The men’s and women’s brackets at the 2026 French Open are set after Thursday’s draw.
This year’s tournament will kick off on Sunday, with Coco Gauff looking to defend her title on the women’s side. There is guaranteed to be a new men’s champion with Carlos Alcaraz rehabbing a wrist injury that will keep him out through at least Wimbledon.
2026 French Open Schedule
Start Date: Sunday, May 24
Women’s Final: Saturday, June 6
Men’s Final: Sunday, June 7
The full men’s singles draw can be found here. The full women’s singles draw can be found here.
Alcaraz’s absence creates a huge opening on the men’s bracket. The 23-year-old has won 14 straight matches at Roland-Garros dating back to 2024.
The biggest potential beneficiary of Alcaraz’s absence is Jannik Sinner. Entering the tournament as the No. 1 seed and top-ranked men’s player in the ATP rankings, he needs a French Open title to cap off the career grand slam.
Sinner came close to his first win at this tournament last year when he took the first two sets and had three match points in the final against Alcaraz, but wasn’t able to close it out in one of the most iconic matches in modern tennis history.
The 24-year-old enters the field having won five consecutive tournaments coming into Roland-Garros.
If the seeding holds throughout, Sinner’s run from the quarterfinals to the final would include Ben Shelton, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alexander Zverev.
Sinner has a 24-7 combined record against Shelton, Auger-Aliassime and Zverev in his career, including a 7-2 mark in the four Grand Slam events. Zverev is the only member from that group who has defeated Sinner in a major.
The primary challenger to Sinner could be Novak Djokovic, though they wouldn’t play until the final if it happens. He already holds a win over Sinner this year, defeating him in five sets in the Australian Open semifinals.
Djokovic, who will turn 39 on Friday, already holds the record as the oldest French Open winner in history. He was 36 when he won here in 2023. His most recent win in a major tournament was at the 2023 U.S. Open, but he has reached at least the semifinal in five straight majors since the start of 2025.
Djokovic will have to wash away a rough showing at the Italian Open. He lost his first match to Dino Prizmic in three sets. It was his first event in two months and just his third of the year due in part to a shoulder injury.
Other potential contenders on the men’s side could include Lorenzo Musetti, Alexander Zverev and Arthur Fils. Zverev reached the final here two years ago before losing to Alacraz and had a run to the Australian Open semifinals to open the 2026 major season.
Musetti was a surprise semifinalist at Roland-Garros last year. He won the first set against Alcaraz and took him to a tiebreak in the second before a leg injury forced him to retire early in the fourth set.
The women’s bracket has no shortage of challengers for Gauff’s crown, including a potentially loaded quarterfinal if the seeds hold.
Aryna Sabalenka lost a three-set final to Gauff last year in her best showing at the French Open to date.
Sabalenka and Gauff have already played in 2026, with Sabalenka winning in the Miami Open final. It was her second straight singles title, after Indian Wells, but she has lost momentum recently with losses in the quarterfinal at the Madrid Open and third round at the Italian Open.
In the wake of her loss in Italy, Sabalenka did hint that her lingering back and hip issues could be a problem going into Roland-Garros.
Despite having not yet won a French Open title, Sabalenka has reached at least the quarterfinal round in each of the last three years. Last year marked her first appearance in the final.
After reaching at least the quarterfinal round in all four major tournaments in 2025, this year has been a mixed bag for Iga Świątek so far. She did make it to the quarterfinal at the Australian Open, but her overall singles record is just 18-9 with no titles.
If there is a place for Świątek to get back on track, it would be Roland-Garros. She has historically owned the French Open, winning four titles in a five-year span from 2020 to ’24. Her only losses in the tournament since 2020 were against Maria Sakkari in 2021 and Sabalenka last year.
Elena Rybakina is looking to make her mark over the next two weeks in France after starting the year with a win at the Australian Open. The 26-year-old has only advanced past the fourth round twice in seven prior appearances at Roland-Garros, but she has won 70.9 percent of her 158 career matches on clay.
Gauff, coming off a run to the final at the Italian Open before losing to Elina Svitolina, is looking become the first American woman to win back-to-back French Open titles since Chris Evert in 1985 and 1986.
