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

Iga Swiatek is looking formidable in Paris as it is and she got a boost she scarcely needed on Monday: her Ukrainian opponent Lesia Tsurenko retired after feeling unwell, just 31 minutes into their match.

World number one Swiatek was 4-1 up in the opening set when Tsurenko called on the trainer and had her blood pressure and pulse checked.

Following a five-minute medical timeout, the match resumed but Tsurenko threw in the towel after losing the following game to love.

Swiatek next faces American sixth seed Coco Gauff in a repeat of last year’s final, which the Pole won 6-1 6-3. She will enter the contest having spent just over four hours on court.

Wearing a ribbon in the Ukrainian colours pinned to her cap while Tsurenko had one on her top, Swiatek raced to a 4-0 lead as the world number 66 started to show signs of weakness.

She still managed to pull a break back but requested the trainer to come on court as she sat down on her bench at the change of ends.

She was seen explaining her problems to the medical staff and after being given the green light to continue, it soon became evident that she was struggling to play her shots and ended the match prematurely.

Swiatek has dropped only nine games en route to the quarter-finals as she chases a third Roland Garros title in four years.

Tuesday’s order of play

(All times local, Paris is one hour later than BST. Play from 11.00)

Philippe Chatrier

11:00: Karolina Muchova (Cze) v Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Rus)

Elina Svitolina (Ukr) v (2) Aryna Sabalenka (Blr) not before 1230

(3) Novak Djokovic (Ser) v (11) Karen Khachanov (Rus)

(1) Carlos Alcaraz Garfia (Spa) v (5) Stefanos Tsitsipas (Gre) not before 20:15

Suzanne Lenglen

11:00: Marie Bouzkova (Cze) & Sara Sorribes Tormo (Spa) v (6) Nicole Melichar (USA) & Ellen Perez (Aus)

(4) Ivan Dodig (Cro) & Austin Krajicek (USA) v (11) Kevin Krawietz (Ger) & Tim Puetz (Ger)

(7) Marta Kostyuk (Ukr) & Marcelo Arevalo (Esa) v Bianca Vanessa Andreescu (Can) & Michael Venus (Nzl)

Simonne Mathieu

11:00: (1) Wesley Koolhof (Ned) & Kenneth Skupski (Gbr) v (10) Marcel Granollers (Spa) & Horacio Zeballos (Arg)

Anna Bondar (Hun) & Greet Minnen (Bel) v (2) Cori Gauff (USA) & Jessica Pegula (USA)

Aldila Sutjiadi (Ina) & Matwe Middelkoop (Ned) v Hao-Ching Chan (Tpe) & Fabrice Martin (Fra)

On Suzanne-Lenglen and Simonne-Mathieu, it is doubles only on Tuesday. The last match of the day on Suzanne-Lenglen is a legends doubles match feat. Gabriela Sabatini!

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.

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.

The great Scot says he still reckons he can mix it with the best. Andy Murray: I still feel like a world top 10 player 

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 6/5

• Novak Djokovic 7/4

• Alexander Zverev 8/1

• Holger Rune 10/1

• Casper Rudd 14/1

• Stefanos Tsitsipas 20/1

Women’s singles:

• Iga Swiatek 4/7

• Aryna Sabalenka 7/2

• Ons Jabeur 9/1

• Coco Gauff 18/1

• Karolina Muchova 25/1

• Elina Svitolina 40/1

Odds correct as of June 5

Rune sets up grudge match after double-bounce row

By Simon Briggs, Tennis Correspondent in Paris

Denmark’s Holger Rune survived a double-bounce controversy and a deciding-set tie-break to squeeze into the French Open quarter-finals, thus setting up a grudge match against his Norwegian rival Casper Ruud.

In the latest officiating howler to enliven a fractious tournament, chair umpire Kader Nouni failed to spot that Rune had chipped back a lob from the back of the court on the second bounce.

Rune’s opponent, Francisco Cerundulo, did eventually tap away the slow-moving ball for what might – in other circumstances – have been an easy winner. However, he had already turned to Nouni in supplication while waiting for the lob to come down. As a result, he lost the point on the grounds that he had disrupted play.

This proved to be a significant moment, because Cerundulo netted a backhand on the following point to drop his serve. Rune went on to take that set 6-4, and eventually closed out his 7-6, 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 victory in a marathon 3hr 59min.

As with a similar incident involving British No1 Cameron Norrie last week, the replays were conclusive: Rune, like Norrie, should clearly have lost the point. Unfortunately for Cerundulo – who said that he blamed the umpire more than his opponent – tennis has yet to set up a Var system for these types of calls.

“For the player, is tough to give the point away,” said Cerundulo later. “I understand the tension and you want to win, and what he did. But I am really annoyed with the umpire. They have to do something with cameras, get the chance to look again the point, because you cannot do that mistake.”

“When I was hitting the ball, I didn’t know, I just ran for it,” said Rune later. “But then obviously when I saw it, after the next point on the TV, I saw it was a double bounce. But the point already happened and he called the score. So I felt sorry. Sorry for him.

“You know, this is tennis. This is sports. Some umpires, they make mistakes. Some for me; some for him. That’s life.”

From the tournament’s perspective, Rune’s survival is surely welcome. At just 20 years old, he will crack the world’s top five if he beats Ruud on Wednesday. And unlike the understated Cerundulo, he has a knack of creating drama wherever he goes.

These two Scandinavians happen to have met in last year’s French Open quarter-finals as well. That was a memorable occasion, not so much for the match itself – which Ruud won in four sets – but for the aftermath, which found Rune claiming that Ruud had come up to him in the locker-room and yelled “Ja!” in his face.

Few believed the story, given that Ruud denied the charges, and – unlike the chippy Rune – has an otherwise spotless record for good sportsmanship.

“Obviously there was drama last year and I hope we can make less drama this year,” said Rune. “We played each other in Rome. It was a good match, I think. He’s a good player. I respect him. There’s no problem. We’re good.”