Roland Garros provides the grand stage for the greatest test of clay court tennis and second Grand Slam tournament of 2013 – the French Open.
Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova return to defend the singles crowns they won last year, while a host of big names will doing their best to claim clay-court tennis’ ultimate prize on the famous, dusty red courts of Paris.
Follow every serve, shot and slide on the famous clay courts of Roland Garros with live free-to-air coverage on ITV and ITV4, plus extensive daily output on British Eurosport.
For two weeks every May and June, the eyes of the sporting world are focused on a tennis complex named in honour of the heroic World World I aviator.
Thousands of tennis fans from across France and worldwide will descend on Paris for the 15-day tournament in the competition’s 83rd year.
This year’s tournament promises to be another great sporting spectacle, and while the men’s draw looks on the surface like being a two horse race, this year’s women’s tournament is wide open.
Once again, the key question for tennis fans is whether the ‘king of clay’ Rafael Nadal can become the first player in history to win a record eight men’s singles titles at Roland Garros or whether he can be defeated by world number one Novak Djokovic.
The left-handed Spaniard has won the last three French titles and his 2009 fourth-round defeat to Robin Soderling remains his only loss at Roland Garros.
Nadal, the undisputed ‘King of Clay’, will play in his first grand slam tournament since Wimbledon last year after being sidelined with a knee injury for several months.
Despite being out of the game for a long period, Nadal has managed to secure multiple tour titles.
With his latest win at the Rome Masters, Nadal passed David Ferrer for the number four spot in the world rankings.
Following Andy Murray’s withdrawal, it also allowed him to get the third place seeding at the French Open, following Novak Djokovic (seed 1) and Roger Federer (seeded 2).
The Spaniard will be a strong favourite for the title once again having won seven of the last eight editions, surpassing the great Bjorn Borg as the ultimate king of Roland Garros in 2012.
After dominating world tennis for the last two years, Djokovic is looking for revenge after his defeat in last year’s final.
The Serb lost in four sets in his first French Open final appearance but will aim to go one better this year after denying Nadal the Monte Carlo Masters title in April.
Unfortunately world number two Andy Murray withdrew his participation in the week prior to the tournament after failing to recover from a back injury he picked up at the Rome Masters.
With the grass-court season and Wimbledon fast approaching, Murray elected to err on the side of caution and skip clay-court tennis’ showpiece event.
Murray said: ”It’s a really tough decision and I love playing in Paris, but after seeking medical advice, I am not fit to compete.
”Apologies to the organisers and thanks to everyone for the messages of support. Now my complete focus is on getting back on the court as soon as possible.”
While the news is disappointing for his supporters, British interest will no doubt turn towards the emerging duo of Heather Watson and Laura Robson.
Watson’s victory at the Japan Open last year was the first WTA singles title win by a Briton since Sara Gomer in 1988, though she has missed the last two months with glandular fever.
The 21-year-old was diagnosed in April after a string of early-round exits, having been playing with the illness for the previous few months.
Despite having not played any warm-up events prior to Roland Garros, the emerging Guernsey-born star is confident of making a full recovery as she heads into a busy summer of tennis.
Robson has taken Watson’s British number one status during her absence and will hope to push on from her recent strong showings in Rome and at last year’s US Open where she made the last 16 stage.
At the sharp end of the women’s field, world number one and 15-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams is likely to be favourite alongside defending champion Maria Sharapova and world number three Victoria Azarenka.
Serena Williams has won four tournaments in a row and has not lost a match since the beginning of February.
On the other hand, she has struggled mightily in her career at Roland Garros and has not won since 2002, and hasn’t even reached the semi-finals since 2003.
This could leave the door open for defending champion Sharapova, who will enter as the number two seed.
When she is not playing Williams, the Russian has been very impressive lately and has already proven her ability to win on clay.
However, with six different women’s champions in as many years at Roland Garros, it is likely to be as unpredictable as ever before.
Two weeks of outstanding drama on the clays courts of Paris awaits as the second Grand Slam of the year marks the beginning of an unmissable summer of tennis.
DAY 15: SUNDAY 9th JUNE
Court Philippe Chatrier | 11:00 BST start| Women’s Doubles Final Sara Errani (USA) / Roberta Vinci (ITA) [1] | v | Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) / Elena Vesnina (RUS) [4] |
| Men’s Singles Final (14:00) Rafael Nadal (ESP) [3] | v | David Ferrer (ESP) [44 |
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How to follow the 2013 French Open on ITV and Eurosport:
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After a successful debut at Roland Garros last year, ITV Sport will again bring tennis fans exclusive terrestrial coverage of the French Open in 2013.
The tournament will dominate the ITV4 schedules over the course of the 15-day tournament with more than 150 hours of coverage, while the on-air team for 2013 is largely unchanged from 12 months ago.
Key matches including the mens’ and women’s singles finals, plus the opening two days of the tournament will be shown on ITV, while daily live coverage will be broadcast on ITV4 from at least 9.30am to 9pm.
New to ITV’s coverage this year is a regular evening highlights show which will be broadcast on ITV at or after 10.35pm each day (except on day one, ITV4).
John Inverdale returns as the lead presenter of ITV’s coverage where he will be joined by double French Open champion Jim Courier and a wealth of familiar names from the tennis world.
ITV will again base all of its coverage from a specially constructed studio in the heart of the Roland Garros complex, where the presentation team led by Inverdale will be based for the duration of the tournament.
Leading the commentary team will be Nick Mullins and Mark Petchey, who will be joined by former Grand Slam champions Amelie Mauresmo and Lindsay Davenport. Fabrice Santoro and Sam Smith will also again be part of the ITV commentary line-up.
Lynsey Hipgrave joins the ITV team this year and she will be the channel’s roving reporter and interviewer.
Further contributions in commentary will come from the world feed team of Guy McCrea, Wally Masur and Lucie Ahl.
Alongside terrestrial television coverage, ITV.com will simulcast all the action on ITV and ITV4 during the tournament.
For further details on ITV’s coverage, along with live video, match highlights and interviews, visit ITV’s dedicated French Open website – itv.com/frenchopen – or follow the ITV Sport Twitter feed for the latest updates from Roland Garros – @ITVSport
As in 2012, ITV’s French Open coverage will be co-produced by ITV Sport and Input Media.
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LIVE: 2.40pm-7.00pm – ITV4
Highlights: 11.10pm-12.10am – ITV Sunday 9th June DAY 15 – Men’s Singles Final LIVE: 1.30pm-6.30pm – ITV
LIVE: 6.00pm-8.00pm – ITV4
Highlights: 10.15pm-11.45pm – ITV
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British Eurosport will again offer exhaustive coverage from Roland Garros with around 200 hours of live action.
Both its channels will both broadcast daily live high definition coverage, ensuring viewers can follow every smash, slice and ace as it happens.
Rob Curling will present British Eurosport’s live studio-based coverage.
He will be joined by former world number four and 1997 US Open finalist Greg Rusedski, and three-time Grand Slam winner Virginia Wade, with both offering expert analysis on each day’s play.
British Eurosport has secured the services of top British doubles player Ross Hutchins, who has played in two Grand Slam doubles quarter-finals.
Hutchins will also be on-site from week two, providing daily reports and analysis with former British number one Annabel Croft.
British Eurosport’s expert commentary team includes Simon Reed, Jo Durie, Frew McMillan, Chris Bradnam and David Mercer.
Three-time French Open winner Mats Wilander will present Eurosport’s daily review show – ‘Game, Set and Mats’ – alongside Croft in a studio overlooking the Roland Garros site.
The duo will use their expertise to provide analysis from the day’s play, and will be joined by the top stars throughout the tournament, bringing viewers the latest news and interviews.
Former world No. 7 Barbara Schett will also be part of the team and will bring the best interviews and reaction from right across Roland Garros.
For those who can’t get to a TV, the Eurosport Player enables viewers to watch live multi-court service, with video on-demand also available.
Eurosport Player subscribers can also access up to seven main courts live via the website and apps.
There will also be comprehensive coverage on the Yahoo Eurosport website, with up-to-date scores, reports, blogs, interviews and videos.
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Jim Courrier wonderful commentary, and Fabrice, but the British ones love the sound of there own voice far TOO much, Nick Mullen and Mark Petchy constantly chatting, often bearing NO relevance to the match in hand. PLEASE get rid of him. Hope he’s not commentating for Wueens next week. the ex players are AR better. Fully u dear standing when to speak/not to speak.
Jim Courier’s commentary outstanding of the semi final.
Please, please tell Jim Currie to stop talking while the players are PLAYING!!!!!! He is very annoying.