Who would you pick as your favourite to lift Coupe Suzanne Lenglen at Roland Garros next month?
Serena Williams, winner of a record 23 grand slam singles, is taking a sabbatical from the sport to have her first child.
Maria Sharapova, winner of two French Open titles in the past five years, is returning from a 15-month doping ban and will be a bit of an unknown, that is if she manages to get a wild card.
Garbine Muguruza, the defending champion, is looking far from convincing, having lost her two matches on European clay courts this season.
What about Angelique Kerber, the world No 1? Again, like Muguruza, she is not really having a great year and her French Open record — one quarter-final in nine main draw appearances — does not really inspire much confidence. Last year, she lost in the first round.
Kristina Mladenovic would be a lot safer pick than Kerber. She has reached the final at both Stuttgart and Madrid this season, beating such seasoned players as Svetlana Kuznetsova (Madrid semi-final), Sharapova (Stuttgart semi-final) and Kerber (Stuttgart second round).
The Frenchwoman also reached the final in Acapulco and made it to the last four in Indian Wells. She was also the champion at St Petersburg.
Sitting at No 4 in the Porsche Race, Mladenovic would return home as one of the favourites for the title. But with the French looking for their first women’s champion at Roland Garros since Mary Pierce in 2000, the burden of expectations could be a heavy one to carry.
In eight previous appearances at the French Open, the Dubai resident has never progressed beyond the third round.
Simona Halep, who edged Mladenovic following a marathon two hours and 44 minutes battle in the Madrid final, has been there and done that.
The 2008 Junior French Open champion reached the senior final in 2014, but she lost to Sharapova. She had climbed to No 2 in the rankings following that performance and the semis at Wimbledon, but things have not gone to plan since, mainly because of illness and injuries.
But the Madrid win suggests Halep is a favourite in Paris. She has been working hard on the mental part of her game, especially after the loss to Johanna Konta in the quarter-final at Miami, where she was serving for the match in the second set.
That loss had to let to a temporary parting of ways with coach Darren Cahill, but they are back together and Madrid could well be the launch pad for a successful French Open campaign.
arizvi@thenational.ae
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