Roland Garros starts today

The 2023 Grand Slam of Clay will kick off its main draw today, May 28, with 40 men's and women's singles matches.

The main draw will begin at 4pm, with some notable pairings including Hubert Hurkacz vs David Goffin in the men's singles, or second seed Aryna Sabalenka vs Marta Kostyuk in the women's singles. After Sabalenka's match, fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas will play his opening match on Philippe Chatrier Court against Jiri Vesely.

On Court Suzanne Lenglen, Karen Khachanov opens against Constant Lestienne, before the eighth seed faces tough opponent Karolina Muchova. Also on the same court, Andrey Rublev plays Laslo Djere while Jessica Pegula meets former Australian Open runner-up Danielle Collins.

Roland Garros 2023 is the tournament with the largest prize money in history among clay tournaments. Photo: AP

Unlike the other three Grand Slam tournaments, Roland Garros starts on Sunday, instead of Monday. The first round of the men's and women's singles will take place over the first three days of the tournament.

Roland Garros 2023 witnessed many unfortunate absences of defending champion Rafael Nadal due to physical reasons. Other former Grand Slam champions such as Andy Murray or Marin Cilic could not participate. Nick Kyrgios, Pablo Carreno Busta or Matteo Berrettini could not participate in the clay Grand Slam. In the women's singles, Naomi Osaka did not participate in the tournament because she was pregnant, while Paula Badosa and Emma Raducanu were injured.

The prize fund for Roland Garros 2023 is 49.6 million euros, equivalent to 53.3 million USD. Compared to last year, the organizers increased the prize fund by 6.5 million USD. The losers in the opening match of the men's singles will take home 74,000 USD, up 7,500 USD from last season. This year's men's and women's singles champions will receive nearly 2.5 million USD, 107,000 USD more than the checks that Rafael Nadal and Iga Swiatek received last year.

Vy Anh

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