French Open 2026 Top Storylines to Track for Entire Bracket on Roland-Garros Schedule
Two wildly different types of tournaments are expected to play out at the 2026 French Open.
Jannik Sinner is the runaway favorite to win the men's singles draw with Carlos Alcaraz out injured.
Sinner's biggest threats on paper are Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic, but no one is in the same class as the Italian right now.
The women's singles draw has more unpredictability to it. Iga Swiatek is looking to regain her dominance at Roland Garros, Coco Gauff will try to defend her title and Aryna Sabalenka is on a quest for her first major triumph on clay.
Jannik Sinner's Tournament to Lose
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Jannik Sinner is widely expected to win his first French Open title in a few weeks.
The top-seeded Italian is far and away the best player in the men's singles field and he has no Carlos Alcaraz to contend with.
Sinner won the three warm-up tournaments on clay he participated in. He only lost three total sets during his title runs in Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome.
Anything other than a Sinner victory at Roland Garros would go down as a surprise.
Sure, there are other incredible players in the draw, like Zverev and Djokovic, but none of them have been as close to as dominant as Sinner has been on the clay this season.
Top Four Seeds Expected to Battle For Women's Title
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Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff can all make strong cases to win the French Open.
Swiatek is a four-time Roland Garros winner and she's made at least the quarterfinal round in each of the last six years.
Gauff is the reigning clay-court major champion. She also reached the final in 2022.
Sabalenka was the runner-up to Gauff in 2025 and has been to five of the last six women's singles major-tournament finals.
Rybakina has the worst history in Paris among the top four seeds, but she's proved to be an all-around player with major triumphs at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
Sabalenka and Gauff are on the top side of the bracket. Rybakina and Swiatek reside in the bottom half.
It wouldn't be a huge surprise to see each of the top four seeds play in the semifinals.
Americans Jessica Pegula and Amanda Anisimova are among the next-best group of title contenders in Paris.
2023 runner-up Karolina Muchova, 2024 runner-up Jasmine Paolini and Naomi Osaka are also among the top 16 seeds.
There's a gap in talent right now between the top four and the rest of the pack, and recent history suggests the top player will be around for the second week.
Fourteen of the 16 quarterfinalists on the women's side in the last two years were seeded in the top 16.
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