French Open – schedule, seedings and how to follow

The second Grand Slam of the year begins on Sunday, with players heading to Paris for the French Open.

Top seeds Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka are searching for their first Roland Garros title, while Novak Djokovic and Iga Swiatek will be hoping to add another crown to their collections.

There will be comprehensive coverage of the tournament across the BBC – here is all you need to know.

When is the French Open 2026?

The clay-court Grand Slam starts on Sunday, 24 May at Roland Garros and finishes on Sunday, 7 June.

The women’s singles final takes place on Saturday, 6 June, with the men’s final concluding the tournament a day later.

Qualifying, where players must win three matches to reach the main draw, began on Monday, 18 May.

How to follow the French Open on the BBC

There will be daily live text commentaries of key matches on the BBC Sport website and app, while there will be a daily podcast re-capping the biggest stories on BBC Sounds.

5 Live Sport has daily coverage and commentary live from Court Philippe-Chatrier across 5 Live Sport, BBC Sounds and the BBC Sport website and app.

Tennis correspondent Russell Fuller will be joined Katie Smith, Abigail Johnson David Law and Gigi Salmon, with analysis from Annabel Croft, Pat Cash, Daniela Hantuchova, Naomi Broady, Ryan Harrison and Leon Smith.

Commentary of the day sessions will take place from 13:00 BST and 19:30 for the night sessions.

Who won the French Open in 2025?

Carlos Alcaraz won his second French Open title last year after coming from two sets down – and saving three championship points – to beat Sinner in a thrilling men’s singles final.

Coco Gauff, meanwhile, fought back to defeat world number one Sabalenka in the women’s singles final to win her first French Open title and second singles major.

Is Carlos Alcaraz playing?

Seven-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz will not defend his French Open crown this year because of a wrist injury he picked up at the Barcelona Open.

Alcaraz will also miss next month’s Wimbledon.

The Spaniard, who lost his world number one ranking to Sinner last month, completed the career Grand Slam when he won the Australian Open in January.

Who are the in-form players heading into Roland Garros?

With Alcaraz absent, top seed Sinner could secure his own career Grand Slam – winning each of the major tournaments at least once – with the French Open the only one missing from his collection.

The Italian arrives in Paris in top form, having won the past six ATP Masters 1000 titles – including three consecutive clay-court events at Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome.

In doing so, he became just the second man, after Novak Djokovic, to complete the full set of nine Masters titles – known as the ‘career Golden Masters’.

Djokovic has won three French Open titles but the 38-year-old has not played many matches this year and suffered an early exit at the Italian Open in his only clay-court appearance this season.

While Sinner is the red-hot favourite in the men’s draw, picking a women’s singles winner is harder to predict.

Reigning champion Gauff reached the final of the Italian Open, where she was defeated by Elina Svitolina, but her form has been inconsistent in 2026.

Barring an injury worry, top seed Sabalenka should be in contention, along with Swiatek – a four-time winner at Roland Garros – and Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina.

Which Britons have qualified for the main draw?

Cameron Norrie is the only Briton who will be seeded at Roland Garros, while 122nd ranked Jacob Fearnley also has direct entry into the men’s main draw.

Jack Draper – the only other British man in the world’s top 100 – will miss the tournament because of an ongoing knee injury.

Emma Raducanu, Katie Boulter and Francesca Jones have all received direct entry to the main draw in the women’s singles, while Sonay Kartal is out with injury.

Toby Samuel qualified for his first Grand Slam main draw, while Felix Gill will bid to join him in Friday’s final round.

What is the prize money?

The total prize money for the French Open is 61.7m euros (£53.7m), with the men’s and women’s singles champions set to take home 2.8m euros (£2.4m) each.

There is an ongoing dispute over prize money in tennis, with the men’s and women’s top-10 players demanding a higher percentage of the revenue generated by the four majors.

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French Open 2026 draw

The draw for this year’s tournament took place on Thursday, 21 May.

• Full men’s singles draw (external)
• Full women’s singles draw (external)

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French Open 2026 schedule

24-26 May: Men’s and women’s singles first round

26 May: Men’s and women’s doubles begins

27-28 May: Men’s and women’s singles second round

27 May: Mixed doubles begins

29-30 May: Men’s and women’s singles third round

31 May-1 June: Men’s and women’s singles fourth round

2-3 June: Men’s and women’s quarter-finals

2 June: Wheelchair tournament begins

4 June: Women’s singles semi-finals

5 June: Men’s singles semi-finals

6 June: Women’s singles final

7 June: Men’s singles final

• Live scores, results and order of play
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