French Open 2023: Nadal, Murray, Raducanu missing, while Djokovic, Alcaraz, Swiatek favourites

PARIS For the rst time in almost 20 years, the French Open will begin this weekend with an added layer of intrigue.

With 14-time men's champion Rafael Nadal missing through injury and two-time women's champion Iga Swiatek (pictured) not as dominant as last year, the identities of both singles winners are extremely di cult to predict with any sense of certainty.

Nadal's absence for the rst time in 19 years will be keenly felt by organisers and fans, but his withdrawal has further opened up the men's draw and gives a host of players extra encouragement they can win.

And an injury scare for Swiatek, whose position as the WTA world number one has been challenged by Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina, also leaves that draw open.

Cameron Norrie, seeded 14th, leads the British charge at a venue where the nation's players have had limited success this century. Neither Andy Murray nor Emma Raducanu will be appearing at Roland Garros and no British women have quali ed for the singles.

The clay-court tournament starts on 28 May, concluding with the nals on 10 and 11 June.

While nothing in sport is ever certain, Nadal lifting the Coupe des Mousquetaires has been as close as anything.

Not this year. Nadal, who has lost only three of his 115 career matches at Roland Garros and is known as the 'King of Clay', is out with a longterm hip injury.

Before last week's announcement that the 36-year-old would not be able to play, Nadal had already slipped behind Spanish world number one Carlos Alcaraz and Serbia's 22-time major champion Novak Djokovic as the favourite in the eyes of many observers.

Following a dominant start to the season, Alcaraz is heavily tipped to be only the fth man since 2005 to claim the title.

After missing the Australian Open with an injury, the 20-year-old US Open champion returned to win four of his next six tournaments - Buenos Aires, Indian Wells, Barcelona and Madrid, while also reaching the Rio de Janeiro nal and Miami semi- nals.

Alcaraz is aiming to do what only Nadal, Djokovic, Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka have done since 2005 - win the men's singles title at Roland Garros

Back-to-back titles in Barcelona and Madrid helped extend Alcaraz's record to 20 wins from his 21 matches on clay this season. Then came an unexpected twist in Rome.

Alcaraz lost to Hungarian quali er Fabian Marozsan in the Italian Open last 32 and showed a fallibility not seen in the preceding weeks.

Djokovic has won ve of the past seven Grand Slam tournaments he has played in and knows a third victory at Roland Garros will put him ahead of Nadal in terms of most major men's singles titles.

But his preparations have been far from smooth.

The 36-year-old, who celebrated his birthday this week, missed the Madrid Open with an elbow injury and did not look entirely comfortable in Rome before losing in the quarter- nals.

Nevertheless, Djokovic has the pedigree, experience and history of winning the biggest titles - even in the face of adversity.

Russia's Daniil Medvedev has jumped above Djokovic to be seeded second after winning the rst clay-court title of his career in Rome.

Medvedev, 27, has long been seen as a hard-court specialist and few thought he would ever enjoy success on a surface he once described as only being suitable for "dogs playing in the dirt".

Danish youngster Holger Rune, who beat Djokovic in Rome before losing to Medvedev, has further showcased his talent in an impressive clay-court season and the 20-year-old world number six is being tipped to go far in Paris.

Murray, 36, withdrew at the weekend to prioritise the grass-court season in the build-up to Wimbledon.

Carlos Alcaraz is the top seed in the men's singles, followed by Daniil Medvedev, Novak Djokovic, Casper Ruud, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Holger Rune, Andrey Rublev and Jannik Sinner

For a number of years, ever since Serena Williams was in her pomp, the women's game has seen a revolving door of major champions.

In the past year, Swiatek has emerged as the dominant force, taking over as the world number one when Australian Ashleigh Barty retired, then winning the Roland Garros and US Open titles.

The 21-year-old from Poland is enjoying another successful season while - understandably - not reaching the same heights as last year when she won 37 matches in a row.

Swiatek has won two titles so far in 2023 - Doha and Stuttgart - but is coming under increasing pressure from Belarus' Sabalenka and

Kazakhstan's Rybakina.

With Sabalenka claiming her rst major title at the Australian Open in January, and Rybakina winning the Wimbledon title between Swiatek's two major victories last year, the trio are fast becoming the WTA's new 'Big Three'. Sabalenka, having complemented her natural power with improvements in her movement, has won more titles (three) and reached more nals ( ve) than anyone else this season.

On clay, the world number two lost in the Stuttgart nal to Swiatek before avenging that loss by beating her to win the Madrid trophy. However, she su ered a shock early exit in Rome which led to her saying she was "exhausted".

Meanwhile, Rybakina has elevated herself to the third favourite behind Swiatek and Sabalenka after winning the biggest clay-court title of her career in Rome. The triumph came in peculiar circumstances, however, having seen three of her six opponents retire through injury.

While Swiatek, Sabalenka and Rybakina have each won one of the three biggest claycourt tournaments leading into Roland Garros, as well as the past four Grand Slams between them, several French Open champions have emerged from the shadows in recent years. Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko was one of the them in 2017 as an unseeded 20-year-old and her run to the Rome semi- nals was a reminder of how successful her game can be on the surface.

American teenager Coco Gau lost to Swiatek in last year's nal but the sixth seed has not managed to string together back-to-back wins on the European clay, while third seed Jessica Pegula - also Gau 's doubles partner has maintained her consistency this year.

From a British perspective, Raducanu is out injured following surgeries on her wrists and ankle, and seven other women failed to come through qualifying, leaving the nation without representation in the women's singles at a Grand Slam for the rst time since the 2009 US Open. BBC Sport