Paris: The comeback of Petra Kvitova will sprinkle some much needed stardust on this year’s French Open women’s singles, with the absence of household names Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams making the draw the toughest to call in years.
Two-time champion Sharapova was denied a wildcard after returning from a doping ban and three-time winner Williams is expecting a child, while in-form Romanian Simona Halep has been struggling with an ankle injury.
“The women’s is wide open I guess, because some of the top women aren’t playing. There is an opportunity for someone who has never won one to come through,” former world number one John McEnroe said.
“It’s as wide open as it’s been for a long time. Difficult to pick someone right now.”
Adding to the uncertainty for the claycourt grand slam, which starts on Sunday, defending champion Garbine Muguruza, who has not won more than three consecutive matches on the red dirt this season, was handed a tough first-round draw against 2010 champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy.
“It’s very strange to find a first round with two past champions,” Muguruza told reporters.
“And I saw her. I think she’s playing good on clay. It’s a good match to start.”
Schiavone won the Bogota claycourt tournament and reached the final in Rabat, also on clay.
The opportunity looks tailor-made for a new name to lift the Suzanne Lenglen Cup with many pundits talking up the chances of Kristina Mladenovic, runner-up in the Stuttgart and Madrid tournaments and bidding to be the first French winner since Mary Pierce in 2000.
“[2014 runner-up] Halep was my pick but I don’t know how the ankle is? I’m hoping she will be healthy,” said 18-time grand slam champion Chris Evert.
“Mladenovic has a had a great claycourt season and I think she will not be intimidated paying in Paris at all. She will revel in it. She has reached a couple of finals and had a great match against Halep in Madrid.”
All eyes, however, will be on Kvitova when the Czech returns to competitive tennis after recovering from stab injuries sustained during a burglary last December.
Kvitova said her left, playing hand, was not in perfect shape but she was able to play. “The hand doesn’t have that power and the strength yet, but I’m working on it. Hopefully one day everything will be perfect,” the two-time Wimbledon champion told reporters.
“I’m happy that when I’m playing I don’t have pain in my hand. I didn’t test it in a match, of course. Maybe will be different when the nerves come... but so far it’s okay.”
World number one Angelique Kerber is out to find a love for clay in Paris, with the out-of-form German traditionally struggling on this surface.
Kerber said she needed to get match practice to return to the form that earned her the world number one ranking last year as well as the Australian Open and US Open titles.
Clay has never been her preferred surface, and the 29-year-old made an opening round exit in Paris last year. She has only once made it as far as the quarter-finals.
“I will just try to, you know, take it step by step and try to get in love a little bit with the clay,” Kerber said on Friday.
“Everybody knows it’s not my favourite surface, but we have to play on clay,” she said. “Also last year this was not the best weeks for me. It was my best year, but... when I played tournaments on clay, I was not playing so well.”
