Roland Garros kicks off today

The main round will start at 4pm, with some notable pairs such as Hubert Hurkacz meeting David Goffin in the men's singles, or the second seed Aryna Sabalenka meeting Marta Kostyuk in the women's singles. After Sabalenka's match ended, the men's singles fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas played his opening match at Philippe Chatrier's main field, against Jiri Vesely.

At Suzanne Lenglen, Karen Khachanov opened the match against Constant Lestienne, before the eighth seed in women's singles faced tough opponent Karolina Muchova. Also on this court, Andrey Rublev played Laslo Djere and Jessica Pegula met former Australian Open runner-up Danielle Collins.

Unlike the other three Grand Slam tournaments, Roland Garros starts on Sunday, instead of Monday. The first round of men's and women's singles will take place in the first three days of the tournament.

Roland Garros 2023 witnessed many unfortunate absences of defending champion Rafael Nadal due to physical reasons. Other former Grand Slam champions such as Andy Murray or Marin Cilic were also unable to participate. Nick Kyrgios, Pablo Carreno Busta or Matteo Berrettini also cannot attend the clay Grand Slam. In the women's singles event, Naomi Osaka did not participate in the tournament because she was pregnant, while Paula Badosa and Emma Raducanu were convalescing.

The bonus fund of Roland Garros 2023 is 49.6 million Euro, equivalent to 53.3 million USD. Compared to last year, the organizers increased the bonus fund by 6.5 million USD. Those who lose in the opening match of men's singles will take home $74,000, up $7,500 from last season. This year's men's and women's singles champions received nearly $2.5 million, $107,000 more than the check Rafael Nadal and Iga Swiatek received last year.