French Open order of play, Day 3 - Djokovic gets underway as Sabalenka and Boulter feature

The French Open first-round thrills continue on Tuesday, May 28 at Roland-Garros, with some of the biggest names in tennis taking to the court.

Contents

Top men’s match – Novak Djokovic v Pierre-Hugues Herbert Top women’s match – Katie Boulter v Paula Badosa Brit Watch Show courts order of play, singles – Tuesday May 28 (All UK times)Court Philippe Chatrier – From 11:00 Court Suzanne Lenglen – From 10:00 Court Simonne Mathieu – From 10:00 Court 14 – From 10:00

Top seed Novak Djokovic gets his campaign underway after an uncharacteristically inconsistent season so far.

What is more, the 24-time major winner is up against a French opponent in wildcard Pierre-Hugues Herbert in what is sure to be a lively atmosphere for the night session on Philippe-Chatrier.

Other big names in action in the men’s singles draw include Casper Ruud, Holger Rune, Alex De Minaur and Taylor Fritz.

In the women’s draw, second seed Aryna Sabalenka takes on Erika Andreeva to begin her bid for a second Slam in a row after her Australian Open triumph in January.

No. 4 seed Elena Rybakina is also in action, while there is a mouthwatering clash between Britain’s Katie Boulter and Paula Badosa.

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Top men’s match – Novak Djokovic v Pierre-Hugues Herbert

There is no other way of putting it – Novak Djokovic is out of sorts. The normally unflappable Serbian has had a decidedly below-par season so far by his sky-high standards.

He remains world No. 1, but Djokovic’s 2024 has been far from impressive; he is yet to reach a final and warmed up for Roland-Garros with a shock second-round defeat to Alejandro Tabilo in Rome and semi-final exit to Tomas Machac at the ATP 250 event in Geneva.

Standing in his way is an opponent ranked 141 places below him, but 33-year-old Herbert has nothing to lose on one of the biggest nights of his career and will have the backing of his home crowd.

Doubles expert Herbert is unlikely to have enough to match Djokovic, but it will be intriguing to see what form the Serbian is in as he kicks off a tournament he goes into with, in his own words, “low expectations but high hopes.”

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Top women’s match – Katie Boulter v Paula Badosa

Katie Boulter is flying the flag for British hopes in the women’s draw as the last player standing, but she was handed a nightmare draw when former world No. 2 Badosa came out of the hat.

Badosa is a former quarter-finalist at Roland-Garros and comes to Paris on the back of a decent run in Rome, where she battled her way to the fourth round before taking Coco Gauff to three sets in defeat.

Boulter is the 26th seed but does not have the feel for clay that her Spanish opponent does, this being her first appearance in the main draw of the French Open.

However, the 27-year-old is enjoying a strong season and won her second career title and first at WTA 500 level in San Diego last month.

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Brit Watch

Boulter is the last player left in the women’s draw, while there is one man left standing too: Dan Evans.

The experienced world No. 62 is up against 13th seed Rune and will be hoping to inject a spark into a disappointing season with a shock victory.

So far in 2024, Evans has a 3-12 record, and he has not won a tour-level match since beating Lorenzo Sonego in the Miami Open first round back in March.