The French Open started on May 18th with the qualifiers and the main action kicks-off on May 24 with the First Round consisting of 128 players on each side of the draw. The biggest news in this year’s tournament is the absence of the two-time defending champion and world #2 2 Carlos Alcaraz. He is out with a wrist injury he sustained at the Barcelona Open. But Stan Wawrinka will be saying goodbye to Paris.
Is Stan Wawrinka a French Open dark horse?
Three-time Grand Slam winner and one of the best to ever play the sport Stan Wawrinka has been awarded a wildcard and he is set to retire at the end of the year. He enters the main draw following Lorenzo Musetti’s withdrawal. He won the title in 2015 and also a finalist in 2017.
The entertaining and crowd favorite Gael Monfils is also awarded a wildcard. This will be his final Roland Garros before he retires at the end of the year
World No 1 Jannik Sinner is the huge favorite to win his first ever Roland Garros title. He will be the number one seed and Alexander Zverev comes in as the number two seed following the absence of Carlos Alcaraz. He is followed by Novak Djokovic, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Ben Shelton, Daniel Medvedev, Taylor Fritz, Alex de Minaur, Alexander Bublik and Flavio Cobolli makes the top 10 seeds.
Jannik Sinner has swept all the masters clay events so far in 2026 (Monte Carlo, Madrid, and Rome). Sinner became the second player ever to achieve this in one season (after Nadal). The Italian has a 100% win rate on clay this year with 17 wins, 0 losses. This make him the huge favorite to win the titles.
Alexander Zverev’s 2026 clay court record is 13–4 (76.5% win rate). The German has overall 2026 record: 28–9 (75.7%) with 13 wins, 4 losses. He reached the semifinals in Monte Carlo and Munich, he was a runner-up in Madrid after Sinner defeated him.
Casper Ruud has had a strong 2026 clay season overall so far with a huge Rome Open showing by making it all the way and lost to Jannik Sinner. He has a clay win-loss: Approximately 10–3 to 13–4 and around 77% win rate on clay this year.
Ruud boost of 74% win rate historically, 12+ titles on the surface, multiple Roland Garros finals.
This year’s Roland Garros dark horse nobody talking about is Arthur Fils.
Fils has had an excellent 2026 clay season so far, he won the Barcelona ATP 500 by defeating Andrey Rublev in the final.
He was semifinalist at the Madrid Master where he lost to Jannik Sinner.
The French man was Unbeaten on clay early in the swing before the Rome exit.
Fils has 65% win percentage on clay across ATP top level matches with 3 of his 4 titles coming on clay, he won the 2023 Lyon Open (ATP 250), 2024 Hamburg Open (ATP 500) and 2026: Barcelona Open (ATP 500).
He was seeded No. 14 in last year’s Roland Garros and made it to the 3rd Round where he withdrew before facing Andrey Rublev due to injury.
Fils now fully fit and with aggressive style and baseline game built through athleticism and explosive power, I can see him making it to the semifinals in Paris.
Main photo: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
