French Open organizers give wild cards to veterans Paire and Mladenovic

THROWBACK:Benoit Paire vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokinat in the 2021 Sofia Open Match Point

Veteran French players Benoit Paire and Kristina Mladenovic were handed wild cards into the main draw of the French Open on Monday.

They were among the six French men's and six French women's wild cards attributed by the French Tennis Federation for the Grand Slam at Roland Garros starting on May 28.

The 34-year-old Paire's best performance at the tournament in western Paris was reaching the fourth round in 2019.

The FFT said 18-year-old Arthur Fils, 19-year-old Giovanni Mpetshi-Perricard, 20-year-old Arthur Cazaux, Hugo Gaston and Hugo Grenier were also invited to play in the men's draw.

The 30-year-old Mladenovic reached the quarterfinals in 2017. Later that year, she achieved her best ranking of 10th.

Mladenovic was joined in the women's draw by Clara Burel, Séléna Janicijevic, Léolia JeanJean, Diane Parry and Jessika Ponchet.

Other wild cards from the agreement between the FFT and the Australian and American tennis federations will be announced at a later date. The USTA, Tennis Australia and the FFT offer reciprocal wild-card invitations for each other's Grand Slam events.