French Open 2026 men’s preview: Jannik Sinner leads 12 names to watch at Roland-Garros

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With the main draw of Roland-Garros set to begin Sunday, all eyes are on one man only.

In a field missing Carlos Alcaraz due to a wrist injury, Jannik Sinner is the singular favorite to win his first Roland-Garros title and complete the career Grand Slam, a few months after Alcaraz did the same at the Australian Open.

It would be a titanic accomplishment, but it doesn’t stop there for the Italian. Thanks to an unprecedented winning streak in which he’s won six straight Masters 1000 titles, Sinner would join Novak Djokovic as the only male player to win every big annual title out there, by which we mean every Grand Slam, every Masters 1000 and the year-end finals.

Djokovic completed that set at 31 years old. Sinner is a tournament away from doing it at 24. It’s ludicrous.

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Sinner winning isn’t a certainty, though. There are several intriguing names in the Roland-Garros draw, so let’s go through the 12 names to follow at the 2026 French Open. But we will, of course, start with Sinner.

Seed: 1, title odds: -325
2025 French Open result: F, lost to Carlos Alcaraz
2026 clay results: W Monte Carlo, W Madrid, W Rome

What he’s playing for: See above

Why he’ll win: Alcaraz’s absence looms over this tournament, but let’s make one thing perfectly clear: Alcaraz was not the Roland-Garros favorite when he announced he would be pulling out.

We could go on about how Sinner has leveled up this year —particularly with a serve that has become an unfair pairing with an already all-time baseline game — but let’s just summarize with data from Tennis Abstract.

  • In 2026, he has held 94.2% of service games. That is a better mark than John Isner in 2018 (93.8%), the best season of the legendary server’s career.

  • In 2026, he has broken opponents in 31.8% of return games. That is a better mark than Rafael Nadal in 2010 (29.3%), perhaps the best season of the legendary returner’s career.

  • In 2026, he has won 89.8% of sets overall, which is a better mark than Novak Djokovic in 2011 (81.4%) and 2015 (84.1%), two of the best seasons in the history of tennis.

Yes, not having to run into Alcaraz in the past two tournaments has likely helped those numbers, but no one should pretend what Sinner is doing now isn’t special.

Why he won’t win: At this point, the only answer is the fatigue, both physical and mental, of playing the maximum number of matches in five straight Masters 1000 tournaments.

That’s not nothing, as we seemed to see in the semifinal at Rome. Sinner had little trouble in the first set, but seemed to break down in the second. He was visibly limping between points, doubled over at one point as if to vomit and looked legitimately distressed on the bench during a changeover.

Of course, he then took back control with an early break in the third and eventually beat Daniil Medvedev 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 the next day after a rain suspension.

Seed: 2, title odds: +1000
2025 French Open result: QF, lost to Novak Djokovic
2026 clay results: SF Monte Carlo, SF Munich, F Madrid, R16 Rome

What he’s playing for: No longer being the best male player to never win a Grand Slam

Why he’ll win: Well, his best surface is clay and he’s reached the semifinal or better in six of his past seven big tournaments. Outside of Sinncaraz, there isn’t a player with form more consistent from tournament to tournament, and he came close to a stunning comeback against Alcaraz in the Australian Open semifinal (which, granted, was helped by Alcaraz cramping up).

Zverev has made very clear he does not enjoy the “best to never win a Grand Slam” title and believes he can shed it.

Why he won’t win: Ideally, when picking a guy to win a Grand Slam, he will have won a tennis tournament at any point in the past year. Zverev hasn’t won a final since Munich in 2025. He’s made it into the later rounds consistently enough to remain No. 3 in the world, but he has given the tennis world little reason to think he’s ready to break through a sizable wall at age 29.

Zverev’s record against Sinner is especially concerning. Every player’s chances benefit from Alcaraz being out of the tournament, but Sinner in particular has terrorized Zverev, winning nine straight matches against Zverev dating back to 2024. The last one was a complete obliteration in Rome (Zverev won 46% of service points and 18% of return points).

It’s pretty simple: Everything Zverev is good at (e.g., serve velocity, building an advantage off his backhand), Sinner might be the best in the world at nullifying.

Seed: 3, title odds: +1200
2025 French Open result: SF, lost to Jannik Sinner
2026 clay results: R64 Rome

What he’s playing for: An unprecedented 25th Grand Slam singles title

Why he’ll win: It doesn’t matter how old he is, you pay attention when a 24-time Grand Slam winner is in the field. The 38-year-old Djokovic reached the Australian Open final only a few months ago, stunning Sinner along the way.

There also might not be a person who benefits more from only one of Sinner and Alcaraz being in the field. Beating both of them in a single tournament is an unenviable task, as Djokovic learned when he lost to Alcaraz in the final in Melbourne. He only needs to beat one now, though it’s the same one who beat him in the semifinals last year.

Why he won’t win: Similar to how Zverev not winning a tournament in the past 12 months is concerning, so is Djokovic having not won a match on clay since last year’s Roland Garros quarterfinal.

At age 38, Djokovic has been selective about which tournaments he participates in, and a shoulder injury kept him out of clay season until Rome, where he lost to qualifier Dino Prizmic in his first match. After the loss, he admitted he was still missing “half a step.” Any chance of winning Roland-Garros likely rests on him regaining that step in the weeks since.

Seed: 15, title odds: +2000
2025 French Open result: 2R, lost to Nuno Borges
2026 clay results: R16 Monte-Carlo (retired), QF Madrid, F Rome, TBD Geneva

What to know: The Norwegian was a back-to-back Roland-Garros finalist in 2022 and 2023, so we’ll still be paying attention to him. However, he hasn’t won anything above the fourth round in the two tournaments since then (he reached the semifinal in 2024, in a walkover against Djokovic).

The former ATP No. 2’s star has dimmed in the Sinncaraz era, but he also just reached the final in Rome and could be one of the steadier names in the draw.

Seed: 6, title odds: +4000,
2025 French Open result: 1R, lost to Cameron Norrie
2026 clay results: R32 Monte-Carlo, R16 Madrid, SF Rome

What to know: In his first clay match of 2026, Medevev spiked his racquet seven successive times on his way to a 6-0, 6-0 loss to Matteo Berrettini, the first double-bageling of his career.

In his most recent clay match, Medvedev became the first opponent in 10 matches to push Jannik Sinner to a third set, in that match where the ATP No. 1 looked somewhat distressed.

So we don’t really know what to make of the former US Open champion. Clay has never been his best surface, but it’s hard to outright disregard him in a field like this.

Seed: 5, title odds: +12500
2025 French Open result: 4R, lost to Carlos Alcaraz
2026 clay results: W Houston, W Munich, R64 Madrid, R64 Rome, R16 Hamburg

What to know: The top-ranked American doesn’t exactly have a game built for clay, but he also became the first American man to win a clay title worth 500 points or better since Andre Agassi in 2002 with his win in Munich.

Of course, he then got bounced in the first match of his next two tournaments and is being treated as a long shot at best by the oddsmakers. Shelton is a big server in the tournament that historically humbles big servers, and it will be on him to show he’s an exception.

Arthur Fils is on the rise, and he should be getting a lot of attention on home clay. (Photo by Silvia Lore/Getty Images)
Silvia Lore via Getty Images

Seed: 17, title odds: +2000
2025 French Open result: 3R, withdrew due to back injury
2026 clay results: W Barcelona, SF Madrid, R64 Rome (retired)

What to know: And the award for most underseeded player in the tournament goes to Fils, who has performed like a top-five player since finally making his return in February from a long-term back injury, which first popped up at last year’s Roland Garros. Since the Australian Open, only Sinner, Alcaraz and Zverev have accumulated more rankings points than him.

There is, of course, the pressure of being the top Frenchman in the field at Roland-Garros. Yannick Noah remains the only French man to win a Grand Slam in the Open Era, triumphing in Paris in 1983, and the country is eager for someone to join him in that club. Fils and his overwhelming power might be their best opportunity in years.

We should also note that Fils had to bow out of Rome after four games due to hip pain, but he explained it as a precautionary move after the match.

Seed: 27, title odds: +2200
2025 French Open result: did not qualify
2026 clay results: W Marrakech, SF, Barcelona, QF Madrid, QF Rome

What to know: We’ll get the easy joke out of the way: Historically, 19-year-old Spaniards named Rafael with big power have done quite well at Roland-Garros.

The mere existence of a young Spaniard on clay will invite comparisons to Rafael Nadal, but Jodar has been doing well by pretty much any other measuring stick. He notched wins over Fonseca and a top-10 player in Alex de Minaur in Madrid and is entering Paris with momentum.

Seed: 28, title odds: +5000
2025 French Open result: 3R, lost to Jack Draper2026 clay results: QF Monte-Carlo, QF Munich, R32 Madrid, R64 Rome

What to know: We’re in Year 2 of Fonseca being hyped by some as the next big thing. He’s seemed somewhat closer to a fully realized game built around his enormous forehand, but some of his recent results have been discouraging, most of all pulling out of the tune-up event in Hamburg with “some slight discomfort in [his] right wrist.”

Still, the Brazilian is going to have his fans in Roland-Garros, and he remains an electric player to watch.

Seed: 16, title odds: +20000,
2025 French Open result: did not qualify
2026 clay results: SF Monte-Carlo, R64 Madrid

What to know: One of the wildest stories in tennis over the past several months is the rise of Vacherot, who failed to qualify for last year’s Roland-Garros at the age of 26. And now he’s entering this year’s tournament as a seeded player.

What happened? The Monaco native and former Texas A&M star became the lowest-ranked player to ever win a 1000 tournament with a triumph at Shanghai as the No. 204 player in the world, which included a straight-sets win over a limited Djokovic. He hasn’t won a title or even reached a final since, but he posted wins over Alex deMinaur, Hubert Hurkacz and Lorenzo Musetti at his home tournament in Monte-Carlo and could at least be a fun watch in Paris.

Seed: none, title odds: +40000
2025 French Open result: 1R, lost to Jacob Fearnley
2026 clay results: R64 Monte-Carlo, R32 Barcelona, R16 Geneva

The draw was not kind to the 2015 Roland-Garros champion, who will play Fils in the first round of his final appearance at the tournament. The environment for that match, in which Fils is a -800 favorite, will be interesting, as you will have a popular champion on his way out against a rising star carrying the host country’s hopes.

Seed: none, title odds: +40000
2025 French Open result: 2R, lost to Jack Draper
2026 clay results: R32 Monte-Carlo, R128 Madrid

One of tennis’ finest showmen will begin his final act at Roland-Garros against countryman Hugo Gaston in the first round, with No. 25 seed Francisco Cerundolo likely waiting in the second round. If there’s a couple to watch in Paris this month, it’s Monfils and his wife, Elina Svitolina, who is among the contenders after defeating Elena Rybakina, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff in Rome.

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