For the next couple of weeks I'm going to focus my energies on writing about the French Open, which started yesterday.
For both the men and the women, a single respective question summarizes the dominant pre-tournament storyline. For the women, that question is, "Will Serena finally equal Steffi Graf's record of 22 Grand Slam victories?" For the men, it's, "Will Novak Djokovic complete his career Grand Slam?"
Surrounding these storylines are two very different situations. The question of "Will Serena win?" can be more accurately translated as, "Will Serena beat herself, and if she does, which of this pack of also-rans will be on the other side of the net at the time?" The women's game as a whole is kind of demoralizing right now. At 34, Serena is by far the best player on tour. The 2-seed at Roland Garros is Agnieszka Radwanska. To the other women on tour, she's a tricky touch-player, but her deft, agile game is to Serena what a gazelle is to a lion. Again, Radwanska is the 2-seed. According to the rankings, everyone else is worse.
At least there's some hope that the next generation--especially Madison Keys, Garbiñe Muguruza and Belinda Bencic (who, unfortunately, withdrew with injury before the tournament)--might actually develop into the stars the women's game so desperately needs. So far, though, none of them have shown the mental fortitude to consistently compete.
The men's side is a lot more competitive. Djokovic is the clear number one, but at least he has some genuine competition. Sure, Roger Federer is out with injury, and Stan Wawrinka, last year's champion, has been a shell of himself during the whole clay-court season, but Rafael Nadal is reclaiming something of his past form, Kei Nishikori continues to improve (his match against Novak in the semis in Rome was terrific) and Andy Murray's win over Novak in the Rome finals should provide him with a lot of momentum.
"Serena versus the world" and "Can Novak do it?"--these are the frames for the 2016 French Open. Now, it's time to watch.