22. 05. 2009. ·
The second Grand Slam tournament of the season, with the best tennis players taking part, starts on Sunday May 24th , 2009.
128 players will try to do their best on the courts of the tennis complex during the fifteen days of the French Open. The winner will be known on June 7th .
The first round matches will be played during the first three days of the competition, on 16 courts. The main are Philippe Chatrier, Suzanne Lenglen and Court no.1.
Novak Djokovic is no.4 seed. At the very beginning of the tournament, the Serbian tennis player will play against world no.108 Nicolas Lapentti (ECU). They have never met before.
Novak might play either Brian Dabul (ARG) or a qualifier in the second round..
World number four might play vs seeded player in the third round. His possible opponents are Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER,29), 2003 French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP), Ivan Ljubicic (CRO).
Djokovic’s potential rivals in the later stages of the tournament are:
4th round: Tommy Robredo (ESP,16), Mardy Fish (USA,22), Andreas Seppi (ITA)
Quarterfinals: Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG,5), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA,9), Dmitry Tursunov (RUS,21), Igor Andreev (RUS,25), Marcos Baghdatis (CYP).
Semifinals: Roger Federer (SUI,2), Andy Roddick (USA,6), Tomas Berdych (CZE,19)
Meeting the defending champion and world no.1 Rafael Nadal (ESP) is not possible before the finals. Andy Murray (GBR,3), Gilles Simon (FRA,7), Fernando Verdasco (ESP,8), Fernando Gonzalez (CHI,12)…are also in the other half of the draw.
Nole lost to Nadal in the semifinals last year. The Spaniard will try to win his fifth consecutive title at Roland Garros.
The Roland Garros 2009 prize money is €16,150,460. The champion will get €1,060,000 and 2000 ATP points.
