Five hot topics for the French Open

1. WHY STOP AT SEVEN?

Rafael Nadal already owns a record seven French Open titles - he broke a tie with Bjorn Borg by winning last year - and is widely considered the favourite to add No.8. He is 36-2 this season, reaching the finals of all eight tournaments he’s entered, winning six. And he’s as good as it gets on red clay.

2. WHAT ABOUT ROGER FEDERER?

Almost always overmatched against Nadal, particularly on clay, Federer still can show up with the serve and forehand to beat anyone else on any surface, he just hasn’t been doing it lately as often as usual. The owner of a record 17 Grand Slam titles took a few months off to rest and recharge, so that affects the numbers, but this is the first season since 2000 that Federer has failed to win at least one title before the French Open.

3. IS THERE ANYONE ELSE?

The French Open often has produced unpredictable results and champions - Gaston Gaudio, anyone? - but this has been quite a run by the Big Three of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic: Dating back to the 2005 French Open, that trio has won 30 of the last 32 Grand Slam tournaments. And the guys who claimed the other two - Andy Murray at last year’s US Open, and Juan Martin del Potro at the 2009 US Open - both pulled out of the French Open.

4. SHOW THEM THE MONEY?

Top tennis players have been lobbying for a bigger cut of the revenues at Grand Slam tournaments, and they’re getting it. The French Open boosted overall prize money by nearly 18 per cent this year, to about €22 million (Dh105 million). And the singles champions? They each get €1.5 million, a 20 per cent increase. The US Open recently promised to hike its total purse to $50 million (Dh184 million) by 2017.

5. FRENCH CHAMPION?

It’s been quite some time since the French fans had a French champion to cheer for at their Grand Slam tournament - or any Grand Slam tournament, for that matter. Yannick Noah was the last man from France to win a major championship in tennis, and he did it all the way back in 1983 at Roland Garros. (If his last name looks familiar, it might be because his son, Joakim Noah, plays for the NBA’s Chicago Bulls.) Only Spain has as many men (three) currently ranked in the top 20 as France does: No. 8 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 9 Richard Gasquet, No. 17 Gilles Simon.