PARIS -- As last year's French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko settled into her chair for media day Saturday, you couldn't help but notice the beaming smile from cheek to cheek.
She was happy to be back here, and "the memories are great," she said. Ostapenko's sentiments were echoed by nearly every other player who met with the press.
That's how it goes. Before the start of an event, most competitors have big aspirations. Then they have to play, and that's when things might not go as planned.
On Sunday, we'll find out who the first group of players to both survive and go home will be. Here's a look at some notable matchups on Day 1 at Roland Garros.
No. 9 Venus Williams vs. Qiang Wang
For the second straight year, Venus will meet the 26-year-old from China in the first round of the French Open. In 2017, Williams won a tough two-setter, 6-4, 7-6 (3), en route to the fourth round.
Will this year be any different? Venus played well during the Sunshine Double, reaching the semifinals and quarterfinals of Indian Wells and Miami, respectively.
But since the circuit moved to the clay swing, Venus has stumbled. She won only a single match, in Rome, in two events. Venus hardly has a deep affection for clay, and at 37 years old, you have to wonder if she is ready for the grind that comes on this slow, cloying surface.
Venus has been fairly reticent leading up to Paris. After her second-round setback in Rome, she told the press she was healthy and hoping to win a few matches. But the reality is she has not made the quarterfinals here in 12 years.
Her opponent is ranked No. 91 in the world, and outside of a solid run at Indian Wells, where Qiang reached the round of 16, she has won consecutive matches only once this year.
Prediction: Williams, 6-4, 7-6 (3), same score as last year.
No. 2 Alexander Zverev vs. Ricardas Berankis
Poor Ricardas Berankis. Outside of a certain guy named Rafael Nadal, Zverev is the most in-form player in tennis. Still just 21 years old, he is looking up at only Nadal and Roger Federer in the rankings.
Zverev is 17-3 this clay season, falling to Nadal twice, including the final of Rome, where he took the first set in a flash but ultimately lost 1-6, 6-1, 6-3.
For years, we've opined on the "next big things" in tennis, and for years we've been vastly disappointed by anyone who had aspirations of usurping the Big Four. But more and more, Zverev looks to be that guy.
"It's impossible to not have a great result in Grand Slam when you have the level that he has," Nadal said to the press after the Rome final.
Great results are exactly what we're expecting for the next two weeks.
Prediction: Zverev in straight sets.
No. 32 Alize Cornet vs. Sara Errani
The Frenchwoman Cornet comes into this event with a sense of relief after the International Tennis Federation dismissed a charge against her for missing three drugs tests in a year. Cornet was looking at a potential suspension otherwise.
That said, Cornet has little momentum on her side. She has played only one match since the beginning of May, an opening-round loss against Elina Svitolina in Madrid.
But Cornet's opponent hasn't fared much better. Errani, who last year served a two-month doping ban after testing positive for a banned substance, has found herself playing in some Challenger-level events in 2018 and fell in the opening round of both Madrid and Rome.
Errani is just 5-foot-5, but she is a former French Open finalist. In 2012, she lost to Maria Sharapova in the championship match, but in the past two years, she's won just a single match.
Prediction: Cornet in three sets.