5 Rising Stars of French Open 2019

Any discussion on the French Open is incomplete without the King of Clay, Rafael Nadal. From talking about the possibility of Nadal winning his 12th title to analysing Federer's comeback, there is a lot of excitement among tennis enthusiasts.

The French Open 2019 gets underway on May 26 and the other topics of discussion are the probability of Serena Williams and Simona Halep adding one more title to their kitty. The Internet is rife with discussions on whether Osaka will win one more consecutive Grand Slam title or if Djokovic own the court like nobody's business. There is also a lot of talk about the performances of Dominic Thiem, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Johanna Konta. Will they be able to rise above the legends?

But just as any other Grand Slam Open, this year's French Open is much more than just these players. Let us look at the rising stars in this year's edition. These are tennis professionals who have been steadily improving over the last couple of years. They are young and have been doing well in the current season. The odds of them winning the Championship might be low, but they will leave no stone unturned in their quest for Grand Slam glory.

Here are five upcoming stars of French Open 2019, who have the ability to surprise one and all.

# 1 Maria Sakkari

The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) ranks Maria Sakkari 29th in the world. She is athletic and strong. Maria has a variety of shots at her disposal and utilises them well. She comes to the French Open with good performances on clay. She reached the semi-finals in Istanbul in 2018, and won the Morrocan Open in May 2019 beating none other than Johanna Konta.

The rising star has defeated top players such as Petra Kvitová and Kiki Bertens on clay in 2019. She is in the same draw as Naomi Osaka and they could meet each other in the third round.