Youth Will Be Served At This Year’s Roland-Garros

Roland-Garros draw ceremony
Roland-Garros draw ceremony (Roland-Garros Video/YouTube)

PARIS/WASHINGTON, May 22, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

Thursday’s 2025 Roland-Garros men’s and women’s singles draw ceremony at L’Oragerie d’Auteuil, near Court Simonne-Mathieu, on the Stade Roland-Garros grounds was filled with a variety of mystery and intrigue – and for others, arguably, some misery, too.

By the end of the colorful, 48-minute Tirage Au Sort, which included appearances by both defending champions, Carlos Alcaraz of Spain and Iga Swiatek of Poland, as well as Paris Saint-Germain football star Ousmane Dembélé, there were many delicious storylines to whet everyone’s appetite. Undoubtedly, all will be sorted out over the forthcoming Parisian fortnight starting Sunday at Stade Roland-Garros, located in the heart of the 16th arrondissement of the City of Lights.

On the men’s side, defending champion and this year’s second seed Alcaraz comes in as a favorite to repeat, after defeating World No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy in the Rome final last Sunday. Sinner, who has won three majors – two Australian Open titles and one US Open crown – is this year’s top-seeded player. The two stars – Alcaraz is 22, while Sinner is a year older – could meet for the 12th time in a couple of weeks in what has become the most significant rivalry in men’s tennis. They seem a level above the rest of the men’s field.

Of significance, it marks the youngest top two seeds at a Grand Slam since the US Open in 2006, when a 25-year-old Roger Federer and 20-year-old Rafael Nadal led the field. It’s also the first time since the Wimbledon Championships in 2005 (Federer was 23 and Andy Roddick 22) that both of the top seeds are 23 or younger.

Last year, Alcaraz knocked off Sinner in a five-set semifinal epic en route to becoming the youngest man to earn a Grand Slam trophy on all three surfaces. He defeated Alexander Zverev of Germany in a thrilling five-set final. Alcaraz has won four straight over Sinner going back to 2023, while Sinner has won the last three consecutive majors. He will be playing his first Grand Slam event since serving a three-month doping ban.

Alcaraz will open with 62nd-ranked Kei Nishikori of Japan, while Sinner will begin with No. 72 Arthur Rinderknech of France and could possibly face sentimental favorite Richard Gasquet of France, 38, who will be making his final Roland-Garros appearance before retiring, in the second round.

“It’s been a great clay season so far,” Alcaraz said, during an onstage interview with draw ceremony host Marc Maury. “Roland-Garros is the most important tournament of the clay season and one of the best tournaments we have on the tour. So, right now, I’m excited to come here. I remember the emotions and the feelings that I had last year. My confidence is really high right now. I’ve been playing great matches. I have some great wins this clay season. It gives me a lot of confidence. I’m excited.”

Other noteworthy competitors for Alcaraz and Sinner include three-time French Open champion Novak Djokovic, who remains in pursuit of his 25th major, and a trio of young and Top-10 stars looking to make a big run featuring World No. 5 Jack Draper of Great Britain, World No. 7 Casper Ruud of Norway and World No. 8 Lorenzo Musetti of Italy. World No. 3 Zverev and World No. 4 Taylor Fritz of the United States are part of the mix, too.

Djokovic, who recently split with coach Andy Murray, will arrive in Paris with two new coaches – who are actually familiar faces in the Serbian great’s camp. “Dusan Vemic, who is actually the Serbian Billie Jean King Cup captain – but he was part of my coaching team years ago with Marian [Vajda] – he’s here … And Boris Bosnjakovic, who is my assistant coach and analyst as well, so they’re both going to kind of share that role for the next couple tournaments and then we’ll see,” Djokovic said earlier this week in Geneva. The Serbian great will open against 99th-ranked Mackenzie McDonald of the United States.

Sinner, Djokovic, Draper and Zverev all feature in the top half of the draw, while Alcaraz and Ruud headlined the bottom half.

Besides Sinner and Draper, the top quarter’s seeds include: No. 9 Alex de Minaur of Australia, No. 14 seed Arthur Fils, No. 17 Andrey Rublev of Russia and No. 19 Jakub Mensik of Czechia, No. 26 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain and No. 30 Hubert Hurkacz of Poland.

In addition to Alcaraz and Ruud, the bottom quarter’s seeds include: No. 12 Tommy Paul of the United States, No. 13 Ben Shelton of the United States No. 20 Stefanos Tsitsipas, No. 24 Karen Khachanov of Russia, No. 25 Alexei Popyrin of Australia and No. 31 Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard of France.

Swiatek’s path to a fifth Roland-Garros title filled with challenges

Meanwhile, on the women’s side, the three-time defending champion Swiatek, who has dropped to No. 5 in the current PIF WTA Rankings, has quite a difficult path ahead of her. She will need to beat two of the top four players in the world – No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, who is seeking her first major away from the hard courts; and No. 4 Jasmine Paolini, winner of last week’s Rome title – just to reach the final, where she could possibly play either No. 2 Coco Gauff of the United States or No. 3 Jessica Pegula of the United States if she is to become the first player to win four consecutive Roland-Garros singles titles in the Open Era – something that neither Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova or Steffi Graf ever accomplished.

Swiatek, who is in No. 4 seed Paolini’s quarter in the upper half of the draw as she goes for French Open title No. 5, will begin against No. 41 Rebecca Sramkova of Slovakia. She could face No. 43 Emma Raducanu of Great Britain in the second round, No. 26 seed Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine in the third round, and either No. 12 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan or No. 21 seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the 2017 Roland-Garros champion, in the fourth round just to reach the quarterfinals.

The 23-year-old Swiatek, who brings a 21-match winning streak at Roland-Garros into this year’s event, has never lost in a French Open final. However, she’s never faced this difficult of a road to achieve a Roland-Garros crown.

“Every year is different, but for sure, you look ahead to the future,” Swiatek said during her on-stage interview during the draw ceremony. “I’m proud of my achievements here. I have great memories from last year. Every [Roland-Garros] tournament has been a different story. I’ve learned a lot. It’s always a pleasure to come back here and to play on these courts, again. They are the best courts to play on.”

Sabalenka will open against No. 75 Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia and could face No. 46 Danielle Collins in the third round, while Gauff drew No. 93 Olivia Gadecki of Australia as her first-round opponent and could face fellow American Madison Keys in the quarterfinals. No. 49 Naomi Osaka of Japan versus No. 10 seed Paula Badosa of Spain is likely the biggest first-round match.

Besides Sabalenka, the top quarter’s seeds include: No. 8 Zheng Qinwen of China, No. 11 Diana Shnaider of Russia, No. 16 Amanda Anisimova of the United States, No. 19 Liudmila Samsonova of Russia, No. 22 Clara Tauson of Denmark No. 27 Leylah Fernandez of Canada and No. 28 Peyton Stearns of the United States.

In addition to Gauff and Keys, the bottom quarter’s seeds include: No. 9 Emma Navarro of the United States, No. 15 Barbara Krejcikova of Czechia, the 2021 Roland-Garros champion; No. 20 Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia No. 23 Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil, No. 30 Anna Kalinskaya of Russia and No. 31 Sofia Kenin of the United States.

News & noteworthy

• Matteo Berrettini of Italy withdrew from the tournament shortly before the draw ceremony, citing injury. Belgians David Goffin and Raphael Collignon withdrew on Wednesday. It means there will be at least three lucky losers in the 128-player men’s draw.

• Warner Bros. Discovery, which last year signed a landmark 10-year U.S. deal to become the largest global broadcast partner to Roland-Garros, begins its coverage of the French Open Sunday. It means TNT/TBS/truTV/Max will replace NBC/Peacock/Tennis Channel in providing TV coverage of the year’s second major throughout the United States.

By the numbers

Twenty-three years after his Roland-Garros debut in 2002 as a 15-year-old, Richard Gasquet of France, now 38, will play in his last French Open before retiring from professional tennis. His best finish at Roland-Garros was a quarterfinal run in 2016. He won the French Open boys’ junior singles title in 2002. The 166th-ranked Gasquet, who received a wild card entry into the main draw, will open against fellow Frenchman Terence Atmane, ranked 121st, who also received a wild card.

“Quotable …”

“If you ask me today, I would have retired after Roland-Garros 2022. But in 2022, I’m fighting to be world number 1, I won the first two Grand Slams and almost the third! Why would I have retired?”

– Rafael Nadal, 14-time French Open singles champion, as interviewed by Quentin Moynet of French sports daily L’Equipe.

 

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