French Open to tighten security in wake of attacks

In the women’s draw, top seed, defending champion and strong favourite Serena Williams takes on Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova in the first round.

After battling illness and injury in recent years, Nadal has two titles on the red dust this year, the Masters in Monte Carlo and the Barcelona Open.

Their rivalry began in 2006 at Roland Garros and Djokovic has the edge at 26-23, claiming the pair’s last seven encounters since losing the 2014 final in Paris to the Spaniard.

Federer’s run of 65 straight majors came to an end when he announced on his Facebook page: “I regret to announce that I have made the decision not to play in this year’s French Open”.

Roland Garros this season will mark the first time his name will not appear in the main draw for a Grand Slam since the 1999 US Open, which was won by Andre Agassi over Todd Martin. The 46th-ranked Bouchard is coming off an impressive win over the 2nd ranked Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber in the second round of the Rome Masters. “So you don’t have as much time to start preparing for it and that’s what makes it tricky”.

“The positives are that often a lot of the qualifiers maybe have not played on the bigger courts and stuff and maybe you can capitalize a bit on that at the beginning if they are a little bit nervous”.

Djokovic should have few problems before the fourth round, where 14th-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut could be waiting. She could face Victoria Azarenka in the quarterfinals, Kerber in the semifinals and Agnieszka Radwanska in the final.

On the women’s front, top seed American Serena, who takes on Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia in her opening round, has been drawn into the same quarter with former world No.1 Victoria Azarenka before taking on Australian Open victor Angelique Kerber in a potential semi-final clash.

In the women’s draw, champion Serena Williams – targeting a fourth French Open title – could meet 2010 victor Francesca Schiavone in round three.

“Four tournaments, three finals isn’t bad for everyone else, but then again I’m not everyone else”, said Williams, who lost to Azarenka in the Indian Wells final in March.

The French tennis federation (FFT) said there will be three mandatory check points for entry into the Roland Garros tennis complex during the clay-court Grand Slam tournament, and spectators will be subjected to systematic body searches.

British women’s number one Johanna Konta, in her first slam as a seed, was drawn against German Julia Goerges.