Tennis Canada – The singles draws are set for the 2017 edition of Roland-Garros and it will feature three Canadians, Françoise Abanda (Montreal, QC), Eugenie Bouchard (Montreal, QC) and Milos Raonic (Thornhill, ON). 
 
In the opening round, Raonic, seeded fifth in the tournament thanks to his world no. 6 ranking and the absence of Roger Federer, will face world no. 38 Steve Darcis of Belgium. The Canadian’s path in Paris could potentially include a Round of 16 encounter with Grigor Dimitrov and a quarter-final battle against Rafael Nadal. Raonic is in the bottom of the draw in the same half as defending champion Novak Djokovic. Last year, Raonic fell in the fourth round to Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas. He is currently in Lyon competing in the semifinals against Czech Tomas Berdych.
 
For her part, if her ankle injury allows, Bouchard will open her French Open against Japan’s Risa Ozaki, ranked no. 72 in the world. The 23-year-old will be looking to regain her Madrid form where she defeated Maria Sharapova and Angelique Kerber to reach the third round. Bouchard suffered an ankle injury in practice earlier this week and was forced to withdraw from her final warm up tournament in Nurnberg. In 2016 at Roland-Garros, she was beaten in the second round by Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky.
 
Meanwhile, Abanda qualified for the main draw of a Grand Slam for the second time in her career on Friday thanks to a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Su Jeong Jang of Korea. This will be the 20-year-old’s first French Open main draw appearance.
 
About Tennis Canada
Founded in 1890, Tennis Canada is a non-profit, national sport association with a mission to lead the growth of tennis in Canada and a vision to become a world-leading tennis nation. We value teamwork, passion, integrity, innovation and excellence. Tennis Canada owns and operates the premier Rogers Cup presented by National Bank WTA and ATP World Tour events, eight professional ITF- sanctioned events and financially supports 15 other professional tournaments in Canada. Tennis Canada operates national junior training centres/programs in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Tennis Canada is a proud member of the International Tennis Federation, the Canadian Olympic Committee, the Canadian Paralympic Committee and the International Wheelchair Tennis Association, and serves to administer, sponsor and select the teams for Davis Cup, Fed Cup, the Olympic and Paralympic Games and all wheelchair, junior and senior national teams. Tennis Canada invests its surplus into tennis development. For more information on Tennis Canada, please visit our website at www.tenniscanada.com and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
 

Media Contacts (Toronto) :
Nicole Watts, Manager, Communications
       416-665-9777 ext. 4092, or nwatts@tenniscanada.com

Media Contacts (Montreal) :
Valerie Tetreault, Regional Manager, Communications and Media Relations
         514-273-1515 ext. 6259, vtetreault@tenniscanada.com