Thousands of spectators made their way through the Roland Garros gates under cloudy skies with intervals of sunshine to attend the French Open as the year\u2019s second Grand Slam tournament got underway in western Paris on Sunday.
\nPanama hats and sunglasses were tucked away on a cool morning but could well be needed later, with temperatures expected to reach 22 degrees Celsius.
\nWith fit-again 14-times champion Rafa Nadal back at Roland Garros and playing fourth seed Alexander Zverev on Monday, Parisian fans gathered to watch former world number one Naomi Osaka face Lucia Bronzetti in Sunday\u2019s opener on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
\nNadal\u2019s fellow Spaniard and third seed Carlos Alcaraz, who is tipped to capture his first French Open despite only recently shaking off a forearm injury, meets American J.J. Wolf in the second match on the court.
\n\u201cI really want to see an American go far but I think Alcaraz is going to follow in Nadal\u2019s footsteps,\u201d said Jake, an American fan from New York who was attending his first French Open.
\n\u201cHe\u2019s from Spain and he\u2019s been playing really good in the different tournaments he\u2019s been in. He\u2019s won the U.S. Open, he\u2019s won Wimbledon and I think he\u2019s coming for the French Open.\u201d
\nMarseille and Dubai champion Ugo Humbert is carrying French hopes in the men\u2019s draw this year and was in action against Lorenzo Sonego on Suzanne Lenglen, the venue\u2019s second showcourt where a new retractable roof has been installed.
\nWith Caroline Garcia, Richard Gasquet, Chloe Paquet and Corentin Moutet all playing later, French fans were out in full force.
\n\u201cThis year, we\u2019re starting with the first day so we hope to see some French players, which isn\u2019t the case when you go in the middle of the week,\u201d said local fan Alex Lefevre, who has been a regular with his eight-year-old son.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re going to watch Alcaraz too but one guy we\u2019ll look out for is Nadal. Let\u2019s see if he passes the first round. If Zverev can beat him, he has a good chance to win the tournament.\u201d
\nFormer champion Stan Wawrinka and 2016 runner-up Andy Murray will close proceedings on a day featuring 40 matches.
\n(Reuters)French Open. Roland Garros gates, French Open, spectators<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Thousands of spectators attended the French Open at Roland Garros in Paris as the second Grand Slam tournament of the year began. Rafa Nadal, a 14-times champion, played fourth seed Alexander Zverev on Monday. Carlos Alcaraz, a Spaniard and third seed, is expected to do well despite recently recovering from an injury. American fans are excited to see Alcaraz’s performance. French fans are hopeful with players like Ugo Humbert in the men’s draw. Former champion Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray closed the day with 40 matches played.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":13259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11063,2829,1726,3637,932,1167,6626,8903,9605,4407,572,148,9283,2446,8555,1080,393,6730,3138,6749,11305,11306,6884,10538,586,11307,1242,443,340,3461,339,6305,18],"class_list":["post-13258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-alexander-zverev","tag-andy-murray","tag-carlos-alcaraz","tag-cloudy","tag-court","tag-draw","tag-fans","tag-follow","tag-french-open","tag-hope","tag-injury","tag-local","tag-marseille","tag-match","tag-nadal","tag-naomi-osaka","tag-new-york","tag-paris","tag-performance","tag-rafa-nadal","tag-roland-garros","tag-roland-garros-gates","tag-roof","tag-skies","tag-spain","tag-spectators","tag-sunshine","tag-temperatures","tag-tennis","tag-tournament","tag-weather","tag-who","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n