Defending champion Coco Gauff goes for another title while Jannik Sinner looks to complete the career grand slam
By Brad Crawford May 21, 2026 at 10:25 am ET • 5 min read 
Getty Images American Coco Gauff is gunning for her second straight title while World No. 1 Jannik Sinner aims to complete the career grand slam at the 2026 French Open, which is set to begin Sunday inside Roland-Garros Stadium in Paris. Prize money has increased to $3.2 million for each of the winners, a 10% bump from last year's purse despite recent protests from players upset they are not receiving a bigger share of tournament revenues compared to other majors.
Sinner has won 29 consecutive matches entering the tournament after winning titles at five ATP Masters 1000 events this season: Indian Wells, Miami, Monte-Carlo, Madrid and Rome. Carlos Alcaraz, Sinner's nemesis who has won back-to-back French Open titles, will miss the tournament and has already pulled out of Wimbledon later this summer with a wrist injury.
Other challengers with the best opportunity at unseating Sinner at Roland Garros include Alexander Zverev, 24-time grand slam champion Novak Djokovic and Arthur Fils. Djokovic, the 3-seed, is a three-time French Open winner, last taking the crown in 2023. Djokovic squares off with big server Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in the opening round.
On the other side of the draw, Djokovic would only potentially matchup with Sinner if both players made the final. Three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka, making his final appearance at Roland-Garros, will play France's Arthur Fils, the 17-seed, in the opening round.
Americans Ben Shelton, Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul, Learner Tien and Sebastian Korda are considered long shots. Andy Roddick won the last major title by an American in men's singles at the 2003 US Open.
Gauff looks for repeat performance
On the women's side, Gauff will begin defense of her French Open title against Taylor Townsend, Americans who have met only once previously in their careers (Charleston, S.C. in 2019). Gauff defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in last year's French Open final, 6–7 (5–7), 6–2, 6–4 to win her second major, her first coming at the US Open in 2023. Vying for another title the following year, Gauff suffered 19 double faults and says she has learned from that experience in a major final.
"At the US Open, I was like, 'I need to defend, defend.' When you're playing a tournament that you didn't win, what is it called?" Gauff said recently in Rome. "That's why I just say now it's just another tournament: 'I won it last year. I'll try again to do it this year.' I'm not going to be able to defend every year. I'm not Rafa (el Nadal)."
Four-time French Open champion Iga Swiątek (+220), Sabalenka (+260) and Elena Rybakina (+650) arę the favorites for the tournament ahead of Gauff (+700) per FanDuel Sportsbook.
Gauff said her serve is showing more consistency.
"My weight is a little bit better. Also just the trust, the confidence in it is a lot better," Gauff said this week. "Because my confidence in it is better, then I'm actually consistently tossing the ball in the right spot, having my technique be the same on each serve regardless where my target is. That's the biggest difference."
French Open schedule
- Main draw first round: May 24-26
- Second, third rounds: May 27-29
- Round of 16: May 30-31
- Quarterfinals: June 1-2
- Semifinals: June 4 (women's), June 5 (men's)
- Women's final: June 6
- Men's final: June 7
Men's draw first round
Section 1 (1) Jannik Sinner vs. Clement Tabur Jacob Fearnley vs. Juan Manuel Cerundolo Martin Landaluce vs. qualifier (30) Corentin Moutet vs. Vit Kopriva Section 2 (22) Artur Rinderknech vs. qualifier Marton Fucsovics vs. Matteo Berrettini Ethan Quinn vs. Francisco Comesana (14) Luciano Darderi vs. Sebastian Ofner Section 3 (9) Alexander Bublik vs. Jan-Lennard Struff Denis Shapovalov vs. qualifier Jaume Munar vs. Hubert Hurkacz (19) Francis Tiafoe vs. Eliott Spizzirri Section 4 (29) Tallon Griekspoor vs. Matteo Arnaldi Alexandre Muller vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas Aleksandar Vukic vs. Raphael Collignon (5) Ben Shelton vs. Daniel Merida Section 5 (4) Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Daniel Altmaier Sebastian Baez vs. Roman Andres Burruchaga Luca Van Assche vs. Patrick Kypson (31) Brandon Nakashima vs. Roberto Bautista Agut Section 6 (20) Cam Norrie vs. Adolfo Daniel Vallejo Marin Cilic vs. Moise Kouame Alejandro Tabilo vs. Kamil Majchrzak (16) Valentin Vacherot vs. qualifier Section 7 (10) Flavio Cobolli vs. qualifier Yibing Wu vs. Marcos Giron Zhizen Zhang vs. qualifier (18) Learner Tien vs. Christian Garin Section 8 (25) Francisco Cerundolo vs. Botic Van De Zandschulp Hugo Gaston vs. Gael Monfils Alexei Popyrin vs. Zachary Svajda (6) Daniil Medvedev vs. Adam Walton Section 9 (8) Alex De Minaur vs. qualifier Alexander Blockx vs. qualifier Mariano Navone vs. Jenson Brooksby (26) Jakub Mensik vs. Titouan Droguet Section 10 (23) Tomas Etcheverry vs. Nuno Borges Miromir Kecmanovic vs. Fabian Marozsan Camilo Ugo Carabelli vs. qualifier (11) Andrey Rublev vs. Ignacio Buse Section 11 (15) Casper Ruud vs. qualifier Hamed Medjedovic vs. Yannick Hanfmann Lorenzo Sonego vs. qualifier (24) Tommy Paul vs. Rinky Hijikata Section 12 (28) Joao Fonseca vs. qualifier Dino Prizmic vs. qualifier Valentin Royer v. qualifier (3) Novak Djokovic vs. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard Section 13 (7) Taylor Fritz vs. Nishesh Basavareddy Alexander Shevchenko vs. Alex Michelsen James Duckworth vs. Gabriel Diallo (24) Rafel Jodar vs. Aleksandar Kovacevic Section 14 (21) Alejandro Davidovich Fokina vs. Damir Dzumhur Thiago Agustine Tirante vs. qualifier Terence Atmane v. Thanasi Kokkinakis (12) Jiri Lehecka vs. Pablo Carreno Busta Section 15 (13) Karen Khachanov vs. Arthur Gea Marco Trungelliti vs. qualifier Reilly Opelka vs. qualifier (17) Arthur Fils vs. Stan Wawrinka Section 16 (32) Ugo Humbert vs. Adrianno Mannarino Quentin Halys vs. Matteo Bellucci Tomas Machac vs. Zizou Bergs (2) Alexander Zverev vs. Benjamin Bonzi
Women's draw first round
Section 1 (1) Aryna Sabalenka vs. Jessica Bouzas Maneiro Elsa Jacquemot vs. qualifier Daria Kasatkina vs. Zonyep Sonmez (31) Carolina Bucsa vs. qualifier Section 2 (17) Iva Jovic vs. Alexandra Eala Emma Navarro vs. Janice Tjen Donna Vekic vs. Alice Tubello (16) Naomi Osaka vs. Laura Siegemund Section 3 (9) Victoria Mboko vs. Nikola Bartunkova Simona Waltert vs. Katerina Siniakova Antonia Ruzic vs. qualifier (19) Madison Keys vs. Hanne Vandewinkel Section 4 (25) Diana Shnaider vs. Renata Zarazua Mccartney Kessler vs. qualifier Oleksandra Oliynykova vs. qualifier (5) Jessica Pegula vs. Kimberly Birrell Section 5 (4) Coco Gauff vs. Taylor Townsend Dalma Galfi vs. qualifier Akasha Urhobo vs. Katie Boulter (28) Anastasia Potapova vs. Maya Joint Section 6 (22) Anna Kalinskaya vs. Lois Boisson Elisabetta Cocciaretto vs. qualifier Talia Gibson vs. Yulia Putintseva (14) Ekaterina Alexandrova vs. Camila Osorio Section 7 (12) Linda Noskova vs. Maria Sakkari Moyuka Uchijima vs. qualifier Qinwen Zheng vs. qualifier (23) Elise Mertens vs. TatjanaMaria Section 8 (30) Ann Li vs. Shaui Zhang Anhelina Kalinina vs. Diane Parry Julia Grabher vs. qualifier (6) Amanda Anisimova vs. Tiantsoa Rokotomanga Rajaonah Section 9 (7) Elina Svitolina vs. Anna Bondar Leolia Jeanjean vs. qualifier Tamara Korpatsch vs. Sara Sorribes Tormo (32) Xinyu Wang vs. Lilli Tagger Section 10 (21) Clara Tauson vs. Daria Snigur Peyton Stearns vs. Sofia Kenin Caty McNally vs. Alja Tomljanovic (11) Belinda Bencic vs. qualifier Section 11 (15) Marta Kostyuk vs. Oksana Selekhmeteva Katie Volynets vs. Clara Burel Panna Udvardy vs. Viktorija Golubic (24) Leylah Fernandez vs. Alycia Parks Section 12 (29) Jelena Ostapenko vs. Ella Seidel Tereza Valentova vs. Magda Linette Sara Bejlek vs. qualifier (3) Iga Świątek vs. Emerson Jones Section 13 (8) Mirra Andreeva vs. Fiona Ferro Emiliana Arango vs. qualifier Francesca Jones vs. Beatriz Haddad Maia (27) Marie Bouzkova vs. qualifier Section 14 (20) Liudmila Samsonova vs. Jil Teichmann Magdalena Frech vs. Elena-Gabriela Ruse Kamila Rakhimova vs. Jaqueline Crisitian (10) Karolina Muchova. vs. Anastasia Zakharova Section 15 (13) Jasmine Paolini vs. Dayana Yastremka Emma Raducanu vs. Solana Sierra Petra Marcinko vs. Eva Łys (18) Sorana Cirstea vs. Ksenia Efremova Section 16 (26) Hailey Baptiste vs. Barbora Krejcikova Danka Kovinic vs. qualifier Anna Blinkova vs. Yuliia Starodubtseva (2) Elena Rybakina vs. Veronika Erjavec
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