One of the biggest tournaments in the tennis world will be wrapping up the weekend of June 7 and 8. Roland Garros, or as it is nicknamed, The French Open, spans from Sunday, May 25 to Sunday, June 8.

The French Open is one of four “Grand Slams,” the biggest tournaments a tennis player can play in. The other Grand Slams are the US Open, Wimbledon, and the Australian Open. The US and Australian Opens are played on hard courts, Wimbledon on grass, and Roland Garros on clay.

Clay is interesting: due to the nature of the clay, the ball is slowed down and bounces higher. This makes for long matches and favors players with more endurance than strength.

The main focus of the French Open, like most tennis tournaments, is the singles. On the women’s side, the number one player, Belarusian, Aryana Sabalenka, is holding strong. Sabalenka is a strong player who definitely favors strength. She will have to face defending champion, #5 seed Iga Swiatek (SWI), which is definitely going to be a match to watch. 

On the other side of the draw #2 seed Coco Gauff will face #7 seed and fellow American Madison Keys. The winner of that match will face either #6 seed, 17-year-old, Mirra Andreeva or unseeded French player: Lois Boisson.

In the men’s draw, #1 seed and #1 player in the world Jannik Sinner (ITA) has been cruising through. He has yet to drop a set, which is very impressive considering he is playing amongst the best in the world. 

Sinner’s predicted final opponent, Carlos Alcaraz (ESP), has had a little bit more trouble. He has dropped three sets throughout his four matches. Most recently to #13, American Ben Shelton. Alcaraz is the defending champion, so he will be a tough opponent to anyone who meets him in the draw. 

Overall, it has been a wonderful week and a half of tennis and it is looking like it will just keep getting better. Due to the long matches at Roland Garros, it is easy to catch a few sets even with the time-difference from France to the United States.