The build-up to any Grand Slam typically involves two or three hectic media days, where members of the press get to speak to the players participating in the tournament before it kicks off.
Close to 200 players took part in interviews or press conferences over the past three days in Paris as Roland Garros got underway on Sunday.
Here are some of the highlights from conversations we had with the players, setting the scene for the upcoming fortnight.
Sinner as untouchable as Nadal was in Paris?
For many years, players knew the only way they could lift the Coupe de Mousquetaires was through Rafael Nadal, who won the French Open a record 14 times and was practically unbeatable on the red clay, when he was fit enough to play.
The Spaniard has now retired, but entering this year’s Roland Garros, most of the men in the field feel like there is, once again, just one name to target if they want to secure the title: Jannik Sinner.
The Italian has lost just two matches this season, is on a 29-match winning streak, and claimed all three Masters 1000 titles on clay in the run-up to Paris.
If he wins this French Open, he would become just the seventh man in the Open Era to complete the career Grand Slam and would join Nadal as the only players to sweep the clay Masters 1000s and Roland Garros in the same season.
With Carlos Alcaraz, who won the French Open in 2024 and 2025, out injured, Sinner is the undisputed favourite to triumph on Paris’ terre battue for the first time.
Is there a sense of déjà vu among the players, that even in Nadal’s absence, there is a seemingly insurmountable obstacle in their path to the Roland Garros crown?
“It feels similar, yes,” said two-time French Open runner-up Casper Ruud, who lost to Sinner in the Rome final a week ago.
“Jannik hasn't won here 14 times like Rafa did in his career, but he's definitely the ultimate favourite. This is the cherry on top of his career that he needs to kind of feel like he already has completed and won every big tournament there is. So I'm not sure how he will feel.
“I can imagine a bit of pressure, of course, and maybe a bit of nerves. But he is the player to beat for sure. He has a big target on his back, but he's managed that extremely well the last months and years, so I don't see a reason why he cannot play well here. He was one point away last year, so definitely he's the favourite.
“But we are all human, and everyone who goes up against him will do their best to stop him, but that goes for any player. Anyone who plays me will try to beat me. Anyone who plays Sascha [Zverev] will try to beat him. So it's an open tournament, and it's exciting, and it will be, I think, a good edition of this year's Roland Garros.”
Women’s event wide open
Last year, Iga Swiatek arrived in Paris seeking a fourth consecutive French Open title and a fifth Coupe Suzanne Lenglen overall.
Like her hero Nadal, the Polish star was seen as the ultimate favourite on clay for several years, but her unbeaten run in Paris was halted in the semi-finals last season by Aryna Sabalenka, who then lost the final to Coco Gauff.
Ruud was being generous when he said the men’s tournament was “open”, or perhaps his mind had wandered into thinking of the women’s event at Roland Garros this fortnight.
The list of contenders for the women’s singles title here includes defending champion Gauff, world No 1 Sabalenka, six-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek, Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina, last week’s Rome champion Elina Svitolina, Madrid winner Marta Kostyuk, and fifth-ranked Charleston champion Jessica Pegula.
Not to mention the likes of Hailey Baptiste and Mirra Andreeva.
“It seems a bit more open just with different results on the clay. There's a lot of people playing good tennis, myself included,” Pegula said on Friday.
“There is definitely a lot of space for someone to win, which makes it, I think, fun and really exciting for women's tennis.”
Asked if Swiatek has lost her aura on clay, Pegula said: “I don't know if she's lost any aura. She's still an amazing multiple Grand Slam champion, has won on all the surfaces and everything, so that's always going to be there.
“I think when you're that good and you're that much higher, like what is happening with Jannik, is that all these girls started looking at how to beat her. So I think the depth probably maybe got a little bit better as well, and she maybe just wasn't as confident a few times here and there.
“She's so young, and I think there is always going to be ebbs and flows in a career. She's not as dominant as those years, but I don't know if you'd really want to play her here, as well, knowing her experience here.”
Eala to face close friend
Alexandra Eala celebrated her 21st birthday on Saturday with some of her best friends on tour, including the player she will face in the opening round in Paris, American No 17 seed Iva Jovic.
The Filipina star played every single week during this clay season – Linz, Stuttgart, Madrid, Rome, Strasbourg – in an effort to improve her game on the red dirt.
“I definitely feel more prepared than last year,” said Eala, who made her French Open main draw debut 12 months ago.
“I think I have improved a lot on the surface. Of course, I have such a long way to go, but I think I have improved a lot in the past year as a player, and it's really helped me manage the challenges that come with the surface for me. I think I'm super excited for this week.”
Jodar shuns Nadal/Alcaraz comparisons
This time last year, Rafael Jodar was ranked 707 in the world and finishing up his freshman year at the University of Virginia. Today, he enters Roland Garros ranked 29 in the world, and with a 15-3 run on clay in the build-up to Paris (title in Marrakech, semi-finals in Barcelona, quarter-finals in Madrid and Rome).
The 19-year-old is the latest talent to emerge from the Spanish pipeline and will be making his French Open debut on Monday against Aleksandar Kovacevic.
He is new to the best-of-five sets format (played his first slam in Melbourne earlier this year) and made his tour-level debut just five months ago, but Jodar is already considered by many as a dark horse for the French Open and is being compared to a young Nadal and a young Alcaraz, both compatriots of his who enjoyed great success as teenagers.
“Being from the same country as Carlos and Rafa doesn't mean you are going to accomplish or achieve the same things that they have won,” said Jodar, who was wearing a Spain football jersey during his press conference, and revealed his favourite player is Rodri.
“I just try to follow my own path, try to do my career, and enjoy the process, because it's great to be in all these places playing against these great players.”
French Open farewell for Monfils and Wawrinka
The tributes have been pouring in for two legends of the game who will be contesting their final French Opens: Gael Monfils and Stan Wawrinka.
“He's a legend of the sport. I was joking with him in the locker room saying that I should stand up when he enters the locker rooms,” said Felix Auger-Aliassime of the 41-year-old Wawrinka.
“All jokes aside, I perfectly remember the epic matches he's played here. When he won, I think it was in 2015. I was a teenager, and I was starting to watch much more tennis. So for me, for my generation, he's been an inspiration, so that's his legacy.”
A special evening dubbed ‘Gael and Friends’ took place on Court Philippe Chatrier on Thursday to celebrate Monfils’ career and it featured the likes of Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner, and Naomi Osaka, who called him the "GOAT" and praised him for being an inspiration for countless black tennis players.
A relaxed and content Monfils spoke to the press on Saturday ahead of his final appearance at his home slam.
“My bucket list is full,” he smiled. “The only thing that I had, I think is 99.9 per cent, it was just to lift this trophy, but the rest is I made everything. I think Roland Garros gave me anything that I ever dream, wish, work for. So, I'm just very grateful and very blessed with where I am.”
Kokkinakis attempts another comeback
Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis had a radical and unprecedented pectoral surgery in February 2025, which sidelined him for a year and limited him to just three singles matches in 2026.
After playing with scar tissue that hampered him for five years, the 30-year-old underwent a procedure deemed risky by many doctors.
“Essentially, I have an Achilles allograft – or a dead person's Achilles – in my arm trying to attach my pec to my shoulder,” he told atptour.com earlier this year.
The former world No 65 has been dogged by injuries his entire career and is now attempting another comeback.
He’ll play his first Grand Slam singles match since the 2025 Australian Open when he faces home favourite Terence Atmane on Monday.
Speaking of his battle with injury, Kokkinakis said on Friday: “I know a lot of players are going through stuff, but I wish – I always say to my trainer, I wish someone could just feel what I'm feeling when I serve after a long match, just for one tournament and just see it …
“I wanted to give myself a chance to play the Grand Slams, do all the rehab. And I think I owe it to myself at least to see how I go the next year. And then I'll probably make a decision after the next sort of 12 months to see how my arm goes, if I'm able to play further or not.”
Qinwen back to her ‘dream place’
Former world No 4 Zheng Qinwen will play her first Grand Slam match since last year’s Wimbledon on Monday against Maja Chwalinska.
The 2024 Australian Open finalist has played just 12 matches so far this season, including five on clay, as she continues to ramp up her comeback from elbow surgery she underwent last July.
A quarter-finalist at Roland Garros last year and an Olympic gold medallist at this very venue in 2024, Zheng is hoping she can draw on her fond memories of Parisian clay to enjoy a successful fortnight in the French capital.
“I felt coming back here is like coming back to my dream place, because I had the best experience so far in 2024 and really good experience as well last year,” Zheng said.
“I'm trying to keep my concentration as long as I can to practise, and I'm also curious to see what I'm going to do this year after coming back from injury, because I really love to play here in Roland Garros, I want to stay as long as I can.”
