The French Open draw has been blown wide open after the shocking exits of Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner. Djokovic, who was on a hunt for a 25th Major, suffered a third-round defeat to Brazil’s Joao Fonseca 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 7-5, while Sinner lost in the second round to Juan Manuel Cerundolo 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-1.
Djokovic came into the tournament after a lack of game time on the clay court. He cleared a couple of tricky tests in his first two rounds with wins over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (first round) and Valentin Royer (second round), having beaten both of them in four-set clashes. However, he went down to the Brazilian 19-year-old, which marked his first instance of failing to reach the French Open quarterfinals since 2009. Djokovic was two sets up before the Brazilian bounced back to win the remaining three.
French Open to have new winner
A new Grand Slam champion will be crowned at Roland Garros after all the Major winners have crashed out of the tournament. After Alcaraz’s withdrawal, Djokovic (24), Sinner (4), Stan Wawrinka (3) and Marin Cilic (1) entered the French Open as the only Grand Slam champions. Now only three Major finalists remain in Alexander Zverev (3 finals), Casper Ruud (3 finals) and Matteo Berrettini (1), as a new winner will be crowned.
Who are favourites to win the French Open 2026?
These results open the door for several other contenders. Zverev, Ruud and Berretini are the only finalists left, but there are more who can spring a surprise and clinch the Musketeers’ Trophy. Here we take a look at them.
1 – Alexander Zverev: Germany’s Zverev is the highest-ranked seed remaining in the Roland Garros after Sinner’s exit. The second-seed is the 2024 finalist, having lost to Carlos Alcaraz 6โ3, 2โ6, 5โ7, 6โ1, 6โ2. He is considered one of the best players among the active ones to not have won a Grand Slam, finishing as a runner-up at the Australian Open and at the US Open.
2 – Casper Ruud: Another strong contender for the Roland Garros title is Norway’s Casper Ruud. The 15th seed is known as a clay court expert, having been the runner-up in 2022 and 2023 in Paris. The Norwegian lost to the King of Clay, Rafael Nadal, in the final in 2022 before going down to Djokovic in the 2023 final. Ruud defeated the USA’s Tommy Paul in the third round and will be up against Joao Fonseca, the man who beat Djokovic at Roland Garros this year.
3 – Rafael Jodar: Another sensation from Spain is Rafael Jodar, the 19-year-old who has shot up in the ATP rankings. Just two months ago, in March, he was outside the top 100 but is now 29th in the world and is playing some sensational tennis. He is in the fourth round of the Roland Garros and will be up against Pablo Carreno Busta next. Jodar is having a pretty strong record on clay at the tour-level, having won 18 of the 21 matches.
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