The French Open, which gets under way on Sunday in Paris, looks to be a tale of two tournaments. On the men’s side, the storyline is inevitably: three-time defending champion Rafael Nadal is a prohibitive favourite to extend his winning streak at Roland Garros and cement his status as the greatest clay-court practitioner that tennis has ever seen (while thwarting, again, Roger Federer’s hopes of winning the French and bolstering his claim to being the best player of all time).

On the women’s side, by contrast, the storyline is disarray and unpredictability. The shock retirement last week of three-time defending champion Justine Henin has thrown the draw into chaos and created hope where very little previously existed.