ROAD TO ROLAND GARROS

After a year of disruption, these two months will be something to savor

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The French Open was in October. The Madrid Open was contested not on clay, but on pixels, in a video-game edition of the event. The most significant clay-court tournament of 2020 might have taken place in southwestern Germany, when Dustin Brown headlined the sport’s unofficial re-opening at the little-known Base Tennis club in Höhr-Grenzhausen.

The clay-court season, so steeped in tradition, could not have looked different last year. But aside from a few alterations, it’s back to business as usual in 2021.

While the lack of crowds remain a symbol of the pandemic times, the Road to Roland Garros is the first extended stretch of the tennis calendar that feels normal again. Charleston, Monte Carlo and Stuttgart, three tour-specific events in April, prime viewers and players for May’s important combined tournaments in Madrid and Rome. Things reach a crescendo in Paris, where Iga Swiatek will defend her title for the first time, and Rafael Nadal will defend his for the 13th. From the venues to the champions, it all feels right. —Ed McGrogan

Rankin Foreca : Aslan Karatsev

Already 2021’s breakthrough player, the Russian can rise even higher in May

by John Berkok