Grand Slam glory isn’t the only prize on the line for doubles players at Roland Garros. Five men are in contention to reach the pinnacle of the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings, with World No. 1 on the line for Marcelo Melo, Nicolas Mahut, Jamie Murray, Horia Tecau and Bob Bryan.

Melo, the current No. 1 and reigning Roland Garros champion with Ivan Dodig, and Bob Bryan, a two-time winner in Paris (2003 & ’13) with brother Mike, must lift the trophy for a chance at the top spot. Murray, who spent five weeks at No. 1 earlier this year, claimed his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January (w/Soares). Tecau and home hope Mahut, meanwhile, are bidding to become the 49th different World No. 1 since the doubles rankings began in 1976.

No. 1 Doubles Scenarios

Defending champions Dodig and Melo are bidding for their first tour-level crown of the season. Seeded third, they find themselves is a tricky quarter of the draw, with No. 6 seeds and Mutua Madrid Open runners-up Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea, 11th seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers and 13th seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah. Kontinen and Peers are coming off a title run in Munich a month ago, while the Colombian power of Cabal/Farah lifted their third trophy of the season on Saturday in Nice.

Three years ago, Mahut came up just short of achieving glory at his home Grand Slam, falling in a deciding tie-break in the Roland Garros doubles final with Michael Llodra. Now, with partner Pierre-Hugues Herbert, the French duo enter the 2016 edition of the clay-court major as the players to beat. The top seeds open against Sam Groth and Bernard Tomic in their quest for a second Grand Slam crown. The 2015 US Open titlists could face seventh seeds Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock in a blockbuster quarter-final. They are hoping to become the second French duo to lift the Coupe Jacques Brugnon in three years, after Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin prevailed in 2014. Benneteau and Roger-Vasselin received a wild card this year, with Pospisil/Sock looming as potential second-round opponents.

Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor own the most Roland Garros doubles titles in the Open Era, with four apiece. Champion in 2005-06 (w/Bjorkman) and 2011-12 (w/Nestor), Mirnyi is seeded 10th this year alongside Treat Huey. The Belarusian-Filipino tandem open against Fabio Fognini and Andreas Seppi. Nestor, the titlist in 2007 (w/Knowles), ’10 (w/Zimonjic) and ’11-12 (w/Mirnyi), is teaming with Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi. They could face second seeds and reigning Barclays ATP World Tour Finals champions Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau in the third round.

Other former Roland Garros doubles champions in the draw are the Bryans (2003, ’13), Nenad Zimonjic (2010) and Leander Paes (1999, ’01, ’09). All are in the same quarter, with 16-time Grand Slam champion Bryan brothers entering on the heels of title runs in Barcelona and Rome. Zimonjic is partnering with Radek Stepanek, while Paes is joining forces with Marcin Matkowski. Also in the loaded quarter of the draw are Australian Open titlists and fourth seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares. A blockbuster second-round match-up could feature Stepanek and Zimonjic squaring off against the #NextGen duo of Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Zverev.

In the last 10 Grand Slam tournaments, there have been 10 different teams and 20 different players win a title. The doubles competition gets underway on Tuesday.

A LOOK BACK

Venice Challenge Save Cup (Mestre, Italy): No. 4 seed Gastao Elias of Portugal continued his outstanding form in 2016 by prevailing over No. 3 seed Horacio Zeballos of Argentina, 7-6(0), 6-2 in Sunday’s Mestre final. This was the fourth ATP Challenger Tour final this year between Top 100 players, compared to six for the entire 2015 season. Elias also prevailed in Italy last month at the $50,000 event in Turin, which allowed him to crack the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings for the first time in his career. He has now won 11 of his last 12 ATP Challenger Tour matches.

Multiple Title Winners In 2016

Zeballos broke through this week by reaching his first ATP Challenger Tour final of the year, snapping a five match losing streak in semi-finals that dates back to last October.

KPN Renewables Bangkok Open (Bangkok, Thailand): No. 8 seed James Duckworth picked up his first ATP Challenger Tour title of the year by defeating qualifier Sam Barry of Ireland, 7-6(5), 6-4. Playing in his first Challenger since January due to an elbow injury, Duckworth showed resilience throughout the week by rallying from a set down in three of his matches to get to the final. This is the third ATP Challenger Tour title of the 24-year-old’s career, with his last coming in November 2014 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Aussies are also now 4-0 this year in Challenger finals, with Jordan Thompson and Blake Mott also lifting trophies. 

Despite the loss, the week was a positive for Barry in reaching his first ATP Challenger Tour final. The 24-year-old had only won two main draw matches at the Challenger level prior to his run in Bangkok.

A LOOK AHEAD

The lone tournament on the calendar this week is the $50,000 event in Vicenza, Italy. Elias will look for his third ATP Challenger Tour title of the year as the No. 1 seed, while Daniel Brands of Germany is the No. 2 seed. Other notable names in the draw include #NextGen star Andrey Rublev of Russia, rising American teenager Stefan Kozlov and former Top 50 player Andrey Golubev, a winner earlier this year in Jonkoping, Sweden.

View Draws & Watch Free Live Streams

ATP CHALLENGER TOUR ON TWITTER: New in 2016, the ATP Challenger Tour has launched a dedicated Twitter account for the latest news and information about players and events. Follow @ATPChallengerTour at twitter.com/ATPChallengerTour.

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic is enjoying a stretch of significant milestones. The Serb is poised to begin his 200th week atop the Emirates ATP Rankings on Monday, with his quest for a maiden Roland Garros title commencing a day later.

But first, a birthday celebration was in order for the 29 year old. On Sunday, Djokovic was presented with a cake by tournament director Guy Forget and was given a special birthday message from his No. 1 fan, Micaela Bryan, daughter of Bob Bryan.

Watch:

.@DjokerNole Happy Birthday from your biggest fan, me! ???#NoleFam #rg16 pic.twitter.com/ko9RLAaBQk

— Micaela Bryan (@MicaelaBryan) May 22, 2016

Djokovic Celebrates 29th Birthday

Djokovic opens his bid for the Career Grand Slam on Tuesday against Yen-Hsun Lu. It is their second meeting, with the Belgrade native prevailing in straight sets in the 2010 Wimbledon quarter-finals.

The Roland Garros first round got off to a soggy start on Day One, with persistent rain forcing the cancellation or postponement of 11 of the 16 matches on the schedule.

No. 17 seed Nick Kyrgios, 19th-seed Benoit Paire, Igor Sijsling, Teymuraz Gabashvili and Andrey Kuznetsov were the lone first-round winners on Sunday, quickly wrapping up their openers before the skies opened. Fifth seed Kei Nishikori wasn’t as fortunate. The Japanese will sleep on a two-set lead over Simone Bolelli, owning a 6-1, 7-5, 2-1 advantage when play was postponed at 6:30pm local time.

Read: Kyrgios Battles Through Opener

Coming off a career-best quarter-final run in Paris last year, Nishikori will look to finish his opening round clash as the second match on Philippe Chatrier Court on Monday. Defending champion and third seed Stan Wawrinka opens proceedings on the main show court against Lukas Rosol. The Swiss is coming off a title run in Geneva on Saturday, his first on home soil on the ATP World Tour. Last year, Wawrinka became the first player aged 30 & over to win at Roland Garros since Andres Gomez in 1990.

View Monday Schedule

Two additional matches are slated to resume play on Monday, with Robin Haase looking complete the comeback against Jack Sock and Dustin Brown leading Dudi Sela two sets to one. Sock took a two-set lead before Haase stormed back to force a decider, while Brown leads 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-6(5), 1-1. The winners will square off in the second round.

Meanwhile, eighth seed Milos Raonic, 15th seed John Isner, Grigor Dimitrov and #NextGen star Kyle Edmund were among those finding their Sunday starts cancelled. Raonic opens against former World No. 8 Janko Tipsarevic in an enticing affair on Court 2 on Monday. Isner and first-round opponent John Millman are slated as the fourth match on Court 3, with Dimitrov first up against No. 22 seed Viktor Troicki in a rematch of January’s Apia International Sydney final, won by Troicki in a deciding tie-break.

Also on the docket for Monday is title contender Andy Murray, squaring off against veteran Radek Stepanek on Chatrier. The second seed is coming off a title run at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Rome, where he upset World No. 1 Novak Djokovic for his third clay-court crown. In addition, Frenchmen Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon kick off their bids for home glory on Suzenne Lenglen Court, with ninth seed Gasquet facing Thomaz Bellucci and 16th seed Simon dueling with another Brazilian, Rogerio Dutra Silva. Less than a month removed from capturing his maiden ATP Challenger Tour title on the green clay of Tallahassee, French teen Quentin Halys opens his campaign against fellow #NextGen star Hyeon Chung on Court 17.

Five of the seven players making their Grand Slam debuts are in action on Monday. Roberto Carballes Baena and Adam Pavlasek are first on Court 5, with both looking to take a big step in their quests to crack the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings. Another match-up of major debutants features home hope Mathias Bourgue against Spain’s Jordi Samper-Montana on Court 16. Meanwhile, qualifier Laslo Djere meets wild card Jordan Thompson, a two-time ATP Challenger Tour titlist this year, on Court 8.

Stan Wawrinka made it to Roland Garros on Saturday night, hours before the first day of play at the season’s second Grand Slam. It marks the latest Wawrinka has ever arrived at a Grand Slam during his 15-year career.

But the Swiss star said he still feels prepared to try and defend his Roland Garros title and go for his third Grand Slam championship. “For sure it’s late arriving for a Grand Slam, especially if you want to go far in a Grand Slam, but I think I’m feeling good. I’m feeling fit. My tennis is there, and I’m ready to play my first match tomorrow,” Wawrinka said on Sunday during his pre-tournament press conference.

The World No. 4 had good reason to arrive later than usual. Wawrinka prevailed against World No. 11 Marin Cilic in straight sets to win the Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open on Saturday afternoon. It was the first time Wawrinka has won a title in his home Switzerland. The win also gave him his first clay-court crown of the season and ended a string of earlier exits on clay this year.

Wawrinka reached the quarter-finals of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters before falling to Rafael Nadal in straight sets. At the Mutua Madrid Open, Wawrinka lost the first match he played, bowing out in the second round to Nick Kyrgios in straight sets. And in Rome, the two-time Grand Slam champion reached the third round before losing to then-World No. 114 Juan Monaco in three sets.

“It was good to win the trophy yesterday. It gives me a lot of confidence and happiness,” Wawrinka said.

Arriving just in time at a Grand Slam can be positive, too, he said. Since he was focused on Geneva, Wawrinka wasn’t thinking about Roland Garros days before the tournament started.

“It’s also quite good to arrive here a few days before to practise on the court and to get ready and everything,” Wawrinka said. “But since they put that tournament in Switzerland in Geneva close from my home the week before, I took the decision to play and to change a little bit the rest of the schedule, and last year it happened to be really good for me.”

Last year, Wawrinka lost in the quarter-finals in Geneva before claiming the Roland Garros title. He remains the last player to beat World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in a Grand Slam.

“He’s still playing amazing tennis, if you look what happened this year already, and since last year in the final,” Wawrinka said of the Serb. “He’s for sure the big favorite, and he’s going to be really difficult to beat.”

Wawrinka will try to become the third player in the past 17 years to win back-to-back titles at Roland Garros (Nadal, Kuerten). On Monday, he opens his defence against Lukas Rosol, whom he beat in three sets last week in Geneva. Wawrinka also leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 4-0.

“He’s a dangerous player. He’s serving big. He’s going for his shots,” Wawrinka said of Rosol. “You never know what to expect, really. You need to be really solid and stay there.”