Rafael Nadal and Simona Halep will defend their French Open titles at Roland Garros, where play gets under way on Sunday.
World number one duo Novak Djokovic and Naomi Osaka will both bid to extend their winning runs at grand slams while Roger Federer returns to the Paris clay for the first time in four years.
Here, Press Association Sport picks out 10 other players who could make headlines.
Kiki Bertens
The 27-year-old Dutchwoman was having such a tough time at the end of the 2017 season that she considered retirement. Eighteen months later, Bertens is ranked fourth in the world. Beating Halep to win the biggest title of her career in Madrid earlier this month was a major statement, and she already has experience of success at Roland Garros having reached the last four in 2016.
Petra Kvitova
Kvitova has been the most prolific title winner on the WTA Tour over the past two seasons and reached her first grand slam final for five years at the Australian Open. A tough loss saw Osaka hit top spot in the rankings instead but Kvitova is now among the favourites on every surface.
Serena Williams
Williams’ build-up would suggest she is unlikely to last long in the city she considers her second home but she has proved many times she can turn it on at the grand slams. A knee problem that has curtailed her reduced schedule even further is a concern. The 37-year-old won the last of her three French Open titles in 2015.
Marketa Vondrousova
The Czech teenager burst onto the scene in 2017, stalled in 2018 but is now making big strides once more. Vondrousova has reached two WTA Tour finals this season as well as the quarter-finals of the big tour events in Indian Wells and Miami. Her scalps include two wins over Halep, most recently on clay in Rome last week.
Kristina Mladenovic
Eyebrows were raised when leading coach Sascha Bajin chose to work with Mladenovic after his surprise split from Osaka following the Australian Open. The confident Frenchwoman suffered an astonishing slump after reaching the quarter-finals in Paris in 2017 but she has achieved some notable recent results and may offer the best chance for home success.
Dominic Thiem
Austrian Thiem is seen as the heir to Nadal’s throne as the king of clay and reached his first slam final in Paris last summer. He was well beaten by the Spaniard on that day but defeated him on clay for the fourth successive season in Barcelona last month and went on to win the title.
Stefanos Tsitsipas
The young Greek’s run to the Australian Open semi-finals, beating Federer, cemented his status as a superstar in the making. The 20-year-old was shattered by the manner of his defeat by Nadal in the last four but turned the tables superbly when they met on clay in Madrid earlier this month. Fully believes he is ready to win a slam.
Fabio Fognini
If rankings were determined on talent alone, Fognini would be a top-10 stalwart. Consistent application has never been the Italian’s strong point but he showed what he is capable of by beating Nadal to win his first Masters title in Monte-Carlo in April. At 31, he may at last be ready to deliver.
Felix Auger-Aliassime
Not an easy name to remember, but definitely not one to forget. The breakthrough star of 2019 on the men’s side has undoubtedly been the 18-year-old Canadian, who is the 25th seed at Roland Garros. This year is probably too soon for him to make a big impact at the slams but he has already reached clay-court finals in Rio and, this weekend, Lyon.
Cristian Garin
A new name on the ATP Tour, Chilean Garin undoubtedly goes into the tournament as a dark horse. The 22-year-old is one of two players outside the top 10 to have won two titles in 2019. He is making his main draw debut at Roland Garros but won the junior title in 2013, beating Borna Coric and Alexander Zverev.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here