The 2016 French Open is about to start, and there’s a big piece of player participation news which has affected the shape of the draw, which will be announced on Friday in Paris. While we wait on that, the biggest story of the tournament will be the world No. 1, Novak Djokovic, and his quest for his first French Open. If he managed to win it, this would be his fourth consecutive Grand Slam. However, remember that he was in a similar position last year but failed to do so. Last year, he took care of Rafael Nadal – the king of clay – in the quarterfinals and seemed to be a shoe-in to win it all. But then he stunningly lost to Stan Wawrinka in the final. There’s no Roger Federer, this isn’t Andy Murray’s surface and Nadal has taken a step back this year. This should be Djokovic’s tournament to lose but we can’t really say that since he’s never actually won it before. Here’s a look at the competition in the 128-player main draw, which begins on Sunday, May 22.
Event Details
Event: French Open
Category: ITF (International Tennis Federation) Grand Slam
Date: May 22 – June 5, 2016
Location: Stade Roland Garros – Paris, France
With a prize money allotment of roughly 32 million Euros, there will be a lot of pressure on players at this event, but also a sense of opportunity. The pressure will come from all the players who are clay-court specialists. They might not be great players, but they play a lot better on clay than they do on grass or cement. These players need to do well in Paris in order to take home a fat paycheck and make sure that their relative expertise on clay gets rewarded. They can feel that they walked away from the clay season with earnings that are commensurate with their talents. That is the sense of opportunity which accompanies this tournament for the clay-courters in the field. There will be a few more clay events in July (also in Europe), but this is the last big stage for anyone who’s particularly good on clay to make some money and win some rankings points.
There is also a sense of pressure for Novak Djokovic, who is trying to win his first French Open and thereby complete the career Grand Slam, which would put him in the same company as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
The points structure under the ITF system is that for the men, the championship means 2,000 points. A runner-up finish is worth 1,200. A semifinal result is 720 points, and a quarterfinal appearance offers 360 points.
Former Champions and Results (5 Years)
Year Champion Runner-up Score
2015 – Stan Wawrinka def. Novak Djokovic – 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4
2014 – Rafael Nadal def. Novak Djokovic – 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4
2013 – Rafael Nadal def. David Ferrer – 6-3, 6-2, 6-3
2012 – Rafael Nadal def. Novak Djokovic – 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5
2011 – Rafael Nadal def. Roger Federer – 7-5, 7-6, 5-7, 6-1
Player Info:
While Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Stan Wawrinka, and Andy Murray will form the top four seeds in Paris, one player won’t join them: Roger Federer. The 2009 French Open champion pulled out of the tournament with a back injury. It snaps Federer’s streak of 65 straight Grand Slam tournaments played, a record. Because of Federer’s pullout, Rafael Nadal will be the number four seed. The draw is Friday, but Nadal cannot face Djokovic in the quarterfinals, which was a possibility if Federer had stayed in the tournament and forced Nadal to be the No. 5 seed in the event.
Stade Roland Garros
The 2016 French Open will return to a facility which does not have lights and does not facilitate nighttime tennis, but is still one of the most memorable and beautiful facilities in the world. Court Philippe Chatrier has the largest playing surface of any tennis court in the world, which makes sense since a clay court features bouncy, topspin-oriented shots and players playing well behind the baselines, more so than on other surfaces. Court Suzanne Lenglen is a large number two court, and the number three court is called the bullring, one of the more intimate stadium courts at any Grand Slam event.
