PARIS, May 20, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - The 2024 French Open gets underway at Roland 
Garros on Sunday with Novak Djokovic and Iga Swiatek defending their singles 
titles.

Ahead of the second Grand Slam tournament of the season, AFP Sport looks at 
three talking points:

- Nadal leads parade of farewells -

Rafael Nadal might not add to his record haul of 14 French Opens, but he will 
still comfortably be one of the standout stars at the tournament, win or 
lose.

The 22-time major winner, whose career twilight has been darkened further by 
injuries since January last year, will play the tournament for the last time.

Now ranked a lowly 305, former world number one Nadal was champion on his 
debut in 2005 when he was still a teenager. At this French Open, he will 
celebrate his 38th birthday.

He boasts a legacy unlikely ever to be matched -- just three defeats in 115 
matches in Paris.

Also playing their final French Open are Dominic Thiem, the 2018 and 2019 
runner-up to Nadal, and Andy Murray who made the final in 2016 and remains 
the only British man since Bunny Austin in 1937 to reach the championship 
match in Paris.

Stan Wawrinka, the 2015 champion, has yet to clarify his plans but if he were 
to keep playing he'd be 40 by the time the 2025 edition rolls around.

- Djokovic, Alcaraz and Sinner woes -

World number one and defending champion Novak Djokovic will be targeting a 
fourth French Open title to break a tie with three-time winners Mats 
Wilander, Gustavo Kuerten and Ivan Lendl.

However, the record 24-time Grand Slam champion will arrive in Paris without 
a title in the season for the first time since 2018 unless he clinches the 
Geneva trophy this coming week having decided to take a last-minute wild card 
at the Swiss event.

Djokovic has yet to make a final this year with runs to the Australian Open 
and Monte Carlo Masters semi-finals his best efforts.

Meanwhile, world number two Jannik Sinner, who took Djokovic's Australian 
Open crown, has been burdened by a hip injury which forced a withdrawal in 
Madrid.

Third-ranked Carlos Alcaraz joined Sinner in sitting out the Rome Open to 
recover from an arm injury.

- Mums the word -

Former world number one players and Grand Slam title winners Naomi Osaka and 
Angelique Kerber return to the French Open after taking time out to start 
families.

Osaka, 26 and a four-time major winner, has endured a bittersweet 
relationship with Roland Garros.

In 2021, she was fined for opting out of mandatory media commitments before 
withdrawing from the competition after just one match insisting she was 
protecting her mental health.

Osaka missed the 2023 event with pregnancy before giving birth to a baby girl 
in July.

Three-time Grand Slam champion Kerber also returned to the tour this year 
after 18 months away after having a daughter.

Ten years older than Osaka, Kerber's ranking stands at 331. She is a two-time 
quarter-finalist in Paris.

As the new mums return to the French Open, two other top five players, two-
time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova and Olympic champion Belinda Bencic sit 
out the 2024 edition as they are both on maternity leave.