It's clay-court season and its pinnacle event, the French Open, is upon us. The 15-day tournament begins Sunday. The women’s singles final is June 9; the men's singles final is June 10.
The second Grand Slam of the year has plenty of great matches to offer since day one. Rafael Nadal and Li Na are the defending champions and are poised to repeat.
There are two main stories everyone will be following.
Nadal has a career record of 45-1 at the French Open. This year, he will be trying to break the singles titles record he shares with Bjorn Borg and he is gunning to become the first man to win the tournament seven times.
The world's No. 1 Novak Djokovic also has an achievement on his sights. First and foremost, he is trying to complete the career Grand Slam and complete winning all four in a row—although not in the same calendar year.
He is also trying to become the first man in 43 years to win it—last year, this tournament was the one who got away. In 1969, Rod Laver won all four Grand Slam tournaments, something that has been done only three times in history—Laver also did it in 1962, and Don Budge in 1938.
Another player that will garner a lot of attention as usual will be 16-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer. He had been playing great as he had reached the No. 2 ranking in the world this year and will be looking to win one more Slam.
On the women's side, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova headline the favorites to win the tournament. But expect the world's No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, Agnieszka Radwanska and Petra Kvitova will have a saying in that.
Among the notable players missing the tournament will be Kim Clijsters, Mardy Fish, Gael Monfils, Robin Soderling and Kei Nishikori.
The tournament is a great source of TV coverage. According to the official French Open webpage, in 2011, no fewer than 137 channels in 178 countries broadcast 11,615 hours of dedicated coverage, of which over 69% was live.
That is some heavy coverage and in 2012 you can expect more of the same. This almost ensures that whenever you get a chance to watch it on TV, you will have a channel with the coverage of the event.
NBC, ESPN2 and the Tennis Channel will have the coverage of this year’s French Open, which begins Sunday in Paris. Let's take a look at the breakdown of the day-by-day listings of the TV schedule for the entire tournament:
Sunday, May 27
5:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. - First round, ESPN2
10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. - First round, Tennis Channel
12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. - First round, NBC
Monday, May 28
5:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. - First round, ESPN2
10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. - First round, Tennis Channel
Tuesday, May 29
5:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. - First round, ESPN2
10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. - First round, Tennis Channel
Wednesday, May 30
5:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. - Second round, ESPN2
10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. - Second round, Tennis Channel
Thursday, May 31
5:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. - Second round, ESPN2
10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. - Second round, Tennis Channel
Friday, June 1
5:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. - Third round, ESPN2
10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. - Third round, Tennis Channel
Saturday, June 2
5:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. - Third round, Tennis Channel
12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. - Third round, NBC
Sunday, June 3
5:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. - Round of 16, Tennis Channel
1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. - Round of 16, NBC
Monday, June 4
5:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. - Round of 16, ESPN2
10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. - Round of 16, Tennis Channel
Tuesday, June 5
8:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. - Quarterfinals, Tennis
1:00 - 7:00 p.m. - Quarterfinals (live and same-day tape), ESPN2
Wednesday, June 6
8:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. - Quarterfinals, ESPN2
Thursday, June 7
8:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. - Women’s semifinals, ESPN2
Friday, June 8
7:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. - Men’s semifinal, Tennis Channel
11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. - Men’s semifinal, NBC
Saturday, June 9
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. - Women’s final, NBC
Sunday, June 10
9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. - Men’s final, NBC
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