2024 French Open: Will Rafael Nadal and Jannik Sinner play? Dates, draw, top seeds, prize money

The 123rd edition of the French Open, also known as Roland Garros, is around the corner and here we give you all the information you need ahead of the clay-court Grand Slam.

When does the 2024 French Open take place?

This year’s clay-court Grand Slam starts on Sunday, May 26 and it will come to a conclusion two weeks later with the women’s final staged on Saturday, June 8 and the men’s final on Sunday, June 9.

Please tell us more about the venue for the French Open…

Stade Roland Garros in Paris has staged the French Open since 1928 with the magnificent Court Philippe Chatrier, Court Suzanne Lenglen and Court Simonne Mathieu the three world-class showpiece courts.

Originally known as Court Central, Court Philippe Chatrier was renamed in 2001 and these days it can host up to 15,225 spectators. It has a retractable roof and floodlights, which was first used in 2020. Night sessions were first introduced on Chatrier in 2021.

Court Suzanne Lenglen’s capacity has been upped to 10,068 following changes in recent years while Court Simonne Mathieu can host 5,000 spectators.

Court Simonne Mathieu replaced Court 1 as it is the most recent court to undergo a major revamp with renovations completed ahead of the 2019 edition. It is constructed four metres below ground level with greenhouses on all four sides.

READ MORE: Are we set for the most unpredictable French Open men’s draw in years?

Who are the defending champions in Paris?

Novak Djokovic defeated Casper Ruud 7–6 (7–1), 6–3, 7–5 in the 2023 final as he won a third title at Roland Garros to complete a third Career Grand Slam.

On the women’s side, Iga Swiatek successfully defended her crown as she became a three-time champion in Paris with a 6–2, 5–7, 6–4 victory over Karolina Muchova.

Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek won the men’s doubles titles, Hsieh Su-wei and Wang Xinyu were crowned women’s doubles champions and Miyu Kato and Tim Pütz lifted the mixed doubles trophy.

Who are the top 10 seeds for both events?

The seedings are based on the May 20 rankings so there could still be one or two tweaks.

As things stand Novak Djokovic will headline the men’s draw as the top seed and he will be followed Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud, Hubert Hurkacz, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Grigor Dimitrov.

On the WTA side, Iga Swiatek is followed by Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina, Jessica Pegula, Marketa Vondrousova, Maria Sakkari, Zheng Qinwen, Ons Jabeur and Jelena Ostapenko.

Any noteworthy wildcards and protected rankings entrants?

14-time champion Rafael Nadal is the most notable player to use the protected ranking as he will play in what might be his final event at the French Open. Kei Nishikori and Denis Shapovalov are the other two big-name players to use the protected ranking to enter.

Former world No 1s Naomi Osaka and Angelique Kerber used their special rankings to enter after they missed last year’s event to give birth while Bianca Andreescu has recovered from injury.

Who will miss the 2024 edition?

On the ATP side, former US Open winner Marin Cilic is the biggest absentee as he is out injured while Nick Kyrgios also remains sidelined with no one quite sure when he will return.

There are a big-names missing from the women’s draw as last year’s runner-up Karolina Muchova will miss the tournament due to a wrist injury. Two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova and reigning Olympic champion Belinda Bencic are also absent as they are on maternity leave.

Former world No 1s Venus Williams, Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki will also not feature as they didn’t receive wildcards while Dominic Thiem and Stan Wawrinka missed out on the men’s side.

2021 US Open winner Emma Raducanu will also miss the event as things stand as she didn’t make the main draw cut and also didn’t receive a wildcard. She was initially expected to play in qualifying, but withdrew. However, all is not lost as she is only a few spots away from moving into the main draw direct entry, but that all depends on other players withdrawing.

With a week to go, there are also doubts over Rafael Nadal and Jannik Sinner’s participation with both still struggling with injury. Nadal is still not fully fit following his recent injury woes while Sinner has a hip problem with both insisting they will only play if they are 100%.

When is the draw for the 2024 French Open?

The singles main draw for the 2024 clay-court Grand Slam will take place on Thursday, May 23 at 14:00 local time (13:00 BST).

What about the daily schedule?

Play officially starts at 11:00 local time (10:00 BST) all on courts except for Court Philippe Chatrier as the action only gets underway at 12:00 (11:00 BST) on the showpiece court.

There will be one singles match during the night sessions from 26 May until June 5 and the match won’t get underway before 20:15 (19:15)

The women’s singles finals will take place on June 8 at 15:00 (14:00 BST) and the men’s finals will be staged 24 hours later.

Which TV channels will broadcast the clay-court Grand Slam?

France TV is the host broadcaster and you can also catch the action on Prime Video in France. Eurosport covers the United Kingdom and mainland Europe with the exception of Austria (Servus TV), Belgium (RTBF) and Switzerland (SRG SSR).

In the United States, you can catch the French Open on NBC, Peacock TV, Tennis Channel and Bally Sport while RDS and TSN have the broadcasting rights in Canada.

Latin America and Brazil are covered by Eurosport while BeinSport, SuperSport and Canal+ will broadcast the French Open in Asia, the Middle East, North America and Sub-Saharan Africa. Australia (Channel 9), China (CMG, SSPORTS), Japan (WOWOW), India (Sony Ten) and New Zealand (Sky) all have different broadcasters.

Prize money for the 2024 French Open

The prize-money pool for Roland Garros stands at €53,478,000 (about £46m) for the 2024 tournament, up 7.82% from last year. This year’s champions will each walk away with a cool €2.4m (£2.059).