The second major of the year, the French Open Is starting in less than five days. This is an exhilarating time for tennis enthusiasts, as some even wake up in the early hours of the morning to watch matches. The French Open is the second major tournament of the year and goes from May 19 to June 7th.

However, there are three big tournaments that happen in the weeks before. The first is Monte Carlo, followed by the Madrid Masters and then the Rome Masters. The only player to win the French Open and the other three tournaments in the same year is Rafael Nadal, the five time defending champion.

“I pray that Fernando Verdasco will win since he is my favorite. But I am pretty sure he won’t win since he has never won a major before and he is 31 years old” Sophomore Regis Liou said.

On the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) season, the major tournaments carry the most points out of all of the tournaments on tour, each of them carrying 2,000 points. The more points a player accumulates, the better their ranking will be. The player with the most points becomes number one in the world.

The French Open carries 2,000 points, while Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome all carry 1,000 points. Therefore, there are 5,000 points up for grabs, while Nadal has 3,000 points to defend over the clay court swing. Nadal is currently number five in the world, carrying 5,225 points

Fan favorite Roger Federer is hoping to win the title for the first time since 2009, and the second clay court title of the year. Rafael Nadal is struggling to find form, and dropped significantly. Novak Djokovic has not stopped his utter dominance this season, and is the favorite to win this year.
“Novak is straight fire right now and I don’t think anyone will stop him now.” senior David Muskal said.

Neil Yejjey