The second week of Roland Garros has just started, and this is the perfect time for a Tennisnerd half-time analysis. What has happened, what are the top surprises and talks of the town? Let’s break down the action so far in Paris and have an outlook on where this might be going.
The women’s – is Iga back!?
The main talking point around the women is unfortunately not even about the matches itself. It seems that the organizers are having a tough time explaining why there haven’t been any women’s matches in the night session, even though matches like Swiatek against Rybakina seem to be up for it. The main argument is the duration, with best-of-three sets making the session a bit unpredictable. At the other end, a classic Jannik Sinner beatdown isn’t a lot longer, neither?
It seems as for now, the men will mainly play the night session, and we might have to wait another year for a change – at last, you could also plan two matches after one another. In any case, it seems that the team around Amelie Mauresmo will have their work cut out for Roland Garros 2026, if they don’t want the same discussion again.
On the court, it seems like Iga Swiatek has found a bit of her Paris confidence back, after beating several strong opponents, including Slam champion Elena Rybakina. She might not play fully convincing yet, but she is through to another quarter-final, where she will face Elina Svitolina, who might just be the secret favorite after beating Jasmine Paolini. The other favorites, with Aryna Sabalenka leading the charge, are mostly through to the second week as well. It seems that Sabalenka is still the top favorite, with Madison Keys, Swiatek, Gauff and Andreeva trying to challenge her from now on.
There were a couple of surprises, too – with the maybe strangest appearance by Emma Navarro. The world No.9 lost in her first-round match 0:6 1:6 against Bouzas Maneiro and never looked like she could compete, really. There hasn’t been any explanation so far from the player, so we must wait and see what the grass season will look like for her. Other seeds with early losses include Diana Shnaider, Peyton Stearns, Donna Vekic and Barbora Krejcikova, who didn’t seem to be fully ready yet.
Paula Badosa seemed healthier than in the Masters tournaments before but still couldn’t make it past an inspired-looking Daria Kasatkina. It’s a shame for the Spaniard that her body doesn’t seem to give her the opportunity to compete for a Grand Slam continuously and it will be interesting to see how her grass season will go.
The men’s – is Sinner ready?
The men’s field had a couple of bigger surprises, but the main players seem to be in the best shape for the occasion. Jannik Sinner is easily the front-runner so far with about zero effort to walk through the field, including his last opponent Jiri Lehecka, who took almost two sets to win his first game. Sinner of course seems like the logical favorite, but let’s remember what he did to Casper Ruud and how Alcaraz treated him then in the Rome final.
The key against Sinner seems to be variation and several players like Lehecka often seem a bit too timid in these match-ups, playing into the Italian’s cards. It will be interesting to see who is first to challenge the No.1 really, with Andrey Rublev up next. Alcaraz meanwhile seems to have found his rhythm through a much stronger set of competition – both Dzumhur and Shelton played lights-out against him, still the Spaniard found a way through. Barring any surprises, those two should be the clear-cut final, with Alcaraz a slight favorite on clay (currently also slight favorite among tennis bookies).
But don’t forget the challengers in Alexander Zverev, who looked as solid as ever so far and Lorenzo Musetti, who easily is in the shape of his life on clay. And then of course there is the 38-year-old Novak Djokovic, who hasn’t lost a set so far and plays the best level again – quietly again in time for Slam No.25? All in all, there were a lot of men playing to their seeding, but also some big surprises. Take Taylor Fritz, who after a stunning year on clay seems back to his struggles on the dirt and was taken out by German Daniel Altmaier.
Arthur Fils played great tennis until his back flared up and he had to pull out of competition, after hardly beating Jaume Munar, who had some words for the medical time-out later on. Injury problems also stopped Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov yet another time, as they did with Casper Ruud. The Norwegian criticized the schedule afterwards for not giving players any time to rest and recover, a sentiment that both Fils and Dimitrov surely would second.
If the seed continue to pull through, this could be the most exciting quarter-final lineup for a long time, with Sinner against Draper, Zverev facing Djokovic, Musetti against Tiafoe and finally Alcaraz versus Tommy Paul. In any case, I am more than ready for week 2.
What are your predictions for the final rounds?
