How clay-court chaos is a return to the norm at the French Open

Jannik Sinner is out, along with almost all the top seeds in the men's draw. (Getty Images: Eurasia Sport Images/Antonio Borga)

The French Open form guide has been spectacularly torn up at Roland-Garros heading into the second week.

The pre-tournament predictions have proven to be as useful as a racquet without its strings.

Two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz is absent, injured.

The favourites to take his title, Italian Open champion Jannik Sinner and multi-grand-slam-winning veteran Novak Djokovic, both faltered in the heat.

That means, for just the fourth time in the past 11 years, a new man will be able to add himself to the list of players to have won a grand slam singles title.

But then again, the French Open at Roland-Garros has always stood apart from the other grand slam tournaments.

This is probably fairly obvious to most viewers and fans of the sport — and not just because Roland-Garros is the only francophone major in tennis's distinctly anglophone halls of power, although that distinction has reared its head in recent years.

The Roland-Garros complex has hosted the French Open since 1928. (Getty Images: NurPhoto/Ibrahim Ezzat)

In 2020, the Fédération Française de Tennis (FFT) made a unilateral decision to move the French Open from May to September to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the move being announced with zero consultation with any of tennis' multitude of shareholders and the new dates clashing with the Laver Cup and taking place just a week after the US Open was set to finish, the FFT pushed on regardless with an implied Gallic shrug to those frustrated by the change.

Aside from that, Roland-Garros remains the only grand slam to retain human line judges, with even Wimbledon relenting to allow for technological aids to breach their SW19 citadel in 2025.

And yes, despite being the first major to welcome non-amateur players and heralding the open era, it has been the slowest of all the slams to raise prize money to a level that the players deem appropriate, which led to fears of a boycott to rattle around the grounds of the tournament in western Paris.

But, of course, the biggest difference is the surface. Clay.

Jannik Sinner was knocked out of Roland-Garros in a stunning boilover. (Getty Images: Tim Clayton)

Only Roland-Garros is played on the vivid tapestry of crushed red clay, the slowest of all surfaces and uniquely unresponsive to the power game that dominates on all other surfaces.

It gives the Paris slam a unique hue completely different from the well-worn patina of the grass courts of the All Englan