The 2018 French Open at Roland Garros has started as a study in contrasts. On the men's side, the odds have never been stronger in Rafael Nadal's favor as he looks to take his 11th French Open title.
But on the women's side, with Serena Williams playing her first Grand Slam event since giving birth to her first child in September 2017, the field has rarely been more wide open as you will see it this year in Paris.
Nadal arrives at Roland Garros in the midst of another dominant clay-court season. He came into the tourney 19-1 on his native surface, with the loss coming against Dominic Thiem in the Madrid quarterfinals.
Nadal is trying to become just the second player, male or female, to win 11 singles titles at any Grand Slam event. He would join Margaret Court, who won the Australian Open 11 times.
Thiem is the seventh seed in Alexander Zverev's portion of the draw, so he would not face Nadal until the final. Former champion Novak Djokovic comes into the tourney as the 20th seed in Zverev's half of the draw.
For the women, if Williams (currently ranked No. 453 in the world) can find her form, she could meet Maria Sharapova in the fourth round. That is by no means a given, as Sharapova had to squeak out a win in the first round. Simona Halep is the top seed, with reigning French Open champ and No. 5 seed Jelena Ostapenko seen as her most challenging competitor. And yes, that's a slap in the face to No. 2 seed Caroline Wozniacki, who will have to prove she can win the biggest matches once more before winning any bettor confidence. Elina Svitolina comes into the tourney as the hottest player and is garnering the most bettor attention.
But as FiveThirtyEight's Tom Perrotta so brilliantly broke down, the women's game has never been this wide open.
WHERE TO WATCH
Matches can be seen Thursday, May 31 through June 2 from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tennis Channel, both on TV and on the live stream via Tennis Channel Everywhere. NBC picks up their coverage on Saturday, June 2 from 12 to 3 p.m.
MEN'S TOP SEEDS
No. 1 Rafael Nadal
No. 2 Alexanfer Zverev
No. 3 Maric Cilic
No. 4 Grigor Dimitrov
No. 5 Juan Martin Del Potro
No. 6 Kevin Anderson
No. 7 Dominic Thiem
No. 8 David Goffin
WOMEN'S TOP SEEDS
No. 1 Simona Halep
No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki
No. 3 Garbine Muguruza
No. 4 Elina Svitolina
No. 5 Jelena Ostapenko
No. 6 Karolina Pliskova
No. 7 Caroline Garcia
No. 8 Petra Kvitova
BEST BETS to win the tourney according to OddsChecker.com
MEN: Nadal 2/5, Zverev 8/1, Djokovic 10/1, Thiem 10/1, Goffin 30/1
WOMEN: Svitolina 9/2, Halep 5/1, Muguruza 10/1, Kvitova 11/1, Sharapova 12/1, Williams 15/1
DAY 4 RESULTS (Wednesday, May 30)
MEN'S SINGLES (all second round)
Marco Trungelliti def. Marc Cecchinato, 6-1, 7-6, 6-1
(10) Pablo Carreno Busta def. Federico Delbonis, 7-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-4
(26) Damir Dzumhur def. Radu Albot, 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 1-6, 7-5
(13) Roberto Bautista Agut def. Santiago Giraldo, 6-4, 7-5, 6-3
(20) Novak Djokovic def. Jaume Munar, 7-6, 6-4, 6-4
(30) Fernando Verdasco def. Guido Andreozzi 6-3, 6-2, 6-2
(4) Grigor Dimitrov def. Jared Donaldson, 6-7, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 10-8
(2) Alexander Zverev def. Dusan Lajovic, 2-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2
(19) Kei Nishikori def. Benoit Paire, 6-3, 2-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
(8) David Goffin def. Corentin Moutet, 7-5, 6-0, 6-1
Matteo Berrettini def. Ernests Gulbis, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
Gilles Simon def. (12) Sam Querrey, 1-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-1
Karen Khachanov def. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 6-2, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3
(32) Gael Monfils def. Martin Lizan, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4
(7) Dominic Thiem vs. Stefanos Tsitipas (suspended); Thiem leads 6-2, 2-6, 6-4
(15) Lucas Pouille vs. Cameron Norrie (suspended); Pouille leads 6-2, 6-4, 5-7
WOMEN'S SINGLES (Second Round unless denoted)
(1) Halep def. Alison Riske, 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 (first round)
(26) Barbora Strycova def. Ekaterina Makarova, 6-4, 6-2
(8) Petra Kvitova def. Lara Arruabarrena, 6-0, 6-4
(31) Mihaela Buzarnescu def. Rebecca Peterson, 6-1, 6-2
(25) Anett Kontaveit def. Alexandra Dulgheru, 7-5, 6-2
(4) Elina Svitolina def. Viktoria Kuzmova, 6-3, 6-4
(21) Naomi Osaka def. Zarina Diyas, 6-4, 7-5
Katerina Sinikova def. Kateryna Kozlova, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4
(13) Madison Keys def. Caroline Dolehide, 6-4, 6-1
Yulia Putintseva def. Jennifer Brady, 6-4, 6-3
Wang Qiang def. Petra Martic, 6-1, 6-1
Camila Giorgi def. Mariana Duque-Marino, 6-0, 6-3
(2) Caroline Wozniacki def. Georgina Garcia Perez, 6-1, 6-0
(10) Sloane Stephens def. Magdalena Frech, 6-2, 6-2
(32) Alize Cornet def. Pauline Parmentier, 7-6, 4-6, 6-2
Maria Sakkari def. (23) Carla Suarez Navarro, 7-5, 6-3
(14) Daria Kasatkina def. Kirsten Flipkens, 6-3, 6-3
DAY 5 MATCH LINEUP
MEN'S SINGLES (Second Round)
(7) Dominic Thiem vs. Stefanos Tsitipas (suspended); Thiem leads 6-2, 2-6, 6-4
(15) Lucas Pouille vs. Cameron Norrie (suspended); Pouille leads 6-2, 6-4, 5-7
(9) John Isner vs. Horacio Zeballos
(5) Del Potro vs. Julien Benneteau
(24) Denis Shapovalov vs. Maximilian Marterer
(6) Anderson vs. Pablo Cuevas
Jurgen Zopp vs. Ruben Bemelmans
Pierre Hugues Herbert vs. Jeremy Chardy
(18) Fabio Fognini vs. Elias Ymer
Jan-Lennard Struff vs. Steve Johnson
(3) Cilic vs. Hubert Hurkacz
Mischa Zverev vs. Sergiy Stakhovsky
(16) Kyle Edmund vs. Marton Fucsovics
(1) Nadal vs. Guido Pella
Thomas Fabbiano vs. Borna Coric
(11) Diego Schwartzman vs. Adam Pavlasek
(29) Richard Gasquet vs. Malek Jaziri
(31) Albert Ramos Vinolas vs. Casper Ruud
WOMEN'S SINGLES (Second Round)
(1) Halep vs. Taylor Townsend
Serena Williams vs. Ashleigh Barty
(16) Elise Mertens vs. Heather Watson
(24) Daria Gavrilova vs. Bernarda Pera
Karolina Pliskova vs. Lucie Safarova
(11) Julia Gorges vs. Alison Van Uytvanck
(7) Garcia vs. Peng Shuai
(18) Kiki Bertens vs. Aliaksandra Sasnovich
(27) Zhang Shuai vs. Irina-Camelia Begu
(28) Maria Sharapova vs. Donna Vekic
(12) Angelique Kerber vs. Ana Bogdan
(30) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs. Samantha Stosur
(3) Muguruza vs. Fiona Ferro
Bethanie Mattek-Sands vs. Andrea Petkovic
(19) Magdalena Rybarikova vs. Belinda Bencic
(15) CoCo Vandeweghe vs. Lesia Tsurenko