Three to See, French Open Day 1: Federer v. Sonego; Svitolina v. Venus

Before each day's play at the 2019 French Open, we'll preview three must-see matches.

What can we expect from Federer in his first match at Roland Garros since 2015? To start, a rapturous Parisian welcome. Few players have ever lived up to the artistic ideals of French tennis fans the way Federer has; who knows if, or when, he’ll ever be back their way. As for the match itself, it could prove trickier than it first appears. Sonego is 24, ranked just 68th, and before this spring was mostly unknown on the international stage. But starting in April, the wiry, fiery Italian has begun to make a name for himself. He came out of qualifying to reach the quarterfinals in Casablanca, and did the same in Monte Carlo. Sonego is good at rousing a crowd, but he’s going to have his work cut out for him with this audience. Even worse for him, Federer has played well in his clay-court return so far. Winner: Federer

A year ago, the future looked bright for then-22-year-old Marterer. He reached the fourth round at Roland Garros—beating Denis Shapovalov along the way—and pushed Rafael Nadal to a tiebreaker in a closer-than-the-scores-indicated three-set loss. But that was as bright as it got for the German, who lost his last seven matches of 2018 and is currently ranked 112th. The future, it turned out, belonged to Tsitsipas, who has experienced nothing but success over the last 12 months, and who comes to Paris this year with a Top 10 ranking, a recent win over Rafa on clay, and an outside shot at the title. These two Next Genners have never met; while Tsitsipas is the clear favorite, Marterer’s rangy lefty game could give him trouble. Players tend to like the places where they’ve played well before. Winner: Tsitsipas

Svitolina and Williams have met just twice, once on clay in 2015 and once on hard courts in 2017. Oddly, it was the American who won on dirt, and the Ukrainian who won on hard courts. Going strictly by the current rankings, No. 6 Svitolina is the clear favorite over No. 50 Williams. Yet over the last three months, Venus has been the better player; at 38, she’s selective about her schedule, but when she enters events—Indian Wells, Miami, Rome—she wins matches. Svitolina, meanwhile, has been hampered by a knee injury and is 0-3 since March. This match has three-setter written all over it, but beyond that, the result is anybody’s guess. Winner: Svitolina