French Open Tennis 2021: How To Watch Gauff and Nadal First-Round Matches, Schedule, Live Stream

Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Venus Williams and Coco Gauff are all in action on Tuesday as the first round of the French Open comes to a close.

The bookmakers' favorite, Nadal's chase for a 14th Roland Garros title and a record 21st Grand Slam crown begins at 4 p.m. local time (10 a.m. ET) against Australia's Alexei Popyrin, the world No. 61.

"He's young, he has the power. He has big shots. As always, I need to be ready for it," Nadal, the No. 3 seed, said of the 21-year-old.

"I need to keep practicing the next couple of days [to] try to be in the best shape possible for the beginning. I know every round is tough and I [always] respect every opponent.

"I respected everyone since the beginning of my career, and Popyrin is a dangerous one. So I need to play well and I'm looking forward to trying to make that happen."

Nadal will be followed on Court Philippe-Chatrier—the French Open's center court—by one of his main rivals, when Djokovic takes on Tennys Sandgren at approximately 3 p.m. ET.

Djokovic, the No. 1 in the world and the top seed at the French Open, needs two majors to draw level with Nadal and Roger Federer—the No. 8 seed—tally of 20.

The Serbian could face Federer in the quarterfinals and Nadal in the following round after the trio were all drawn in the same side of the bracket. Sandgren has never made it past the second round of the French Open, but has reached the final eight of the Australian Open twice in 2018 and 2020.

Having lost Naomi Osaka, the women's tournament sees world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty, Coco Gauff and Venus Williams make their debut. Barty, a French Open winner in 2019, takes on the U.S. Bernarda Pera, while Gauff, the world No. 25, plays Serbia's Alexandra Krunic at 10:15 a.m. ET

Williams, who won her only French Open crown in 2002, is up against No. 32 seed at 8:15 a.m. ET. No. 13 seed Jennifer Brady will also carry American hopes, when she faces Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova in the day's opening match.

Here's all you need to know to follow the action on Tuesday.

French Open 2021 first-round start time

The second day of Round One of the French Open gets underway at 11 a.m. local time on Tuesday morning, which translates to 5 a.m. on the East Coast.

How to watch the French Open 2021 on TV

The French Open is broadcast by NBC, across its flagship channel, NBC Sports Network and Tennis Channel.

Coverage on Tuesday begins at 5 a.m. ET on Tennis Channel and runs until 6 p.m. ET.

How to watch the French Open 2021 online

The tournament will be available to stream on Peacock—NBC's streaming service—the NBC Sports website and NBC Sports app. Streaming services like fuboTV and Sling TV both carry NBC.

First-round schedule

Aside from Nadal and Djokovic, a host of other seeded players are in action on Tuesday. No. 7 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia takes on Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff, while No. 24 Aslan Karatsev faces the U.S. Jenson Brooksby.

Home favorites Ugo Humbert and Gael Monfils, the No. 29 and No. 14 seeds respectively, face Lithuania's Ricardas Berankis and Spain's Albert Ramos Vinolas. Meanwhile, Italy's Matteo Berrettini, the No. 9 seed, plays Japan's Taro Daniel and Argentina's Diego Schwartzman, the No. 10 seed, faces Taiwan's Lu Yen-hsun.

In the women's tournament, No. 5 seed Elina Svitolina and No. 9 seed Karolina Pliskova take on France's Ocean Babel and Croatia's Donna Vekic respectively. Elsewhere, No. 18 Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic plays Germany's Andrea Petkovic.