French Open Predictions for 2026

In less than a week, the best tennis players in the world will converge on Paris for the 2026 French Open. We’ve seen a good six weeks of clay action now, so it’s time to give our French Open predictions.

Who will take out the men’s and women’s titles? Who’s going to flop, and who could punch above their weight? Read on for all of my hot takes ahead of the 2026 event.

The men’s singles is particularly fascinating this year as defending champion Carlos Alcaraz will not be competing.

This makes world No 1 Jannik Sinner – who’s in red-hot form on a 23-match win streak as of writing – an enormous favorite. But is he the right bet to win? And with such a gap between him and the rest of the field, who will step into that void? Here are my men’s French Open picks, a month out.

There are currently two teenagers in the ATP’s top 100: Joao Fonseca and Rafael Jodar. I think either of them has an excellent shot at making the final eight in Paris.

Fonseca’s game is tailor-made for clay tennis surface. The Brazilian has some of the best raw power on tour, despite his young age. With the slower surface giving him time to properly set up for balls – and run around to his forehand more – he can lean on his pace generation to hit through the court ruthlessly.

We’ve seen him push Sinner, Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev and Ben Shelton so far this year, taking a set of the latter two. He only gets better on the big stage, so it would be no surprise to see him have a deep Roland-Garros run.

For Jodar, he’s been the talk of the town this clay swing. The young Spaniard is 33-10 across all levels in 2026, and is in particularly good nick on the red dirt (15-3), winning his maiden tour-level title in Marrakech then making the semi-finals of Barcelona before stringing together back-to-back Masters 1000 quarter-finals in Madrid and Rome.

He’s had a handful of excellent wins in this streak, ousting top-10 stalwart Alex de Minaur, as well as rival youngsters Fonseca and Learner Tien.

Given how open the men’s event is outside of the obvious favorite Sinner, Jodar or Fonseca winning their first four matches in Paris is entirely within the realm of possibility. I personally expect it will happen for at least one of them.

Speaking of in-form players, Arthur Fils is primed to make his deepest run at a Grand Slam this French Open. 

The Frenchman returned from a long injury layoff this February, but has immediately hit the ground running, winning 22 of his 29 matches so far in 2026.

He made the Madrid semi-finals, having won Barcelona in his opening week on clay. Prior to this, he was in sharp form too, making the final in Doha, quarters in Indian Wells and semi in Miami.

Don’t be put off by the fact that he retired early in his Rome opener against Andrea Pellegrino. Fils knows the opportunity he has at Roland-Garros, and was simply protecting his body from overload by pulling out of that match.

It’s not just Fils’ form that makes me think he’ll go well at Roland-Garros tennis tournament though, it’s the fact that he seems to cherish the spotlight.

The man is making YouTube series about his success, freely giving interviews and speaking openly with the press. This is not the kind of young player who will panic when he wins a few matches in front of a home crowd.

Given he’s never been beyond the round of 16 at a major, I’m fully expecting he’ll exceed that in Paris. In fact, if the draw breaks right, I’ve got him making the semis.

We’ve not seen a lot of Novak Djokovic this year. The Serbian showed up in Melbourne having shut his 2025 season down early and not played a warm up event, yet ousted Sinner in an epic five-setter to make the final. Since then, he’s played just four matches, losing a Rome first round to Dino Prizmic most recently.

Last year, this approach worked just fine for Djokovic. At one stage, he literally only played the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open over a four-month period, yet made the final four of each. But it can’t last, either. 

His lack of preparation simply has to catch up with him. Clay is the most physical surface, and he’s not won a match on it this year. Djokovic’s game increasingly relies on dominant serving and aggressive play on the forehand side – both strategies that are muted by the slower surface. 

If he’s going to win, he’ll have to play long, physical matches, and I just don’t think he’ll be able to.

Had Djokovic been able to get three or four matches in Rome, I’d have been willing to rescind this prediction. However, his performance against Prizmic reinforced my concerns: the Serb is highly susceptible to early upsets against the field. Yes, he’s the most likely player to defeat Sinner in Paris, but getting to that stage is looking increasingly unlikely. 

I do expect Zverev to go deep once again in Paris. Only once in the last eight years has he failed to make the quarter-finals or better of the French Open, with three semi-finals and one final sprinkled in there.

The German is simply a force to be reckoned with on clay: solid groundstrokes from the baseline, unflappable fitness, big serve. He’ll be happy going toe-to-toe with almost anyone and grinding them into the ground, as he’s made a career of doing.

However, I give him a near zero chance of winning the French Open. His mind is simply too weak. I understand that’s an incredibly harsh judgement to be passing, but the evidence is there to be seen. Time and time again he’s got himself into positions to win slams, then choked when he needed to perform. 

I have him getting himself into one of those positions yet again – perhaps even the final – but not coming away with any silverware. We saw in Madrid just how far his level is from that of the sport’s best, when Sinner waltzed past him to win the title.

This is far from an exciting pick, but I do expect Sinner will win the 2026 French Open and complete his career Grand Slam.

The Italian is an overwhelming favorite to do so. Usually, that would put me off him – players historically under perform when pressure is heaped on them. However, for Sinner, that’s simply not the case. The 24-year-old has shown incredible mental strength so far in his career.

When he became world No 1, all eyes were on him. That was no drama: he held top spot for 65 straight weeks. Same with his failed drug test: when he returned from suspension, he immediately made back-to-back finals. Sinner is unfazed by pressure and expectation.

All that to say, Sinner is unlikely to beat himself in Paris. And I don’t think anyone else will come close to doing it either. He’s cut from a different cloth, and just keeps racking up the records (as of writing, he’s just completed the Golden Masters sweep, extending his record for the most Masters titles won in a row, and is undefeated on clay in 2026).

The one time that Sinner has looked mildly vulnerable this clay swing was against Daniil Medvedev in the Rome semi-finals. The Russian extended rallies brilliantly and red-lined in a manner that had Sinner looking on the brink physically. Sinner got through that match in three, but it was a poignant reminder of the genius that Medvedev still possesses. 

Any narrative of Medvedev being cooked is incorrect. He’s very much in the conversation, and will be aware of the opportunity that this thin Roland-Garros draw presents for him. Should the cookie crumble correctly, he’s a strong chance of making the semis in Paris, where he’ll be able to weave his crafty webs once more.

Or, he’ll crash out first-round like he did last year.

There’s plenty more to chew over on the women’s French Open side. 2025 champion Coco Gauff is in a bit of a slump, as is Iga Swiatek, who has dominated women’s clay the past half decade.

Does this mean Aryna Sabalenka waltzes to her maiden Roland-Garros crown? Read on for my 2026 women’s French Open betting picks for bets at well-known bookmakers.

Coco Gauff arrives in Paris as the defending champion, and everything about her screams contender. The American has a 75% career win rate on the surface, with last year’s clay swing seeing her make finals in Madrid and Rome before lifting the Roland-Garros trophy. She also just made the Rome final. Statistically, this is her best surface. So why am I tipping her to stumble?

In a word, consistency. The American is currently 24-9 for the year, with a worrying number of those wins coming the hard way. Roughly half of her 2026 matches have gone to three sets, including against opponents she should be putting away in straights. 

Madrid was a case in point: she scraped past Sorena Cirstea after dropping the first set 6-4, then led Linda Noskova 4-1 in the third before losing the deciding tiebreak, having led there too. Then most recently in Rome, she went the distance in four of her six matches, the last of which proved a bridge too far.

She’s still capable of brilliance, but when the errors stack up, you can see her body language sag. Best-of-three over seven rounds, against a draw that will eventually serve up Sabalenka or Elena Rybakina? I just don’t see her holding up. 

Gauff might still make the second week, but defending the title looks beyond her in 2026.

A four-time French Open champion shouldn’t arrive in Paris as a question mark, and yet here we are.

Iga Swiatek is 18-9 for the year with no titles, has made just one semi-final, parted ways with coach Wim Fissette after Miami, and is titleless on clay since the 2024 French Open.

And yet, dismissing her completely feels foolish. On Rafael Nadal’s personal recommendation, she’s hired Francisco Roig – who spent nearly two decades alongside Nadal’s team – ahead of the clay swing.

She’s got 10 clay titles and an 86% career win rate on the surface. Roland-Garros is the venue where she has lifted four trophies. Whatever is going on in her game right now, the muscle memory of how to win in Paris hasn’t evaporated overnight.

My pick at tennis online bookies is that she shows up at Roland-Garros and looks more like the Swiatek of old. Rome was promising, with dominant wins over Naomi Osaka and Jessica Pegula. Returning to a familiar venue, with no world No 1 ranking on her shoulders to weigh her down, should free her up even further. That new coaching combo should start to click by then too.

I have her making the quarters or semis, looking dangerous in patches, then bowing out to one of the bigger hitters when all that expectation returns. 

That’s right, I’m tipping Mirra Andreeva – one of the form clay player on tour right now – to fail dramatically in Paris. 

She’s 15-3 on the dirt this year, having lifted the Linz trophy, made the Stuttgart semis (beating Swiatek on clay for the first time along the way), the Madrid final, and the quarters of Rome most recently. So why am I tipping a dramatic exit?

Because for all her brilliance, there are still serious cracks. Against Anna Bondar in the Madrid round of 16, Andreeva built a 5-1 lead in the deciding set, then dropped four straight games and barely got over the line. That match wasn’t a one-off either – she’s regularly emotional on court, often on the verge of tears and snapping at her box. 

After losing the Madrid final, she was once again in tears courtside. It wasn’t much better when she conceded a one-set lead against Gauff to crash out in Rome.

For a teenager that struggles at the best of times to manage her emotions, carrying the weight of being a title contender is a big ask.

I’m picking Andreeva to get into the second week, build a winning position in a big match, then have one of those meltdowns spurred on by the French crowd. It’ll be tough to watch, but isn’t tough to imagine either.

Cast your mind back to last year: Lois Boisson, world No 361, takes out Pegula and Andreeva en route to the Roland-Garros semi-finals on her Grand Slam debut. I’ve got a feeling we see something similar in 2026. 

The conditions are right for it. Gauff and Swiatek are both vulnerable, while Andreeva is too young to be relied on for seven straight matches at a major.

Look further down the top 10 and you find Rybakina, Pegula, Amanda Anisimova – none of them clay naturals, with all undermined by the slow surface that neutralizes their flat hitting. This leaves loads of space in the bottom half of the draw for someone to find a path through.

As for who, plenty of names could rise to the challenge. Leylah Fernandez has put together back-to-back WTA 1000 quarter-finals on clay this swing – her game suits the surface and she’s done it on the big stage before. Iva Jovic, the next American teenager to grab the spotlight, has been holding her own at the very top of the WTA Tour for months now.

There’s also Noskova, fresh off taking out Gauff in Madrid and looking ready to go deep at a major. Could even be a French wildcard hopeful again, though that one’s less likely.

Pick a name out of a hat – I reckon one of them is going to do it.

This isn’t the most exciting pick either, but I predict Sabalenka will win her first Roland-Garros title in 2026.

No one has been better on the WTA Tour this year. She made the Australian Open final, swept the Sunshine Double, and reached the Madrid quarter-finals. 

Yes, she’s hit a little speed bump since then, getting upset by Hailey Baptiste in Madrid before falling to an inspired Sorana Cirstea early in Rome too. However, her 2025 clay swing was the best of her career on the surface – final in Stuttgart, title in Madrid, quarters in Rome, final at Roland-Garros.

There’s no reason to think the wheels are coming off here. If anything, she’d played a lot of tennis the last few weeks and an early loss in Rome will have strengthened her coming into Paris.

A knock that used to follow Sabalenka around was finals nerves. She lost a lot of big matches last season, despite being hands down the best player on tour. Even this year, she fell in the Australian Open final when she was favorite heading in.

But I don’t think she’ll struggle with that in Paris. Her form over the Sunshine Double – bouncing back and defeating Rybakina in back-to-back finals – has put those demons to rest. 

With Gauff struggling for consistency, Swiatek short of her best, and Andreeva still finding her feet at the very top of the game, the door is wide open for Sabalenka to win the French Open. She lost to Gauff in last year’s final having been a set up, but I’ve got her finishing the job in 2026.

I’m not getting carried away and saying that 31-year-old Elina Svitolina is going to take home the trophy in Paris.

However, I do think the Ukrainian has a real shot at making her deepest-ever run at this year’s French Open. Svitolina is a five-time quarter-finalist at the event, with Roland-Garros the only major she hasn’t made the final four at. 

With the kind of form she’s in right now, it would be a surprise if she wasn’t around for the final weekend this time. Fresh off the back of her third title in Rome, Svitolina is now an incredible 29-7 for the year, of which she’s 8-2 on clay. The dirt is actually her best surface by win rate, and she went 15-3 across this stretch of the season last year.

Back her to keep showing impressive consistency and crack the semi in Paris for the first time at a minimum.

The 2026 tennis French Open predictions present opportunities for both established and emerging stars.

Jannik Sinner is the heavy favorite, but young players like Fonseca and Jodar could surprise. Arthur Fils is expected to make a strong push, while Djokovic’s preparation issues may result in an early exit. Sabalenka is tipped for her first Roland-Garros title as the women’s field remains wide open.