Anyone who has spent any time in Western Europe at the end of September going into early October will know how quickly the weather cools after the summer months have finally drawn to a close. That is something the players have noted already on Sunday with a couple of the early starters complaining about the cold and you can see from the clothes being worn by the players throughout the day that it is plenty cool in Paris.
It is vastly different to when the tournament usually begins at the end of May when the weather is really picking up after the early Spring months are behind us and I do think it is going to produce some strange results over the next fortnight.
For starters we don't have the long clay court season going into Roland Garros like usual, we are expecting a lot more rain in the coming days than you would expect in May and the conditions are certainly a lot heavier than they would be in normal circumstances. Like the US Open, you can't put an asterisk beside the winner of this Grand Slam, but there is no doubt that some of the methods used to make selections in a usual Tennis season may not be as effective this time.
Hopefully I can make the adjustments as much as the players need to make their own on the court.
The First Round continues on Monday, but there is plenty of rain scheduled throughout the next few days. It may mean a delayed start in the morning in Paris aside from on the main show court which is going to be able to show off the roof they now have.
The other courts may have to wait before players can get to play on Monday, while I would not be surprised to see a number of rain delays too. Those can turn the momentum of matches, but it is something we all have to deal with in an Autumn Grand Slam.
Marin Cilic to win a set v Dominic Thiem: It is going to be a lot of fun to see how Dominic Thiem handles being a Grand Slam Champion- if he can use the new status to give himself further belief that he can now sit alongside the top names on the Tour, the Austrian will be in a position to add to the title won in New York City earlier this month.
We have not seen Dominic Thiem since he just about held himself together in a fifth set tie-breaker to win the US Open. Throughout his career Thiem has been a much stronger clay court player than a hard court one and he would have gone into Roland Garros as one of the favourites to win the tournament if it had been played back in May as scheduled.
There will be many who believe he is the favourite over the next two weeks having reached back to back Finals in Paris, although Thiem will have to overcome some really big challenges to do so. He is in the same half of the draw as Rafael Nadal, the twelve time Champion here, while Dominic Thiem was suffering win an Achilles issue at the end of the tournament at the US Open and I do wonder if he is truly going to be at 100% in time for the French Open.
Little clay court time and the unfamiliar conditions in Paris also could work against the Number 3 Seed and the First Round opponent is not an easy one. Marin Cilic is also a former US Open Champion, although it has felt like the Croatian has seen his best days on the Tour and the numbers have underlined the decline made.
Marin Cilic did win a couple of matches in Rome a couple of weeks ago which will give him some belief, but he has lost all three previous matches against Dominic Thiem and those have all come on a surface that should give the Croatian the edge. One of those losses came at the US Open earlier this month, although Cilic was able to win a set on the day.
I think he can do the same here if he plays to the kind of level that Marin Cilic produced in Rome and especially if Dominic Thiem is a little undercooked. I do think the conditions won't really suit either of these players that much, but they could hinder Cilic a little more if he is being forced to go for a little more to find some pace out of the balls which have been criticised by many already.
Even then I think Cilic is able to take advantage of Dominic Thiem's lack of tennis and potentially worrisome injury. He took a set off the eventual US Open Champion when they met there and I do think Marin Cilic is doing enough to at least take one here.
Filip Krajinovic - 7.5 games v Nikola Milojevic: The main Serbian hope at the French Open will continue to lie with the World Number 1 Novak Djokovic, but the nation is providing a number of competitors here in Paris.
Two of them are meeting in the First Round at the French Open and you do have to wonder if the Qualifying matches that Nikola Milojevic has played to enter the main draw will give him an advantage that can make this a more competitive match than it looks like being on paper. That is no disrespect to Milojevic who came from a set down to win each of this three Qualifying matches to enter the main draw, but he is also a player that has spent the majority of his career playing below the main ATP Tour level.
The 25 year old is not very far away from surpassing his career best World Ranking, but beating his compatriot Filip Krajinovic looks like being a big ask. The latter was playing really well at the Rome Masters and he pushed Novak Djokovic very hard before losing to the eventual Champion and I do think he is very comfortable on the surface.
You don't want to read too much from the small sample of matches that Krajinovic played in Rome, but he has long been someone who can get enough out of his serve to make the return game a real factor in any match he plays. His best surface looks to be the clay courts too, although it should be said that the majority of those matches would be played under very different conditions than the ones we will be seeing in Paris.
Getting used to the conditions could mean a slow start and make this feel like a lot of games to cover, especially against a Qualifier who has been here a few days and is match ready.
Nikola Milojevic has decent clay court pedigree of his own, and his numbers have to be respected even if they are not as strong as Filip Krajinovic's on either the serve or the return. Those look a lot weaker when you think of the level of competition that Milojevic generally faces compared with who he will be stepping up to face in the First Round and I do think we will see Filip Krajinovic eventually begin to wear down this opponent.
Being from the same nation should mean Krajinovic is more familiar with this Qualifier than he may have been with another and that should make him feel more comfortable with what to expect. It can also mean additional pressure on the favourite, but I think Filip Krajinovic deals with it well enough to eventually pull away for a comfortable win and a place in the Second Round.
MY PICKS: Marin Cilic to Win a Set @ 1.90 Bet Victor (2 Units)
Filip Krajinovic - 7.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet Fred (2 Units)
Hugo Gaston - 1.5 Sets @ 1.83 Paddy Power (2 Units)
Jack Sock - 1.5 Sets @ 2.10 Paddy Power (2 Units)
Pablo Carreno Busta - 5.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet365 (2 Units)
Daniil Medvedev - 5.5 Games @ 1.72 Bet365 (2 Units)
Albert Ramos-Vinolas - 1.5 Sets @ 2.00 Paddy Power (2 Units)
Tennys Sandgren + 4.5 Games @ 1.91 Coral (2 Units)
Elina Svitolina - 5.5 Games @ 1.80 William Hill (2 Units)
Magda Linette - 2.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet Fred (2 Units)
Jan-Lennard Struff - 3.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet Fred (2 Units)
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