Rafael Nadal stands next to his statue at Roland Garros

Photo : Roland Garros

While there was some tennis being played this week on the ATP and WTA Tours, the focus was already shifting to Paris as the players arrived for the season’s second major.

Another honour for the King

What does 13 titles at a single major get you? A statue while you’re still the favourite for a 14th.

Overall, public reaction was pretty positive, including from one of the biggest names in the history of game.

Fans were also impressed with the accuracy of the statue.

https://twitter.com/AlgerianNavy/status/1397985228640108544

Champ is ready

Iga Swiatek returns to Paris looking to become the first woman to defend this title since Justine Henin won three straight from 2005 to 2007.

As part of her preparation, she took a very important and well-advised step to ensure her health.

Be like Iga.

The players arrive in paris

Meanwhile, it was not all statues and celebrations at Roland Garros. With the tournament fast approaching, the stars arrived on site this week to get in some practice before the event begins.

And even with the pressure of a major, some players were still finding ways to have some fun.

Draw reaction

The singles draws for the French Open were revealed on Thursday. Because

Roland Garros just uses the rankings for seeding, rather than using it’s own system that more accurately seeds players based on their history at the event and on the surface like Wimbledon, Nadal is seeded third and was drawn into Novak Djokovic’s half, while Daniil Medvedev, who has never one a match at Roland Garros in five attempts, gets to be seeded second and avoid both of the tournament favourites.

And fans have some thoughts….

Obligatory Olympia cuteness

While the Ultimate Tennis Showdown flew under the radar this year, overshadowed by the run-up to the French Open, a familiar social media star once again stole the show.

Don’t Try This at Home

Roger Federer hitting the practice court with Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils was guaranteed to be fun. But this was probably not what fans were expecting to see…

In case you were wondering, this is what they were trying to do….

I guess that’s why Gael is marrying Elina — and not Roger 🤣

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