French Open preview

Sunday-June 10 at Roland Garros • Tennis Channel, Ch. 11

Back on the Grand Slam stage

WOMEN'S DRAW This will be Serena Williams' first Grand Slam tournament in more than a year. The owner of 23 major singles titles, a record for the Open era, Williams hasn't played on one of her sport's most prestigious stages since winning the Australian Open in January 2017. She gave birth to a daughter on Sept. 1, then dealt with medical complications, and while she originally had hoped to be back on tour by the Australian Open this January, that did not work out. Williams has played only four official singles matches in the early portion of her comeback and pulled out of clay-court warmup events in Madrid and Rome in May. She is ranked 453rd. … Maria Sharapova will be getting back on the clay of Paris for the first time in two years, after missing the 2016 tournament while serving a drug suspension, then being denied a wild-card entry in 2017.

Top seeds (*2017 champion)

1. Simona Halep, Romania

2. Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark

3. Garbine Muguruza, Spain

5. Jelena Ostapenko, Latvia*

6. Karolina Pliskova, Czech Republic

7. Caroline Garcia, France

8. Petra Kvitova, Czech Republic

MEN'S DRAW Rafael Nadal will attempt to extend his record by winning an 11th title in Paris. No other man has won more than six French Open titles in the professional era. Nadal has been nearly unbeatable on the surface, even winning 50 sets in a row until a recent setback. Nadal turns 32 on June 3, but he's never looked better on clay. … Roger Federer is healthy but sitting out this portion of the season for the second straight year in a bid to be rested and refreshed for the grass, instead of putting his 36-year-old body through the grind required on the clay. Andy Murray, the 2016 runner-up, is recovering from hip surgery. … After taking half of last year off, then struggling a lot so far this year, Novak Djokovic looked a lot closer to himself in Rome, where he competed well before losing to Nadal in their 51st career matchup.

Top seeds (*2017 champion)

1. Rafael Nadal, Spain*

2. Alexander Zverev, Germany

3. Marin Cilic, Croatia

4. Grigor Dimitrov, Bulgaria

6. Kevin Anderson, South Africa

7. Dominic Thiem, Austria