Here are the draws. The great padel back to Roland Garros

Roland Garros, one of the temples of tennis, is once again opening its doors to padel. From Monday 4 to Sunday 10, the third Premier Padel Major of 2023 will be played in Paris. It will be the fifth Premier tournament of the year (followed by NewGiza, Acapulco and Milan), as well as the first after the agreement to take over the World Padel Tour from Premier Padel was made official, for a single circuit under the governance of the International Padel Federation from 2024.

In the men’s draw, Arturo Coello and Agustin Tapia are looking for their fourth success in a row on the Premier circuit after those in Rome, Paris and Mendoza. The Spaniard and the Argentine, the third seed, were drawn at the bottom of the draw and, after benefiting from a bye in the first round, await the winner of the match between Fernandez/Cardona and Garcia Rodrigo/Ramirez.

Leading the draw of the tournament that has former French tennis player Arnaud Di Pasquale (who was also world number 39 in his career) as president of the organising committee will again be Juan Lebron and Ale Galan, who will face Gil/Sager or Semmler/Lijo in the second round. In the top half as Lebron and Galan are Paquito Navarro and Fede Chingotto (4), who drew Lamperti/Diaz or Cepero/Chozas in the second round. Stupazcuk/Di Nenno (2) instead find Solbes/Gonzalez or Diestro/Leal. The other four seeds who will skip the first round are Yanguas/Belasteguin (5), Ruiz/Tello (6), Gonzalez/Gutierrez (7) and Sanchez/Capra (8).

As happened at the Foro Italico and Madrid, in the Paris Major (with the centre court set up inside the Philippe-Chatrier) the world’s best female players will also be on the court. Leading the entry list for the women’s draw are Paula Josemaria and Ari Sanchez who, in the second round, will debut against Borrero/Sharifova or against a qualified pair.

On the other side of the draw, Gemma Triay and Marta Ortega (winners of the first historic women’s Premier tournament, in Rome) will face Aguilar Carrillo/Manquillo Alarda or two qualifiers. Number 3 seed the queens of Madrid, Delfina Brea and Bea Gonzalez. In Paris, after missing the tournaments in Rome and Madrid, star Alejandra Salazar makes her debut, who will play against Portuguese Sofia Araujo.

Unlike the 56-player men’s draw, there will be 48 pairs starting in the women’s, with the top 16 seeded players entering the field in the second round. After the weekend of qualifying, it’s on from Monday, and as always the show is guaranteed.