Alcaraz, Osaka, Murray-Wawrinka and Garcia star as Sunday Schedule confirmed for 2024 French Open

Certainly starting with a bang at the 2024 French Open which begins on Sunday 26 May as the Sunday schedule has now been confirmed and our preview as ever looks ahead to the action featuring the main matches and storylines to watch as the first round begins.

With different halves starting on different days, Carlos Alcaraz for instance headlines the opening day with his section. The Spaniard perhaps could've done with a few more days rest given his recent injury but will be hoping to hit the ground running.

Court Philippe-Chatrier is perhaps the place to be on the opening day. A lot of the time, the outer courts produce ties that in some cases are better than the main show court. This of course is down to the name value of said player and home hopes.

But across the board, there is a story in every match on Court Philippe-Chatrier to begin the fortnight. Naomi Osaka is first up. She plays Lucia Bronzetti in the opening round. A surface she has never done too well on, the former World No.1 has been watching tape of Alcaraz, Rublev and Nadal among others as she admitted during her Rome run.

A player that has been climbing the rankings, she heads into the unknown slightly. She will have to play qualifying currently for Wimbledon and it is her last tournament with a protected ranking. So the grind really begins. Albeit she has shown so far in her clay court foray in comparison to her fellow returnees that the grind is in her. But awaiting could be Iga Swiatek.

Swiatek of course is the Queen of Clay and will be likely facing Osaka in a crunch second round tie and one that is slightly odd. This is due to both having the same amount of Grand Slam titles and will be facing off at the earliest juncture. But first she has to get past Bronzetti and given her clay court prowess, it is not a foregone conclusion.

The day session is also headlined by Carlos Alcaraz. The Spaniard like alluded to is not a certainty similar to which version of Osaka turns up in the last match. His forearm has been an issue and while he says he feels good and doesn't have pain, it is all training knowledge as opposed to in game.

As the old adage goes everyone has a plan until they get smacked in the mouth and Alcaraz will get that when he faces J.J Wolf. After a few weeks away from tennis and a stop start part of his tennis, Alcaraz will begin as favourite. But how much of that is reputation and also the potential as opposed to actual reality. We will see on Sunday.

Then two contrasting ties end the day. One where perhaps nerves for the leading name may lead to an upset. Caroline Garcia will be the leading attraction for those home fans against a player who has no fear in Eva Lys. The rising German has won through qualifying and is hoping to show her obvious talent with a shock win.

But what version of Lys turns up depends on her own health with the 22-year-old having a fairly stop start career due to a rheumatic autoimmune disease (Spondylarthritis) which she revealed earlier this season to counteract comments about her being supposedly weak and not playing. Garcia has been steady if not unspectacular, she is winning games but is not back to her best yet.

Then it is the turn of two veterans: Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray will do battle. Only one of them retiring though in the latter. He will play his final French Open. Unlike Nadal, he dos have some finality to his career. Two of the leading lights in challenging the Big Three and likely a last career meeting. Both are used to the big court, spotlight and marathon matches, so likely another awaits. Perhaps one that would've received more oos and ahh's in the ceremony if Zverev v Nadal wasn't pulled out. That is on in the Night Session. Murray leads their Head to Head 13-9.

While Chatrier will be the hive of activity, there are a myriad of top names who will start their campaigns elsewhere. Ugo Humbert as a home hero, Jelena Ostapenko and former champion Barbora Krejcikova will play on Suzanne-Lenglen.

Andrey Rublev and Nicolas Jarry also play elsewhere. As do the likes of Marta Kostyuk, Grigor Dimitrov and Sebastian Korda so certainly a day to watch with matches to keep an eye on from all angles.

Lucia Bronzetti vs Naomi Osaka

JJ Wolf vs Carlos Alcaraz

Eva Lys vs Caroline Garcia

Stan Wawrinka vs Andy Murray

Ugo Humbert vs Lorenzo Sonego

Jelena Ostapenko vs Jaqueline Cristian

Richard Gasquet vs Borna Coric

Barbora Krejcikova vs Viktorija Golubic

Andrey Rublev vs Taro Daniel

Laura Siegemund vs Sofia Kenin

Chloé Paquet vs Diana Shnaider

Nicolas Jarry vs Corentin Moutet

Ajla Tomljanovic v Dayana Yastremska

Aleksandar Kovacevic v Grigor Dimitrov

Rebecca Sramkova v Amanda Anisimova

Sebastian Korda v Harold Mayot

Marie Bouzkova v Veronika Kudermetova

Hubert Hurkacz v Shintaro Mochizuki

Luca Nardi v Alexandre Muller

Alison van Uytvanck v Tamara Zidansek

Yafan Wang v Maria Timofeeva

Laura Pigossi v Marta Kostyuk

Kei Nishikori v Gabriel Diallo

Terence Atmane v Sebastian Ofner

Pedro Martinez v Thiago Agustin Tirante

Katerina Siniakova v Dalma Galfi

Fabian Marozsan v Mikhail Kukushkin

Olga Danilovic v Martina Trevisan

Zhizhen Zhang v Aleksandar Vukic

Jordan Thompson v Maximillian Marterer

Xiyu Wang v Zhuoxuan Bai

Xinyu Wang v Jule Niemeier

Donna Vekic v Lesia Tsurenko

Jack Draper v Jesper de Jong

Tatjana Maria v Clara Tauson

Laslo Djere v Daniel Altmaier

Nicolas Moreno de Alboran v Brandon Nakashima

Jessica Bouzas Maneiro v Jana Fett

Alejandro Tabilo v Zizou Bergs

Katie Volynets v Aleksandra Krunic