Photo : Cameron Spencer ( Getty The fan experience of tennis has become exponentially richer with the advent of streaming. When a draw has 128 entrants, like the singles events at all four Grand Slams, its early days are stuffed with matches, and no single live broadcast can depict all the action worth watching. It’s an obsolete model, a total bottleneck. But if your cable bundle includes ESPN2 (or your former roommate’s mother-in-law’s does) you can tune in to the Australian Open, Wimbledon, or U.S. Open, and toggle between any of the ongoing matches as you wish. Not when it comes to the French Open, though. Advertisement Due to the totally fractured nature of tennis broadcasting—that’s a whole seminar for another time—the second Grand Slam event of the year wasn’t so lucky. Tennis Channel and NBC split the spoils, with the former taking most of the early-round coverage. In the channel’s hands, the clay major makes for difficult viewing, even for those people who are actively seeking it out. If you do happen to have Tennis Channel in your cable package, you will be at the mercy of whatever Tennis Channel decides to broadcast at the given moment. If you’re lucky, it’ll be tennis. At time of writing, it’s Mary Carillo doing a thoughtful segment about a mime. Carillo is wonderful, but this segment is less time-sensitive than, say, No. 2 seed Sascha Zverev’s dogfight or No. 4 seed Grigor Dimitrov sitting one set from elimination. The mime can wait. So too can interviews with bemused NHL players who happened to stop by the French Open just because they were in Paris with their girlfriends. It’s fine to just show the tennis. There’s a lot of it being played. When the main Tennis Channel broadcast is displaying live tennis, it’s not necessarily good tennis. Due to a misplaced sense of patriotism, you’ll often have to watch random Americans get wrecked while marquee names toil away in obscurity. What, if any, segment of the American viewing public cares enough about tennis to watch the early days of the French Open and yet insists on only keeping up with the American players? Who resides in this Venn diagram overlap? (Please reach out so I can understand your brain.) Despite often hiring keen analysts to describe the tennis being played, the channel consistently squanders their insight on the least interesting and most American tennis on display. There are plenty of possible criteria for what makes a watchable tennis match: quality of play in an absolute sense, evenly matched competition, personal rivalry, or comeback narratives. It is unclear if “being from Long Island” belongs on that list. Maybe you don’t want to be shackled to the whims of the Tennis Channel programming director. Subscribe to Tennis Channel Plus, a separate, expensive subscription service, and you’ll finally be able to toggle between the courts, like the WatchESPN option. For some reason, however, if you subscribe to Tennis Channel Plus, you don’t get access to the original Tennis Channel broadcast—just for good measure. Does all this sound reasonable? Great. Thanks to tennis for making one of the four biggest events in its sport frustrating for enthusiasts and basically impenetrable to the casual observer. Please free the French Open.<doc-sep>The Daily Star's FREE newsletter is spectacular! Sign up today for the best stories straight to your inbox Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign up today! Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice (Image: GETTY) Rafael Nadal begins the defence of his French Open crown against lucky loser Simone Bolelli. The Spaniard was due to face Alexandr Dolgopolov but the Ukrainian was forced to withdraw. Last year, Nadal became the first player to win the same Grand Slam tournament 10 times in the Open era. He appears to be in fine form once again after winning in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Rome. Nadal’s quest to win the French Open for the 11th time is boosted by the absence of Roger Federer and Andy Murray. Federer decided to skip the clay-court season to rest ahead of Wimbledon while Murray is not fully fit. French Open: Why Roger Federer is not competing at Roland Garros (Image: GETTY) Round Four Alexander Zverev bt Karen Khachanov 4-6 7-6 2-6 6-3 6-3 Dominic Thiem bt Kei Nishikori 6-2 6-0 5-7 6-4 Novak Djokovic bt Fernando Verdasco 6-3 6-4 6-2 Marco Cecchinato bt David Goffin 7-5 4-6 6-0 6-3 Round Three Novak Djokovic bt Roberto Bautista-Agut 6-4 6-7 7-6 6-2 Fernando Verdasco bt Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 6-2 6-4 Alexander Zverev bt Damir Dzumhur 6-2 3-6 4-6 7-6 7-5 Kei Nishikori bt Gilles Simon 6-3 6-1 6-3 Dominic Thiem bt Matteo Berrettini 6-3 6-7 6-3 6-2 Marco Cecchino bt Pablo Carreno Busta 2-6 7-6 6-3 6-1 Karen Khachanov bt Lucas Pouille 6-3 7-5 6-3 Maximilian Marterer bt Jurgen Zopp 6-2 6-1 6-4 Fabio Fognini bt Kyle Edmund 6-3 4-6 3-6 6-4 6-4 Marin Cilic bt Steve Johnson 6-3 6-2 6-4 Rafael Nadal bt Richard Gasquet 6-3 6-2 6-2 Diego Schwarzmann bt Borna Coric 7-5 6-3 6-3 Kevin Anderson bt Mischa Zverev 6-1 6-7 6-3 7-6 Juan Martin del Potro bt Albert Ramos 7-5 6-4 6-1 John Isner bt Pierre Hugues Herbert 7-6 6-4 7-6 Round Two Pierre-Hugues Herbert bt Jeremy Chardy 2-6 6-3 6-2 3-6 9-7 John Isner bt Horacio Zeballos 6-7 7-6 7-6 6-2 Juan-Martin Del Potro bt Julien Benneteau 6-4 6-3 6-2 Diego Sebastian Schwartzman bt Adam Pavlasek 6-1 6-3 6-1 Rafael Nadal bt Guido Pella 6-2 6-1 6-1 Albert Ramos-Vinolas bt Casper Ruud 6-4 6-2 6-4 Borna Coric bt Thomas Fabbiano 4-6 6-2 6-1 6-1 Kevin Anderson bt Pablo Cuevas 6-3 3-6 7-6 6-4 Mischa Zverev bt Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3 6-7 7-6 6-1 Steve Johnson bt Jan-Lennard Struff 4-6 7-6 6-2 6-2 Jurgen Zopp bt Ruben Bemelmans 4-6 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-4 Karen Khachanov bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2 7-6 6-7 6-3 Gael Monfils bt Martin Klizan 6-2 6-4 6-4 Grigor Dimitrov bt Jared Donaldson 6-7 6-4 4-6 6-4 10-8 Gilles Simon bt Sam Querrey 1-6 7-6 6-4 6-1 Kei Nishikori bt Benoit Paire 6-3 2-6 4-6 6-2 6-3 Matteo Berrettini bt Ernests Gulbis 6-2 3-6 6-4 6-3 David Goffin bt Corentin Moutet 7-5 6-0 6-1 Alexander Zverev bt Dusan Lajovic 2-6 7-5 4-6 6-1 6-2 Damir Dzumhur bt Radu Albot 6-3 6-3 5-7 1-6 7-5 Marco Cecchinato bt Marco Trungelliti 6-1 7-6 6-1 Pierre-Hugues Herbert bt Peter Polansky 6-3 4-6 6-2 6-2 Julien Benneteau bt Leonardo Mayer 2-6 7-6 6-2 6-3 Pablo Carreno-Busta bt Federico Delbonis 7-6 7-6 3-6 6-4 Roberto Bautista-Agut bt Santiago Giraldo 6-4 7-5 6-3 Jeremy Chardy bt Tomas Berdych 7-6 7-6 1-6 5-7 6-2 Novak Djokovic bt Jaume Munar 7-6 6-4 6-4 Fernando Verdasco bt Guido Andreozzi 6-3 6-2 6-2 Matteo Berrettini bt Ernests Gulbis 6-2 3-6 6-4 6-3 Gael Monfils bt Martin Klizan 6-2 6-4 6-4 Steve Johnson bt Jan-Lennard Stuff 4-6 7-6 6-2 6-2 Marin Cilic bt Hubert Hurkacz 6-2 6-3 6-7 7-5 Fabio Fognini bt Elias Ymer 6-4 6-1 6-2 Maximilian Marterer bt Denis Shapovalov 5-7 7-6 7-5 6-4 Richard Gasquet bt Malek Jaziri 6-2 3-6 6-3 6-0 Kyle Edmund bt Marton Fucsovics 6-0 1-6 6-2 6-3 Lucas Pouille bt Cameron Norrie 6-2 6-4 5-7 7-6 Dominic Thiem bt Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2 2-6 6-4 6-4 First Round Sergiy Stakhovsky bt Feliciano Lopez 6-2 6-4 6-2 Juan Martin del Potro bt Nicolas Mahut 1-6 6-1 6-2 6-4 Jurgen Zopp bt Jack Sock 6-7 6-2 4-6 7-6 6-3 Mischa Zverev bt Florian Mayer 6-2 6-1 7-6 Elias Ymer bt Dudi Sela 7-6 6-3 6-1 Ruben Bemelmans bt Yuki Bhambri 6-4 6-4 6-1 Steve Johnson bt Adrian Mannarino 7-6 6-2 6-2 Kyle Edmund bt Alex De Minaur 6-2 6-4 6-3 Fabio Fognini bt Pablo Andujar-Alba 6-4 6-2 6-1 Marton Fucsovics bt Vasek Pospisil 6-3 6-3 7-6 Rafael Nadal bt Simone Bolelli: 6-4 6-3 7-6 Horacio Zeballos bt Yuichi Sugita: 6-4 6-7 6-4 6-2 John Isner bt Noah Rubin: 6-3 7-6 7-6 Guido Pella bt Joao Sousa 2-6 3-6 4-6 Thomas Fabbiano bt Matthew Ebden 6-4 5-7 6-2 3-6 6-2 Pablo Cuevas bt Aljaz Bedene 6-4 3-6 6-2 Marin Cilic bt James Duckworth 6-3 7-5 7-6 Maximilian Marterer bt Ryan Harrison 6-1 6-3 7-5 Jan-Lennard Struff bt Evgeny Donskoy 6-1 6-3 6-0 Hubert Hurkacz bt Tennys Sandgren 6-2 6-2 3-6 6-3 Denis Shapovalov bt John Millman 7-5 6-4 6-2 Kevin Anderson bt Paolo Lorenzi 6-1 6-2 6-4 Novak Djokovic bt Rogerio Dutra Silva 6-3 6-3 6-4 David Goffin bt Robin Haase 4-6 4-6 6-4 6-1 6-0 Corentin Moutet bt Ivo Karlovic 7-6 6-2 7-6 Martin Klizan bt Laslo Djere 7-6 4-6 7-6 6-1 Gael Monfils bt Elliot Benchetrit 3-6 6-1 6-2 6-1 Federico Delbonis bt Thomaz Bellucci 6-1 6-3 3-6 6-1 Pablo Carreno Busta bt Jozef Kovalik 4-6 6-1 7-5 7-6 Fernando Verdasco bt Yoshihito Nishioka 6-7 6-4 6-3 6-7 7-5 Guido Andreozzi bt Taylor Fritz 6-7 6-3 3-6 6-2 6-3 Jared Donaldson bt Nicolas Jarry 6-3 4-6 3-6 6-3 6-4 Grigor Dimitrov bt Mohamed Safwat 6-1 6-4 7-6 Matteo Berrettini bt Oscar Otte 3-6 7-5 6-2 6-1 Kei Nishikori bt Maxime Janvier 7-6 6-4 6-3 Lucas Pouille bt Daniil Medvedev 6-2 6-3 6-4 Damir Dzumhur bt Denis Kudla 6-4 6-2 6-2 Radu Albot bt Gregoire Barrere 4-6 0-6 7-5 6-1 6-2 Alexander Zverev bt Ricardas Berankis 6-1 6-1 6-2<doc-sep>Serena Williams and Rafaeal Nadal will both see the court in third-round action at Roland Garros on Saturday. Both have looked great at the French Open, though they had a much different story coming into the tournament. Play begins at 5 a.m. and will be broadcast by the Tennis Channel through 3 p.m. NBC will also have coverage of select matches from 12 noon to 3 p.m. Live streaming of the NBC coverage is available via fuboTV, NBC Sports or the NBC Sports app, while live streaming of every court can be had with a subscription to Tennis Channel Plus. Nadal, looking for his 11th French Open victory, faces his first seeded competition of the tournament in Richard Gasquet. The Frenchman is seeded 27th and has looked good thus far ... but not as good as Nadal, who handily dispatched Guido Pella in his second-round matchup, only dropping four games in total. Williams is facing her second seeded competitor, after she managed to get through No. 17 Ashleigh Barty in three sets the last time out. Williams dropped the first set, but powered through the next two to win just her second Grand Slam match since the finals of the 2017 Australian Open. Simona Halep, the top seed for the women, will be in action after blazing through her second-round opponent, Taylor Townsend. Halep will be up against Andrea Petkovic on Saturday. You can find full schedule and results for the men’s draw here and the women’s draw here. Below is all you need to know to watch and follow the French Open, including a list of men’s and women’s singles matches. How to watch the French Open All Times Eastern Date: Saturday, June 2 Location: Stade Roland Garros, Paris, France Time: 5 a.m. TV: Tennis Channel (5 a.m. - 3 p.m.), NBC (12 p.m. - 3 p.m.) Online Streaming: NBC Sports, NBC Sports app, fuboTV, Tennis Channel Plus Men’s Singles No. 1 Rafael Nadal vs. No. 27 Richard Gasquet No. 3 Marin Cilic vs. Steve Johnson No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro vs. No. 31 Albert Ramos-Vinolas No. 6 Kevin Anderson vs. Mischa Zverev No. 8 David Goffin vs. No. 32 Gael Monfils (to finish), 6-7(6), 6-3, 3-2 No. 9 John Isner vs. Pierre-Hugues Herbert No. 11 Diego Schwartzman vs. Borna Coric No. 15 Lucas Pouille vs. Karen Khachanov (to finish), 3-6, 5-7, 1-1 No. 16 Kyle Edmund vs. No. 18 Fabio Fognini Maximilan Marterer vs. Jurgen Zopp Women’s Singles No. 1 Simona Halep vs. Andrea Petkovic No. 3 Garbine Muguruza vs. Samantha Stosur No. 6 Karolina Pliskova vs. No. 28 Maria Sharapova No. 7 Caroline Garcia vs. Irina-Cemlia Begu No. 8 Petra Kvitova vs. No. 25 Anett Kontaveit No. 10 Sloane Stephens vs. Camila Giorgi No. 11 Julia Goerges vs. Serena Williams No. 12 Angelique Kerber vs. No. 18 Kiki Bertens No. 16 Elise Mertens vs. No. 24 Daria Gavrilova No. 19 Magdalena Rybarikova vs. Lesia Tsurenko<doc-sep>Last updated on .From the section Tennis Sharapova and Williams last met at the 2016 Australian Open with the American winning in straight sets French Open 2018 Venue: Roland Garros, Paris Dates: 27 May-10 June Coverage: Daily live radio and text commentaries on BBC Radio 5 live, the BBC Sport website and app. Serena Williams says she does not have any negative feelings towards Maria Sharapova and is surprised the Russian's recent autobiography was so much about her. Williams described the book as "100% hearsay" and said women should encourage each other rather than detailing locker-room incidents in a less than positive light. The pair will meet in the fourth round of the French Open on Monday in their first match since the 2016 Australian Open, with the contest expected to start about 15:00 BST on Court Philippe-Chatrier. Williams has won their last 18 meetings, with Sharapova's only two victories coming in 2004. And it was the first of those - in the Wimbledon final - that Sharapova believes was the catalyst for Williams' domination since. "I think Serena hated me for being the skinny kid who beat her, against all odds, at Wimbledon," she wrote in her 2017 autobiography 'Unstoppable: My Life So Far'. "I think she hated me for seeing her at her lowest moment. But mostly I think she hated me for hearing her cry. She's never forgiven me for it." Williams gave her first response to the book as she faced questions following her straight-set third-round victory over Julia Gorges in Paris. "I think the book was 100% hearsay, which was a little bit disappointing," she said. "I have cried in the locker room many times after a loss, and that's what I have seen a lot of people do. "I think it's normal. I think if anything, it shows the passion and the desire and, you know, the will that you have to want to go out there and do the best. Sharapova beat Williams in the 2004 Wimbledon final - one of only two victories for the Russian over the 23-time Grand Slam champion "I think what happens there should definitely maybe stay there and not necessarily talk about it in a not-so-positive way in a book. "I don't have any negative feelings towards her, which again, was a little disappointing to see in that hearsay book. A lot of people always assume that I feel a different way and it's not true. "Especially having a daughter - I feel like negativity is taught. If anything, I feel like we should encourage each other, and the success of one female should be the inspiration to another, and I have said that a thousand times. "As a fan, I wanted to read the book and I was really excited for it to come out and I was really happy for her. "And then the book was a lot about me. I was surprised about that, to be honest. I was, like: 'Oh, OK. I didn't expect to be reading a book about me, that wasn't necessarily true'. "I didn't know she looked up to me that much, or was so involved in my career." 'Sharapova is probably favourite' Williams and Sharapova have won five French Open singles titles between them, and both have played extremely well over the first three rounds at Roland Garros. Sharapova seems finally free of the injuries that have plagued her since returning from a 15-month doping ban in April last year. Williams' biggest concern may be a lack of matches. The French Open marks only her third competitive appearance since the 2017 Australian Open, which was her last tournament before becoming a mother in September. "She's probably a favourite in this match, for sure," Williams said of Monday's 22nd meeting between the pair. "She's been playing for over a year now. I just started. But I think this will be another test. "I think this is just one of her best surfaces, and she always does really, really well here."<doc-sep>
PARIS (AP) -- Serena Williams tried to play through the pain of an injured chest muscle. Eventually, barely able to serve, she knew she had to call off her Grand Slam comeback. Williams pulled out of the French Open less than an hour before she was supposed to face Maria Sharapova in a fourth-round showdown Monday, the most-anticipated match of the tournament so far. The announcement came two days after the 36-year-old American initially felt something was wrong during a singles victory. But she hid that bit of information - even from her coach - and a day after Williams struggled through a doubles loss with her sister, Venus. This was Williams' first major tournament in 16 months, and her first as a mother. She was pregnant when she won the Australian Open in January 2017 for her 23rd Grand Slam singles championship, the most for anyone during tennis' 50-year professional era. Her baby was born last September. ''I have given up so much to be here. There is times where I'm on the court and I'm practicing, and I look on the monitor, and I see my daughter and she's playing, and I want to be there,'' Williams said. ''But I know that these are the sacrifices you have to make to live out your dream. And I have made every sacrifice that I could. So it's extremely disappointing.'' Her voice trembled a bit during a brief news conference, where she explained she will get an MRI on Tuesday and consult with doctors before figuring out what comes next. Her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, said in an interview that an ultrasound revealed the injury to the muscle, but the extent wasn't clear. ''The fact that I physically can't serve at all is a good indication that maybe I should just go back to the drawing board and stay positive,'' Williams said, ''and try to get better and not get it to a point where it could be a lot worse.'' In a statement released by the tournament, Sharapova wished Williams ''a speedy recovery.'' This would have been their 22nd career meeting; Williams has won 19, including the past 18. Because of the withdrawal, this does not count as a victory for Sharapova, who will play 2016 French Open champion Garbine Muguruza on Wednesday. Story continues Oddly enough, Muguruza didn't have to put forth much effort in the fourth round, either. Her opponent, Lesia Tsurenko, stopped because of an injury after only two games. No. 1 Simona Halep, a two-time runner-up at Roland Garros, will play former No. 1 Angelique Kerber, a two-time major champion elsewhere, in Wednesday's other quarterfinal after both picked up easy straight-set wins in the fourth round. The quarterfinals Tuesday are Sloane Stephens vs. Daria Kasatkina, and Madison Keys vs. Yulia Putintseva. Kasatkina eliminated Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki 7-6 (5), 6-3 in a match that resumed Monday after being suspended a night earlier because of darkness at 3-all in the second set. The day's biggest buzz was about a match that never took place. Williams said she first was troubled by her pectoral muscle during the best performance of her return, a 6-3, 6-4 win in the third round against 11th-seeded Julia Goerges on Saturday. But Mouratoglou had no idea there was an issue. She didn't tell him she was hurting? ''No, because she knew I would tell her not to play the doubles,'' he told the AP. ''I would have made her cancel the doubles, believe me.'' During Sunday's doubles, though, Williams showed signs of trouble. By the third set, she hit first serves at about 80 mph (130 kph), about 40 mph (70 kph) slower than she can. Between points, she repeatedly jabbed a thumb into her chest to massage the muscle. ''At the end, she was just pushing the ball. ... That's when I knew she had a problem. I didn't know what kind of problem, but I knew there was something really wrong,'' Mouratoglou said. ''Basically, she couldn't play.'' Williams tried taping up the muscle for doubles, but that didn't help. And while she's ''pretty much had every injury in the book,'' this was the first time dealing with this particular malady. Mouratoglou said they held a practice session Monday morning, holding out hope that maybe rain in the forecast would postpone the match against Sharapova. ''We might gain one more day, and you never know how it feels tomorrow. So we had to wait,'' he said.