French Open 2022 tennis: Novak Djokovic returns to defend crown, Rafael Nadal chases 14th title – watch live in India
Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have been drawn in the same half at this year’s French Open. Watch live!
French Open 2022, the second tennis Grand Slam of the year, will see defending men’s singles champion Novak Djokovic take on a strong field that includes record 13-time winner Rafael Nadal. The main draw at Roland Garros runs from May 22 to June 4.
While Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, the top seed, starts his title defence against Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan, Spain’s Rafael Nadal will take on Australian Jordan Thompson in his opening match.
This will be Djokovic's first Grand Slam of the year after missing the Australian Open due to visa issues.
Both Djokovic and Nadal have been drawn in the same half and could face each other in the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, rising 19-year-old clay-court star Carlos Alcaraz, who beat Djokovic and Nadal at the Madrid Masters, is also in the same half and is a front-runner to clinch the title at Roland Garros. He rose to sixth in the ATP rankings after winning the Barcelona Open and Madrid Masters in the run-up to Paris.
The opposite half features world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev, previous edition’s finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas, ace clay player Casper Ruud and Andrey Rublev.
In the women’s singles, 2020 French Open champion and current world No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland is the favourite. She won the Stuttgart Open in April before clinching the Italian Open last week.
Defending champion Barbora Krejcikova will have her task cut out as she returns to the court after three months due to an injury.
Paula Badosa, Maria Sakkari and Anett Kontaveit, the world No. 3, 4 and 5, respectively, will be the other players to watch out for in the women’s singles.
The big names missing from the French Open 2022 are Roger Federer and Serena Williams. While 20-time Grand Slam winner Federer is still recuperating from his knee surgery, 23-time major winner Williams hasn’t competed since last June.
The French Open 2022 will not feature any Indian tennis players in the singles main draw after Ramkumar Ramanathan, Sumit Nagal and Yuki Bhambri crashed out in the qualifiers.
However, India will have representation in the doubles.
While Sania Mirza will team up with Lucie Hradecka of Czech Republic in the women’s doubles, the men’s doubles will see Rohana Bopanna partner up with Dutchman Matwe Middelkoop and Ramkumar Ramanathan tag along with Hunter Reese of the USA.
Where to watch the French Open 2022 live in India?
Select French Open 2022 tennis matches will be telecast live on the Sony SIX, Sony TEN 2 (English) and Sony TEN 4 (Tamil and Telugu) TV channels in India. The Roland Garros will also broadcast in Hindi on Sony TEN 3 TV channels.
Live streaming of the French Open will be available on SonyLIV.