Emma Raducanu has been given the draw from hell at the French Open. The British No. 2 is set to face four-time champion Iga Swiatek in the second round. Swiatek has not lost a match at the tournament since 2021.
Raducanu will be making just her second appearance at Roland Garros, returning to the clay-court Major for the first time since 2022. She will open her campaign against Wang Xinyu before a potential showdown with Swiatek in round two if they both win their opening matches.
Katie Boulter could also face a Grand Slam champion in the second round. Meanwhile, Jack Draper is the No. 5 seed in the men’s draw and has landed in the same quarter as Jannik Sinner. And British men Jacob Fearnley and Cameron Norrie also have nightmare first-round opponents.
If Raducanu does get past the brutal second round, she could meet Marta Kostyuk in the third round while Elena Rybakina, Belinda Bencic and 2017 champion Jelena Ostapenko are potential fourth-round opponents.
Recent Italian Open champion and No. 4 seed Jasmine Paolini could await in the quarter-final.
Some of the other Brits have also been given a tough task. British No. 1 Katie Boulter will open her campaign against a yet-to-be-determined qualifier. She could meet Australian Open winner Madison Keys in round two if they both get there.
Jodie Burrage will open against Danielle Collins, a former world No. 7 and 2022 Australian Open finalist. And Sonay Kartal will open against Erika Andreeva, the older sister of top-10 star Mirra.
The unseeded British men will also find themselves coming up against Grand Slam champions.
Fearnley will make his French Open debut against Stan Wawrinka, a three-time Major winner who lifted the trophy in Paris a decade ago. Norrie opens against former world No. 1 and 2021 US Open champion Daniil Medvedev.
Draper is the fifth seed in the draw and will face world No. 68 Mattia Bellucci in round one. The Brit could meet home favourite Gael Monfils in the second round, and teenage sensation Joao Fonseca or 30th seed Hubert Hurkacz are potential round three opponents. He is also in Sinner’s quarter.
There are some other blockbuster clashes in both draws. Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka has a tough opening match against 10th seed Paula Badosa, though the Spaniard is still coming back from an injury layoff.
Bencic, a former Olympic champion who returned from a pregnancy break this year and has already won a title in Abu Dhabi, takes on 12th seed Elena Rybakina.
On the men’s side, second seed and reigning champion Carlos Alcaraz opens against former world No. 4 Kei Nishikori. This year’s French Open will be Richard Gasquet’s final tournament as the ex-top-10 player is retiring after his home Slam.
Gasquet faces fellow Frenchman Terence Atmane in his first match and, if he wins, he could meet world No. 1 Sinner in round two.
