time in Major history that a lucky loser will meet the man he lost to in qualifying in a main-draw rematch, according to the ATP.

Sunday’s full Order of Play is here.

The former long-time coach of Rafael Nadal has said the Spaniard will be playing at this year’s French Open despite his recent injury struggles. 

Toni Nadal, who was the person that introduced his nephew to the sport, told Radio Marca on Friday that the 22-time Grand Slam champion will be returning to action soon. Nadal hasn’t played on the Tour since his second round loss at the Australian Open in January due to a hip injury. Earlier this year he was diagnosed with a psoas injury in his left leg and was told it would take roughly eight weeks to recover. However, his rehabilitation process has taken considerably longer.

“He would like to be competing now, but there is little left for that to happen. He is going to play in Paris, although how he trains in the coming weeks and what he can do in Rome will be important to measure his aspirations there,” El Espanol was quoted as saying to Radio Marca. 

The mention of Rome raises speculation that Nadal could return to action at the Foro Italico. However, this is yet to be confirmed by him or a member of his team. The tournament starts a week on Monday and it is the last big event to take place before the French Open. 

Nadal’s latest injury blow raises fresh concerns about his future in the sport. He is one of only four players in the top 100 aged 36 or over alongside Richard Gasquet, John Isner and Stan Wawrinka. However, talk of a possible retirement from the sport has been swiftly dismissed by his uncle. 

“He is not thinking about retiring, he just wants to recover well and continue competing because he is passionate about this sport,” he stated. 

Despite Nadal’s absence, interest in Spanish tennis is still high due to the presence of world No.2 Carlos Alcaraz who is headlining this week’s Madrid Masters where he is the defending champion. The 19-year-old has already won three titles this season and is regarded as one of the favourites in Roland Garros.

Recently, Alcaraz says he does not want to take over from his compatriot and instead create his own path in the sport. However, in the eyes of Toni, the two are similar. 

“Both are very intense. They are similar; they reach the limit, they put their rivals in trouble with powerful blows and in important moments they both respond well,” he said.

Toni is at the Madrid Open this week coaching Felix Auger-Aliassime.

The decision to remove the ban imposed on Russian and Belarussian players participating at Wimbledon has been branded as ‘immoral’ by a senior member of the Ukrainian government. 

On Friday The All England Club issued a statement saying their ‘current intention’ is to invite players from those two countries to their tournament this year. In 2022 Britain became the only country to impose a blanket ban on Russian and Belarusian players participating in tennis events on their soil as a result of the war in Ukraine. Officials said their decision to do so was based on advice issued by their government who was concerned Russia could use the events as propaganda. 

However, both the ATP and WTA slammed the move. The governing bodies removed the option of awarding rankings points at those events in protest and later issued a fine to the Lawn Tennis Association. It is understood that the U-turn in the AELTC’s policy this year has been influenced by pressure being put on them by tennis’ governing bodies who argue that players shouldn’t be published for the actions of their governments.  

“We continue to condemn totally Russia’s illegal invasion and our wholehearted support remains with the people of Ukraine,” AELTC chairman Ian Hewitt said in a statement. 
“This was an incredibly difficult decision, not taken lightly or without a great deal of consideration for those who will be impacted.
“It is our view that, considering all factors, these are the most appropriate arrangements for The Championships for this year. We are thankful for the Government’s support as we and our fellow tennis stakeholder bodies have navigated this complex matter and agreed on conditions we believe are workable.
“If circumstances change materially between now and the commencement of The Championships, we will consider and respond accordingly.”

Under the new policy, players from Russia and Belarus will only be allowed to play in the event under a neutral status. A rule which has been in force on the Tennis Tour’s since last year. Furthermore, those who receive state funding or have endorsements with companies linked to their government are ineligible to play. It is unclear how LTA and AELTC will check to see if players have received such funding or not. 

As a result of the decision, Grand Slam champions Daniil Medvedev, Aryna Sabalenka and Victoria Azarenka will be allowed to play at Wimbledon this year. 

The move has triggered an angry response from Ukraine whose government has urged Britain to refuse to issue visas to those players. Russia began their military operations against its neighbour on February 24th 2022. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has confirmed that at least 8410 civilians have been killed in the conflict and a further 14,023 injured as of March 27th 2023. 

“Wimbledon’s decision to permit the participation of Russian and Belarusian players is immoral,” Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, wrote on social media. 
“Has Russia ceased its aggression or atrocities? No, it’s just that Wimbledon decided to accommodate two accomplices in crime. I call on the UK government to deny visas to their players.”

In contrast, both the ATP and WTA have described the u-turn as a ‘workable solution’ that it says helps protect the ‘fairness of the game.’ 

“We are pleased that all players will have an opportunity to compete at Wimbledon and LTA events this summer. It has taken a collaborative effort across the sport to arrive at a workable solution, which protects the fairness of the game. This remains an extremely difficult situation, and we would like to thank Wimbledon and the LTA for their efforts in reaching this outcome, while reiterating our unequivocal condemnation of Russia’s war on Ukraine.” A joint-statement reads.

The Wimbledon Championships will begin on July 3rd. Novak Djokovic and Elena Rybakina are the reigning champions.