The Olympic Opening Ceremony in Paris in 2024 was... interesting... but the attention now turns to the athletes and what they are able to produce in the events scheduled.
There will be plenty of eyes on the athletics, gymnastics and swimming events, which really do earn their right to be in the spotlight at the Olympic Games, but fans of sports like basketball, boxing and tennis will certainly be tuning in for those events too.
Winning a Gold Medal may not be quite up there with winning a Grand Slam, but it is still a massive achievement and something tennis players speak about with real ambition. Paris will be no different with this being the second Olympic Games in the last four editions that will be played on the grounds where a Grand Slam is usually the focus.
It was Wimbledon in 2012, but the focus will be on Roland Garros in 2024 and the two French Open Champions are both favourites to win the Gold Medal. The men play a best of three format at the Olympic Games rather than best of five, which may offer up a chance for someone to upset Carlos Alcaraz as the tournament is played, but beating Iga Swiatek will be a massive challenge for every other player in the women's draw.
Doubles and Mixed Doubles are also played this week and we begin with a pretty loaded schedule on Saturday, which is hopefully much less wet than the day before.
The roof can be employed on the main show courts in Paris, but the last thing the organisers want is a week like the French Open had to cope with to open the second Slam of the season.
Iga Swiatek - 7.5 games v Irina-Camelia Begu: The Paris Olympic Games return to the famous courts of the French Open, the second time in four Olympic Games that the Tennis tournament will be played on the grounds of a Grand Slam tournament.
After another dominant showing on the red dirt which concluded with another French Open title, Iga Swiatek is going to be a very strong favourite to win the Gold Medal next week before the entire Tour shifts attention to the final Grand Slam of the season played in New York City beginning at the end of August.
The grass courts proved to be too much of a challenge for Swiatek, but the World Number 1 will be confident back on this surface and this looks a good First Round match for her to work her way into the tournament. Preparation for a return to the clay courts would have been outside of tournaments being played between Wimbledon and the Olympic Games, but Iga Swiatek is unlikely to need too much time to adjust.
She is facing an opponent who reached the Semi Final in a clay tournament played in Palermo in the build up to these Games, while Irina-Camelia Begu is a former World Number 22 and deserves respect. These days it has been much tougher work for Begu who is outside the top 100 of the World Rankings, but she did use her Protected Ranking to reach the Third Round at the French Open earlier this year.
The Romanian is very happy on the clay courts and her best results have been on the surface, but this is a massive step up and Irina-Camelia Begu has suffered some one-sided defeats to the likes of Danielle Collins and Karolina Muchova on the red dirt this season.
Iga Swiatek also crushed Begu when these players met at Wimbledon in 2021 and that is on the least favoured surface for the World Number 1. On the courts of Roland Garros, the Pole is expected to be that much happier and she may be able to crush this opponent and cover what is a very big handicap spread for a best of three set match.
However, it is a mark that Swiatek has regularly covered on the clay courts in her dominant time at the top and she can do the same here.
Naomi Osaka - 4.5 games v Angelique Kerber: Two former World Number 1 Ranked players meet in the opening Round at the Olympic Games and both Naomi Osaka and Angelique Kerber are much happier when not playing on the clay courts.
They have more in common with both players returning to the Tour in 2024 after becoming mothers, but it has always felt like Osaka may still have more to offer than 36 year old Angelique Kerber.
It has played out that way with Kerber announcing that she plans on concluding a very successful tennis career at the conclusion of her participation at the Olympic Games. Grand Slam titles have been won, but it is a very tall task for Angelique Kerber to improve on the Silver Medal she earned at the 2016 Games.
That is especially difficult on a clay court and thoughts turning to retirement may leave the German vulnerable early in the tournament against an opponent that has the qualities to return to the top of the WTA Tour.
Unsurprisingly it has been an inconsistent year for Naomi Osaka, but returning to Roland Garros may fill her with some confidence having had Match Points to beat Iga Swiatek here a couple of months ago. Hard courts might be her favourite domain, but Osaka showed she has the tools to be a threat on the clay as long as she can avoid the errors that can be a big part of her game.
Angelique Kerber is leading the head to head by four wins to two, but many of those were played at a time when the German would have been a much higher Ranked player. The most recent match was won by Naomi Osaka after a slip in her World Ranking, but there is more about the Japanese representative and she may be able to push Kerber through the door of Singles retirement after a solid victory.
Pavel Kotov - 2.5 games v Stan Wawrinka: You do have to wonder how much more Stan Wawrinka has to give a sport in which he has overachieved by winning three Grand Slam titles.
These days Wawrinka is outside of the top 100 of the World Rankings and you cannot imagine he will be wanting to fight through the Qualifiers to play in the top events on the Tour.
Consistency is always going to be difficult to maintain at the latter end of a career and Stan Wawrinka will have seen many of his peers either retire or very much in the same final furlong of their career.
The Swiss player will be looking for revenge over Pavel Kotov having been beaten by the latter on the clay courts at the French Open. This First Round match at the Olympic Games will be played on the same grounds and the expectation is that Kotov can frank the form, even though he has hardly been pulling up trees in his own recent performances.
Both players have struggled after Wimbledon with early defeats in clay court events played in Europe, but Kotov has the slightly stronger numbers. He was the better player in their match up in Paris earlier this season and the expectation is that the younger player will prevail again, even if Stan Wawrinka continues to be involved in some competitive defeats.
MY PICKS: Iga Swiatek - 7.5 Games @ 1.80 Paddy Power (2 Units)
Naomi Osaka - 4.5 Games @ 1.87 Bet Victor (2 Units)
Pavel Kotov - 2.5 Games @ 1.95 Bet Victor (2 Units)
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