FRENCH OPEN AT A GLANCE

A quick look at the French Open:

SITE: Roland Garros, Paris SURFACE: Red clay SCHEDULE: The 15-day tournament begins today. The women’s singles final is Saturday, June 9; the men’s singles final is Sunday, June 10.

TODAY: TV coverage begins at 10 a.m. on NBC. Jelena Ostapenko will not only be starting the defense of her first Grand Slam title when she steps on Court Philippe Chatrier to face Kateryna Kozlova of Ukraine — she’ll be starting the defense of her very first tour title of any sort. She was the first unseeded player in the 50-year Open era to win the women’s trophy at Roland Garros. Other Grand Slam champions on the schedule include Venus Williams against Qiang Wang of China, and Sloane Stephens against Arantxa Rus of Netherlands. No. 2 Alexander Zverev, No. 4 Grigor Dimitrov and No. 19 Kei Nishikori are among the seeded men who are scheduled to play on Day 1 at the year’s second major tournament.

LAST YEAR: Rafael Nadal beat 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 in the men’s final for his recordextending 10th championship at Roland Garros. Ostapenko earned the first tour-level title of her career by coming back to defeat Simona Halep 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

KEY STATISTIC: 79-2 — Nadal’s career record in the French Open.

BACK IN THE FIELD: Serena Williams, owner of three French Open titles and 23 major singles trophies overall, returns to Grand Slam action for the first time since winning the 2017 Australian Open — and first time since giving birth to a daughter last September. Also back: two-time champion Maria Sharapova, in the draw for the first time since 2015, after missing 2016 because of a doping suspension and 2017 because the tournament denied her a wild-card entry; and former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, who missed the tournament last year after giving birth to a son.

MISSING FROM THE

FIELD: Roger Federer is sitting out the French Open for the third consecutive year; he was injured in 2016, then decided to skip the clay-court circuit in 2017 and 2018 to rest and prepare for the grass and hard courts. Also out: Andy Murray, who had hip surgery and is hoping to be back at Wimbledon. In doubles, the Bryan twins’ record streak of 76 consecutive Grand Slam appearances ends because Bob pulled out with an injured hip. His brother, Mike, will play doubles with Sam Querrey.

PRIZE MONEY: Total prize money is nearly 40 million euros (nearly $47 million). The men’s and women’s singles champions each receive 2.2 million euros (about $2.5 million).