Most of the buzz before and during Friday’s French Open singles draw ceremony centered around where No6 seed and nine-time defending champion Rafael Nadal would fall, with the inevitability that he could face one of the top four seeds if he reaches the quarter-final stage. The worst-case scenario occurred; Nadal and No1 Novak Djokovic were drawn in the same quarter.
But if there can be only one men’s and one women’s champion three Sundays from now, a good result can be measured in a lot of different ways for the 127 players in each draw who won’t be holding up the trophy.