Six Canadians, Including Andreescu, Competing at French Open

Photo : Martin Sidorjak

All eyes will be on Bianca Andreescu when play gets underway at the French Open as the Canadian star will be competing in her first event in nine months.

She is one of five Canadians in the main draw at Roland-Garros over the coming weeks. Leylah Annie Fernandez joins her in the women’s singles, while Félix Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov, and Gabriel Diallo, who is making his Grand Slam debut having qualified for the first time, are in the men’s singles draw.

Rob Shaw is competing in the quad event.

Andreescu’s much-anticipated return to the court begins with meeting Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain in the first round and could face world No. 25 Anna Kalinskaya in round two.

Sorribes Tormo provides a tricky first match on the dirt, having reached the fourth round in Paris a year ago and is overall a strong clay-court player, capable of extending rallies. It will be a big test of Andreescu’s fitness in her return, although the Canadian did win their lone previous meeting in the 2021 Miami quarter-finals.

Further down the line, Dubai champion Jasmine Paolini is a potential round three opponent, with Australian Open runner-up and seventh seed Qinwen Zheng potentially looming in the fourth round followed by No. 4 seed Elena Rybakina in the quarter-finals.

Originally, Andreescu was going to start her comeback last week in Rabat. She last competed at the National Bank Open in Montreal in August 2023.

Outside of Flushing Meadows, the 2019 US Open champion has enjoyed some of her Grand Slam success at Roland-Garros, reaching the third round of the prestigious clay-court event last year. In each of the last three editions of the French Open, Andreescu has made it one round farther.

Fernandez returns to Roland-Garros for the fifth time and will face off against Jessika Ponchet of France in the first round. The world No. 33 accomplished her best result at the French Open in 2022 when she reached the quarter-finals before suffering a foot injury that derailed her campaign.

The 2021 US Open runner-up faces a tough road if she is to go on another run in Paris. She could face world No. 8 Ons Jabeur in the third round, a rematch of their recent Madrid epic. Next up could be 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko in round four, followed by world No. 3 Coco Gauff in the quarter-finals. If she does get through that gauntlet, her reward would almost certainly be a clash with the two-time defending champion Iga Swiatek in the semifinals.

On the men’s side, World No. 21 Auger-Aliassime has recently hit his stride, making it to his first ATP 1000-level final at the Mutua Madrid Open, where he fell to world No. 6 Audrey Rublev.

He will look to find similar footing on clay next week, where he will face Yoshihito Nishioka in the opening round. The Montrealer, whose best result in Paris came in 2022 when he reached the fourth round and became just the third man to push Rafael Nadal to five sets at Roland-Garros, could face American Ben Shelton in the third round before a potential showdown title-favourite Carlos Alcaraz in the last sixteen.

As for Shapovalov, the 25-year-old is set to face Luca Van Assche of France in the first round. He will look to improve on his best result of reaching the third-round last year, where he fell to the then world No. 1 Alcaraz.

In order to go deeper than his previous best, Shapovalov will need to win potential matchups against Frances Tiafoe in round two and eighth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz in round three.

One player to keep an eye on is Gabriel Diallo, who will be competing in his first Grand Slam main draw.

The 6’8 giant came through qualifying for just the third time in his career but first at a major. He defeated Genaro Alberto Olivieri, Marco Trungelliti, and Alexander Ritschard, all in three sets, to book his spot in the main draw.

It will be Diallo’s first main-tour main draw on clay. Across all levels of professional tennis, the 22-year-old had played just nine matches on the dirt coming into Roland-Garros.

Doubles and Wheelchair

In the doubles draw, Shapovalov is teaming up with Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis on the men’s side, while Fernandez and Erin Routliffe, the usual partner of Gabriela Dabrowski, take on the women’s doubles draw.

Fernandez and Townsend RG trophies — Photo: Martin Sidorjak

Last year, Fernandez reached the women’s doubles final with Taylor Townsend, but lost in three sets to Hsieh Su-Wei and Wang Xinyu.

Rob Shaw will play in both quad draws, teaming up with David Wagner of the United States in doubles. The North Bay native will compete from June 4 to 8, having made his French Open debut just last year where he reached his second quad wheelchair doubles Grand Slam final.

Main-draw play begins on Sunday in Paris.

Written By

Tennis Canada