French Open schedule 2023: How to watch and today’s order of play

After progressing to his 14th-consecutive fourth round at Roland Garros, Novak Djokovic dodged questions about the strange metal patch he has been wearing on his chest. “Just trying to be the Iron Man of tennis,” he said, with a wry smile. But on Philippe-Chatrier Court he looked far from his super-hero idol.

He won a fraught three-set win over Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, which felt like a survival of sorts, in particular during the two gruelling opening tiebreak sets which lasted almost three hours.

Saturday’s order of play

(All times local, +1 hour from BST)

Philippe Chatrier
10:45: (4) Elena Rybakina (Kaz) v Sara Sorribes Tormo (Spa), (6) Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune (Den) v Genaro Alberto Olivieri (Arg), (1) Iga Swiatek (Pol) v Xin Yu Wang (Chn), (22) Alexander Zverev (Ger) v (12) Frances Tiafoe (USA)

Suzanne Lenglen
10:00: Zhizhen Zhang (Chn) v (4) Casper Ruud (Nor), Mirra Andreeva (Rus) v (6) Cori Gauff (USA), (23) Francisco Cerundolo (Arg) v (9) Taylor Harry Fritz (USA), Olga Danilovic (Ser) v (7) Ons Jabeur (Tun)

Simonne Mathieu
10:00: (27) Yoshihito Nishioka (Jpn) v Thiago Seyboth Wild (Bra), (23) Ekaterina Alexandrova (Rus) v (14) Beatriz Haddad Maia (Bra), Bianca Vanessa Andreescu (Can) v Lesia Tsurenko (Ukr), Daniel Altmaier (Ger) v (28) Grigor Dimitrov (Bul)

Court 6
10:00: (13) Marta Kostyuk (Ukr) & Elena Gabriela Ruse (Rom) v Kirsten Flipkens (Bel) & Shelby Rogers (USA), Alize Cornet (Fra) & Diane Parry (Fra) v (4) Lyudmyla Kichenok (Ukr) & Jelena Ostapenko (Lat), (13) Jamie Murray (GB) & Michael Venus (Nzl) v (3) Marcelo Arevalo (Esa) & Jean-Julien Rojer (Ned), (5) Lyudmyla Kichenok (Ukr) & Matthew Ebden (Aus) v Asia Muhammad (USA) & Lloyd Glasspool (GB)

Court 7
10:00: (7) Shuko Aoyama (Jpn) & Ena Shibahara (Jpn) v Anna Bondar (Hun) & Greet Minnen (Bel), Nicolas Jarry (Chi) v Marcos Giron (USA), Elisabetta Cocciaretto (Ita) v Bernarda Pera (USA)

Court 9
11:00: Elixane Lechemia (Fra) & Albano Olivetti (Fra) v Miyu Kato (Jpn) & Tim Puetz (Ger), (14) Latisha Chan (Tpe) & Hao-Ching Chan (Tpe) v Timea Babos (Hun) & Anna Danilina (Kaz), Leolia Jeanjean (Fra) & Jonathan Eysseric (Fra) v Storm Hunter (Aus) & John Peers (Aus), (3) Giuliana Olmos (Mex) & Neal Skupski (GB) v Aldila Sutjiadi (Ina) & Matwe Middelkoop (Ned)

Court 13
10:00: (1) Wesley Koolhof (Ned) & Kenneth Skupski (GB) v Aleksandr Nedovyesov (Kaz) & Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (Mex), Alycia Parks (USA) & Peyton Stearns (USA) v (6) Nicole Melichar (USA) & Ellen Perez (Aus), Luisa Stefani (Bra) & Rafael Matos (Bra) v (8) Shuai Zhang (Chn) & Ivan Dodig (Cro), (14) Maximo Gonzalez (Arg) & Andres Molteni (Arg) v (2) Rajeev Ram (USA) & Joe Salisbury (GB)

Court 14
10:00: (3) Storm Hunter (Aus) & Elise Mertens (Bel) v Ingrid Martins (Bra) & Iryna Shymanovich (Blr), (15) Borna Coric (Cro) v Tomas Martin Etcheverry (Arg), Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (Svk) v Kayla Day (USA), Victoria Azarenka (Blr) & Beatriz Haddad Maia (Bra) v (2) Cori Gauff (USA) & Jessica Pegula (USA)

How to watch the French Open 2023 on TV

In the UK, Eurosport has the broadcasting rights to live action from Paris. 273 live hours will be shown on Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2 complementing the digital offering on discovery+ and the Eurosport App – where every match will be available to watch live throughout the tournament.

Every qualifying, wheelchair, junior and legends match will be available to watch live.

Eurosport’s on-site presentation team includes multiple grand slam winners Mats Wilander, Chris Evert and John McEnroe, who join Alex Corretja, Laura Robson and Alizé Lim in Paris. World No 4 and 2022 finalist Casper Ruud will also offer his insights. Tim Henman and Barbara Schett will anchor coverage from the mixed-reality Cube studio in London before presenting live from Paris from the semi-final stage of the tournament.

To watch on discovery+, an entertainment and sport pass is £6.99/month or £59.99/year.

In the United States the tournament is broadcast on ESPN.

French Open draw

When is the French Open 2023 final?

The women’s final will take place on June 10. The men’s final is on June 11.

What is the French Open prize money?

The French Open total prize pool is €49.6 million (£43.2 million), up 12.3 per cent on 2022. The  men’s and women’s singles champions will each take home €2.3 million (£2 million) and the finalists will earn €1.15 million (£1 million).

Which British players are involved?

None in the men’s or women’s singles. Cameron Norrie’s tournament ended with a crushing third-round defeat to Lorenzo Musetti. Jack Draper retired from his match against Tomas Etcheverry with a shoulder problem while Dan Evans went out in the first round, losing 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis.

Britons are notably absent on the women’s side, after a dreadful qualifying tournament and due to the absence of Emma Raducanu through injury. It is the first time since 2009 that no British women have featured in the main draw at a major.

Why is Andy Murray not playing in Paris?

Andy Murray withdrew from this year’s French Open to prioritise the grass-court season in the build-up to Wimbledon.

Murray was beaten in the first round of the Italian Open and made another early exit on clay after losing to Stan Wawrinka at an ATP Challenger event in Bordeaux.

The 36-year-old is understood to still be considering which tournaments to target and they may include Surbiton from June 4-11 and then Queen’s from June 19-25.

Who are the defending champions?

Last year, Rafael Nadal became the first man to win 22nd major singles titles after sweeping aside eighth seed Ruud 6–3, 6–3, 6–0.

Swiatek solidified her status as the world’s best women’s player when she overwhelmed Gauff, who was playing in her first major singles final, 6–1, 6–3.

What are the best of the latest odds?

Having a bet at Roland Garros? Find the best French Open betting offers and free bets

Men’s singles:

• Carlos Alcaraz 6/4

• Novak Djokovic 2/1

• Holger Rune 7/1

• Alexander Zverev 14/1

• Stefanos Tsitsipas 18/1

Women’s singles:

• Iga Swiatek 19/20

• Aryna Sabalenka 15/4

• Elena Rybakina 7/1

• Ons Jabeur 25/1

• Mirra Andreeva 30/1

Odds correct as of June 2

‘Unsafe’ Sabalenka ducks grilling from Ukrainian journalist

By Molly McElwee in Paris

World No 2 Aryna Sabalenka was allowed to miss her press conference on Friday after claiming tense exchanges with journalists regarding the war in Ukraine made her feel “unsafe”.

The Belarusian was grilled by a Ukrainian journalist on Wednesday. She replied “no comment” to questions about her links to president Alexander Lukashenko, who is a close ally of Vladimir Putin and supported the Russian president’s invasion of Ukraine.

Citing her “mental health and well-being”, Sabalenka opted out of doing an open press conference after her third-round 6-2, 6-2 win over Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova. Instead, the French Tennis Federation is said to have assembled a pool of hand-picked journalists for her to speak with, and did not inform other media personnel. Telegraph Sport understands Sabalenka only took questions from the Women’s Tennis Association representative.

“After my match I spoke with the media like I normally do. I know they still expect some questions that are more about the politics and not so much about my tennis,” Sabalenka said. “For many months now I have answered these questions and been very clear in my feelings and my thoughts. These questions do not bother me after my matches. I know that I have to provide answers on things not related to my tennis or my matches, but on Wednesday I did not feel safe in [my] press conference.

“I should be able to feel safe when I do interviews with the journalists after my matches. For my own mental health and well-being, I have decided to take myself out of this situation today, and the tournament has supported me in this decision. It hasn’t been an easy few days, and now my focus is to continue to play well here in Paris.”

Under grand-slam rules, players are required to do post-match media but in recent years there has been more leniency, in particular on mental health grounds, following Naomi Osaka’s withdrawal from the French Open in 2021, when organisers fined her for boycotting press conferences.

Telegraph Sport understands Sabalenka will not be fined and has the full support of the FFT.

Ukrainian journalist Daria Mescherjakowa, who is a war refugee, has spent the first week of Roland Garros asking Russian and Belarusian players specific questions about whether they support the war in Ukraine. She was not invited to attend Sabalenka’s closed press event.

Later on Friday Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina was booed by the Parisian crowd for not shaking the hand of her Russian opponent Ana Blinkova, after a storming comeback from one set down to win 2-6, 6-2, 7-5. When Blinkova exited the court, the crowd also booed her.

Svitolina confirmed afterwards that she would continue to refrain from shaking the hands of Russian or Belarusian opponents, as a sign of support for her compatriots on the frontline.

“I’m Ukrainian. I’m standing for my country. I’m doing everything possible in the way to support, to give a good spirit for the men, for the women who are right now in the front line who are fighting for our land, for our country. So can you imagine the guy or a girl who is right now, looking at me and I’m acting like nothing is happening. I’m representing my country. I have a voice. I’m standing with Ukraine.”

Svitolina faces Russia’s top-ranked female player Daria Kasatkina – who has openly and consistently criticised Putin’s invasion – in the last 16.

Speaking after her win on Friday, the former world No 3 said it was Sabalenka’s “choice” to skip her press conference and “none of my business”. But she applauded Kasatkina’s stance as “brave”.

“I’m thankful to Dasha for taking this position. That’s what you expect from others, as well. It’s really brave from her.”