Yes, you saw that right, there will be five British players in the main draw at the French Open this year, three by virtue of their ranking and two who came through the qualifying rounds to earn their place alongside their compatriots. This author cannot remember a time in the Open Era that this has happened before - without the use of a wildcard to enter the tournament.

On the ATP side there are three British men in the main draw.  The obvious one is there and that is British number one Andy Murray, who is world number three and seeded third here. Coming into the French Open, Murray has a 10-0 win loss ratio on clay and two clay titles to his name, his first in the 10 years he has been on tour. Clay is not Murrays' favourite surface and prior to 2015 had never been in a clay court final. This changed suddenly and spectacularly when he won the ATP 250 Munich crown defeating German Kohlschreiber in a rain delayed final that was held over until the Monday, Murray followed this up immediately with the Masters in Madrid in which he defeated Nadal in straight sets to claim his 2nd title in a week.

Joining Murray in the main draw is Aljaz Bedene, born in Slovenia he received British citizenship in March, and this will be his first Grand Slam playing as a Brit. Bedene is also in the main draw by virtue of ranking currently sitting inside the top 100. This is not the first slam for Bedene however, as previously played in them whilst representing Slovenia.  Bedene has never progressed passed the first round, and will be looking to do so here, there is also now of course Wimbledon where Bedene should have the home crowd support as it is now classed as the home slam. 

The final male to join them in the main draw is Kyle Edmund, the 20 year-old Brit has made steady progress up the rankings but was not high enough to earn direct entry, so had to play the qualifying rounds. Edmund was seeded throughout the qualifying and progressed well through the rounds to make the main draw. This will be his second slam where he has moved through the qualifying rounds to the main draw, with the Australian Open being the other slam this year he achieved this.  Edmund has played at Wimbledon before, but that was by virtue of a Wildcard.

Over on the WTA there are two ladies in the main draw. Heather Watson is there by virtue of ranking, currently world number 40 and British #1 Watson has to date never made it beyond the third round of a slam (these being at the Australian Open and Wimbledon), looking to go further Watson will be hoping for a good run here as she went out in round 2 last year. Heather does have two titles with Hobart this year and Prague last year with her name on the trophies.

Johanna Konta has qualified for her second Grand Slam main draw, not being reliant on wild cards. Her last time of reaching this milestone was back in 2012 at the US Open, when she upset the odds and defeated Timea Babos in the first round, Konta was beaten in straight sets in round two. Konta and the British fans will be longing for a better showing here to enable Konta to improve in the world rankings.