Roland Garros, the second Grand Slam of the year, is here and the draw has served up some interesting first-round matchups.
In the women’s bracket, defending champion Coco Gauff opens against a compatriot. On the men’s side, home hope Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard has the challenge of facing a 24-time major winner and three-time French Open champion in his opening round.
Play begins on Sunday. Read on to find out about players' form and who is playing who.
(4)Coco Gauff
Gauff is one the best clay-courters around and the 22-year-old likes it in Paris. Last year she went all the way, taking down world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka in a thrilling three-set final. In 2025 the American’s form on the surface coming in was strong – back-to-back runner-up showings in Madrid and Rome. Fast forward 12 months, Gauff enters Roland Garros as the 2026 Rome runner-up like she was in 2025. Omens... This year’s fourth seed starts her campaign against fellow American Taylor Townsend.
(9)Victoria Mboko
Mboko had to qualify for the French Open last year and did so seamlessly without dropping a set. Then ranked 120 in the world, she reached the third round on her debut. This year she is a top-10 seed. The 19-year-old world No 9, who has already made three finals in 2026 – Adelaide, Doha and Strasbourg – and enters her second French Open full of confidence a runner-up showing at the Internationaux de Strasbourg. Talented 20-year-old Nikola Bartunkova is the Canadian’s first-round opponent.
(13)Jasmine Paolini
Paolini, the 2024 runner-up, made a run to the fourth round last year. The 30-year-old Italian, who is 10 and 10 on the season so far in singles, has dropped outside the top 10 for the first time in two years. Her title defence in Rome ended in the third round, hence the drop in ranking. However, despite the lack of form, the Italian will no doubt be looking to put some matches together in Paris where she enjoys the conditions. Last year she made a run to the second week and will be hoping to at least match that this time around. First she must get past Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska.
(16)Naomi Osaka
Osaka has a 4-2 win-loss record on the dirt this season following round-of-16 defeats to Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek in Madrid and Rome, respectively. The match against top seed Sabalenka was a close three-set encounter which would have been a good confidence booster. Those familiar with Osaka’s run in Rome this year will remember the 54-minute, third-round victory over Diana Shnaider – best clay-court performance from the four-time major winner in my opinion. If she brings that brand of tennis to Paris, those in the top half of the draw will be on notice. Laura Siegemund will provide the opening-round challenge.
(19)Madison Keys
Keys started her clay-court season in Charleston where she reached the semi-finals. Stomach illness then forced her to withdraw from Madrid and she lost in the third round in Rome. In search of matches, the 31-year-old American dropped down to WTA 125 level to play a Challenger in Paris where she made the final but was forced to retire in the second set. She also withdrew from Strasbourg as a precaution. The 19th seeded-American will take on Hanne Vandewinkel in the first round.
(26)Hailey Baptiste
Baptiste is having a career-year. After some solid hard-court results at the start of 2026, her clay-court season took off in Madrid where she reached her first WTA 1000 semi-final. The 24-year-old American registered the biggest win of her career to date when she beat world No 1 Sabalenka – becoming just the second woman to do so this year. Baptiste, seeded at a Grand Slam for the first time, takes on 2021 champion Barbora Krejcikova in round one.
Taylor Townsend
Townsend has been putting in work on the singles circuit this season. The history-making tennis mom reached her first singles final on the WTA Tour in Austin, Texas in March where she also won the doubles crown… obviously. Townsend’s schedule since has consisted of WTA 1000s. The 30-year-old American comes into Paris fresh off a third-round run in Rome as a qualifier. This will be Townsend and Gauff’s second meeting on the singles court following their first in 2019. Townsend won that day in three sets on the green Charleston clay.
Alycia Parks
Parks is making just her third appearance in the singles main draw in Paris. Last year she upset Karolina Muchova, who was the 14th seed, in the first round. Does a similar fate await this year? Parks has a knack for bringing her A-game against higher ranked opponents and she will be required to do so from the jump this year as she faces another seeded player in the first round in the form of Canada’s (24)Leylah Fernandez.
(Q)Sloane Stephens
Stephens will be in Paris working two jobs this year. The 2018 runner-up was part of the acclaimed TNT Sports crew on the ground at Roland Garros in 2025 and the natural clay-courter will be in the team again for this year. Stephens came through three rounds of qualifying to secure her place in the main draw – after sailing through her first two matches in straight sets, she had to come back from a set down in the final qualifying round. Sara Bejlek is the former world No 3’s first-round opponent.
(W)Akasha Urhobo
Urhobo is making her French Open debut after winning the USTA’s wildcard challenge. The 19-year-old American, who has Nigerian roots, started the year ranked 337 in the world and is now inside the top 200 – 184th – after doing a lot of winning, especially on clay. Coached by Jermaine Jenkins, Urhobo registered her first WTA Tour main-draw win in Charleston in March. Great Britain’s Katie Boulter awaits Urhobo in the first round.
(W)Gaël Monfils
Monfils is making his 19th and final Roland Garros appearance. If this was a movie, La Monf would be crowned champion come the end of the fortnight. One can dream. But in all seriousness, if there is any player who deserves one last fairytale run at a home major, it is Monfils. His “Gaël & Friends” night pre-tournament was nicely done and well deserved, with players from both tours coming out to support. Fellow French wildcard Hugo Gaston is Monfils’ first-round opponent.
(4)Félix Auger-Aliassime
Auger-Aliassime is having a solid season after a tricky start to the year in Australia. The Canadian world No 6 has a title to his name – Montpellier – and has performed admirably at the big events, but Monte Carlo aside, the clay-court form has been a mystery. You should never read too much into form in this sport, as one result can flip everything. That, no doubt, is what FAA will be hoping for as he looks to reach the second week for the third time on his seventh appearance. Fourth seed Auger-Aliassime begins against Germany’s Daniel Altmaier.
(5)Ben Shelton
Shelton’s recent clay-court results might make for confusing reading – early exits in Madrid, Rome and Hamburg – but the explosive lefty has a clay title to his name after his victory in Munich last month. Surprisingly, since securing his second crown of the year, the world No 5 has one match-win to his name. But one thing about Shelton is you can trust him to perform at the majors. The 23-year-old American has improved on his showing in Paris year-on-year – his fourth-round run last year is his best to date. Daniel Merida is fifth seed Shelton’s first-round opponent.
(19)Frances Tiafoe
Tiafoe’s best Grand Slam performance in 2025 was his run to the quarter-finals at Roland Garros. This year, Big Foe started his clay campaign in Houston where he made the semis. He then missed the whole of April due to ill health before returning to action in Rome, winning one match and losing another, and doing the same in Hamburg more recently. Nineteenth seed Tiafoe opens against fellow American Eliot Spizzirri.
Gabriel Diallo
Diallo is having a much more low-key season this year compared to last where he reached a career high 33 in the world rankings. The Canadian 22-year-old enters Roland Garros just inside the top 50. Diallo has not played since Madrid where he was forced to retire due to back issues against Elmer Moller in the second round after receiving a first-round bye. Diallo’s fitness status may be a little unclear but we should learn more when he steps on court to face James Duckworth in the first round.
Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard
Mpetshi Perricard won his first French Open match last year in his second appearance at his home Grand Slam. The 22-year-old Frenchman is having a difficult season after amassing a 6-11 win-loss record in 2026, but name a better place for a French player to put that right? One of the greatest to ever do it, third seed Novak Djokovic is Mpetshi Perricard’s first-round opponent and to GMP’s credit, he is relishing the challenge. “No matter what happens at the end of the match, it’s going to bring a lot to my game – I’m very excited.”
(W)Moïse Kouame
Kouame, currently the youngest player inside the top 400, has been awarded a main-draw wildcard this year. The 17-year-old Frenchman, who secured his first win on the ATP Tour in Miami in March, has been honing his craft mainly on the Challenger circuit for the majority of the season and has one clay ITF title to his name. It will be a case of apprentice versus the teacher, as Grand Slam debutant Kouame, takes on 37-year-old Marin Cilic in round one.