Will Alcaraz and Swiatek steal the show?
Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, with 41 Grand Slam titles between them, will attempt to derail the growing hype surrounding teenage sensation Carlos Alcaraz at the French Open from Sunday.
All three have been placed in the top-half of the draw, meaning only one will make the Roland Garros final.
Defending champion Djokovic is seeded to face 13-time winner Nadal in the quarter-finals. Alcaraz is a potential semi-final opponent.
Djokovic, who turns 35 on Sunday, captured a second French Open title in 2021.
Djokovic has played only five tournaments in 2022 but arrives in Paris buoyed by a sixth Italian Open title, becoming just the fifth man to win 1,000 career matches in the process.
It was his 38th Masters triumph, two more than Nadal at the top of the all-time list.
Djokovic starts his French Open against 94th-ranked Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan.
Nadal began the year with a 20-match winning run, capturing a second Australian Open title to claim a record 21st Grand Slam and move ahead of Djokovic and Roger Federer.
The 35-year-old's record at the French Open stands at a staggering 105 wins and just three losses since his 2005 title-winning debut.
Nadal takes on Australia's Jordan Thompson in the first round.
Alcaraz, just 19, has rocketed to six in the world on the back of four titles -- three on clay -- in 2022.
He won a second Masters title in Madrid, sweeping Nadal, Djokovic and Zverev on the way.
"I feel I am always in contention to fight for any Grand Slam trophy. Reliving the memories from last year is something that obviously gives me goose bumps and motivation to try to replicate that.''
Alcaraz, who has 28 wins and just three defeats this year, opens his campaign on Sunday against Argentine lucky loser Juan Ignacio Londero, ranked at 141 but who made the last 16 in 2019.
Russian world number two Daniil Medvedev, who gave up a two-sets lead to lose to Nadal in the Australian Open final, only returned to action in Geneva this week after undergoing a hernia operation.
The US Open champion has 13 titles to his name but has yet to master the draining demands of clay.
At Roland Garros, he was winless in his first four visits before managing to stop the rot with a quarter-final run in 2021.
Greek world number four Tsitsipas has enjoyed a solid clay season.
He defended his Monte Carlo title before making the last-eight in Barcelona, semi-finals in Madrid and final in Rome.
"What happened in Rome is something that happened very often in my practices. But yeah, I was suffering after that for a couple of days, but I feel better. That's why I'm here."
Meanwhile, Iga Swiatek is the undeniable favourite for a second French Open title after winning her past five tournaments but says she won't be "heartbroken" if her 28-match unbeaten run comes to an end at Roland Garros.
Since the shock retirement of world number one Ashleigh Barty, the 20-year-old Swiatek has swept aside all-comers and transformed herself into the player to beat in women's tennis.
The Pole hasn't lost since falling to another former Roland Garros champion, Jelena Ostapenko, in Dubai in February. Her winning streak is the longest on the WTA tour since Serena Williams won 34 matches in a row in 2013.
Swiatek became only the second player to win four WTA 1000 titles in a season after defending her Rome crown last week.
Williams, who turns 41 in September, has not played since retiring in the first round at Wimbledon last year, and her long-time coach Patrick Mouratoglou is now working with two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep, who won her first major in Paris in 2018.
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