The much-anticipated French Open 2024 tennis tournament gets underway at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France on Monday. The main draw matches at the second grand slam of the year begin on May 26. Sumit Nagal secured his place in the main draw of the men’s singles thanks to his career-high world ranking of 80. He is the first Indian male player to qualify for the French Open main draw since Prajnesh Gunneswaran in 2019.

The 26-year-old Nagal recently stunned world No. 38 Matteo Arnaldi at the Monte Carlo Masters where he became the first Indian tennis player to qualify for the main draw of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in 42 years.

The centre of attention in the men’s singles will be the ‘King of Clay’ Rafael Nadal of Spain and Serbia’s world No. 1 Novak Djokovic. Nadal had missed the French Open last year for the first time since 2004 due to an abdominal muscle tear.

The Spaniard has won a record 14 French Open titles while his Serbian opponent won his record 24th Grand Slam men’s singles title at the French Open last year to get past Nadal. It was Djokovic’s third title victory at the Roland Garros. Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have played many memorable matches at the Roland Garros over the years.