The second Grand Slam event of the year begins on Monday with Paris playing host to the tournament where we expect to see the world’s best slipping and sliding their way around the court.

As you walk in through the entrance of Roland Garros, home of the French Open, there is a signpost giving the distance and direction of Melbourne, New York and Wimbledon, the sites of the year’s other Grand Slams. However for the next two weeks, all eyes are focused on Paris to see who will emerge as the 2005 French open champion.

The French Open is perhaps one of the most openly contested Slams, with many not as well known players coming through the draw. The reason for this is the surface, clay. This surface calls for a special type of play, perfected by the Spanish and the South Americans. In the past eight years, only one man has halted the reign these clay court specialists, an American legend, Andre Agassi.

So, can Andy repeat the success of one of his childhood heroes? Well the draw has certainly been kind to him this year. In the first round Andy has been drawn against French wildcard, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The umpire better start practicing that name now! It certainly isn’t a name that many will be familiar with. The twenty year old right hander started playing tennis aged seven and, like Andy, his favorite surface is on hard court. Andy and Tsonga have never played each other before, but then they play in vastly different tournaments. Whilst Andy plays in Masters Series events, Tsonga plays in Challenger events. Andy has great experience on the big stage, whereas this will be a new experience for the young Frenchman, his first ever Grand Slam.

Andy has had good results in the build up to Roland Garros, winning in Houston, and he has been practising hard this week in Paris. He has high hopes that he can make an impression at this year’s French Open saying that he is in better shape than he has ever been before the French and says if he fails to progress there will be no excuse. ” I’m hitting the ball ten times better than this time last year.”

If he gets past round one, he has done well to avoid this year’s big gun favourites. Federer and Nadal are both in the other half to Andy. In his bottom quarter of the draw he is facing the likes of Massu, Lopez, Cañas and Agassi. He does have reason to feel optimistic: “One goal I set this year was to do better than I’ve done in Paris (the third round in 2001) and if it’s sunny for two weeks and the courts are quick, who knows?”

Stay tuned to AR.com for all the latest updates from Paris on the special French Open page.