Roland-Garros opened the Paris Grand Slam with qualifying and a week of tennis before the main draw
Roland-Garros 2026 officially began with qualifying on the courts of Stade Roland-Garros in Paris, marking the start of Opening Week, the introductory part of the second Grand Slam tournament of the tennis season. According to the tournament’s official schedule, qualifying matches began on Monday, 18 May, at 10 a.m., and the competition on Paris clay will last until Sunday, 7 June. The main singles tournament begins on Sunday, 24 May, while the women’s and men’s singles finals are scheduled for 6 and 7 June. This means that Roland-Garros once again extends across three weeks of programming this year, including qualifying, training sessions for main-draw seeds, doubles matches, junior categories, wheelchair tennis and the final stages of the singles competitions.
The start through qualifying is an important part of the identity of the Paris Grand Slam because players who do not enter the main draw directly take to the courts, but through three victories can earn a place among the 128 participants in the main tournament. It is a phase that often remains in the shadow of the final rounds, yet it is precisely this phase that brings the tournament’s first competitive stories: returns after injuries, appearances by young French prospects, attempts by experienced names to return to the biggest stage and the battle of clay-court specialists. According to the organizer’s schedule, qualifying is played from 18 to 22 May, while Saturday, 23 May, is reserved for Yannick Noah Day, a programme that precedes the start of the main draw. For visitors coming to Paris already during the first week of the tournament, accommodation offers near Stade Roland-Garros may also be useful, especially because Opening Week includes both competitive matches and training sessions by leading tennis players.
Qualifying as the first major test on Paris clay
The qualifying tournament at Roland-Garros traditionally carries clear sporting weight: the last places in the main draw are not awarded by reputation but by victories. In the men’s and women’s competitions, qualifying brings together a wide range of profiles, from young players with wild cards to former seeds and Grand Slam finalists who, because of a drop in the rankings, have to make their way through the opening phase. Ahead of the start of qualifying, the ATP highlighted Grigor Dimitrov and David Goffin among the biggest names in the men’s qualifying draw, showing how competitive Opening Week can be even before the first day of the main tournament. Dimitrov, a former member of the world elite, and Goffin, a former Roland-Garros quarter-finalist, are examples of players whose appearances in qualifying add extra weight to the first week of the tournament.
In the women’s qualifying section, the WTA singled out names such as Bianca Andreescu, Sloane Stephens and Karolina Pliskova before the tournament, players with great experience and significant results at the highest level. Stephens played the Roland-Garros final in 2018, Pliskova is a former world No. 1, and Andreescu is a Grand Slam champion, so their presence in qualifying clearly shows how demanding the path to the main draw is. After the first matches, the WTA also reported that Stephens, Tamara Zidanšek and Martina Trevisan had successfully started their qualifying campaigns, further underlining the competitiveness of the tournament’s opening section. For many female and male players, entering the main draw is not only a sporting goal, but also an important financial and ranking step forward in the season.
The main draw begins on 24 May, with finals on the first weekend in June
According to the official Roland-Garros calendar, the main singles draw begins on Sunday, 24 May, at 11 a.m., and the first round stretches across three days. The organizer states that the women’s and men’s singles are played from 24 to 26 May, while doubles gradually enter the programme from 26 May. The second round is scheduled for 27 and 28 May, the third round for 29 and 30 May, and the round of 16 for 31 May and 1 June. The quarter-finals are scheduled for 2 and 3 June, the women’s semi-finals will be played on 4 June, and the men’s semi-finals on 5 June.
The final weekend brings the two most important singles decisions of the tournament. The women’s final is scheduled for Saturday, 6 June, not before 3 p.m., and the men’s final for Sunday, 7 June, also not before 3 p.m. Alongside singles, the closing stages also include doubles finals, junior finals, the wheelchair tournament finals and the Trophée des Légendes, expanding the programme beyond the main singles matches. The official schedule simultaneously leaves room for adjustments due to weather conditions, match duration and television slots, which is common for Grand Slam tournaments on clay courts. At Roland-Garros, such adjustments can be especially important because long matches on clay often develop more slowly than on faster surfaces.
Opening Week is an increasingly important part of the tournament experience
Opening Week is no longer just a technical introduction to the main tournament, but a separate programme segment of Roland-Garros. The organizer states that during the first days visitors can follow qualifying matches, as well as training sessions by players from the main draw. This gives the public access to the tournament before the largest crowds and before the programme is taken over by the seeds and biggest stars. For younger French players, qualifying in front of a home crowd can have special importance, while for international players Opening Week often represents the shortest route to appearing on one of the greatest tennis stages.
The official announcement on wild cards shows that the French Tennis Federation has once again allocated some places this year to home male and female players, but also to selected international names. Among the men’s qualifying wild cards was David Goffin, while the list also included French names such as Florent Bax, Robin Bertrand, Sean Cuenin, Thomas Faurel and Daniel Jade. In the women’s competition, the organizer announced qualifying wild cards for several French players, among them Amandine Monnot, Daphnée Mpetschi Perricard, Chloé Paquet and Margaux Rouvroy. Such wild cards are part of a tournament policy through which home talents and players in special circumstances are given an opportunity to perform before a large audience.
Opening Week also has a clear commercial and tourist dimension, but in sporting terms its greatest value remains immediacy. In the early days of the tournament, the crowd can watch matches on smaller courts, often from very close range, while leading male and female players are simultaneously preparing on the complex. For a city like Paris, Roland-Garros is one of the major spring sporting events, and the Porte d’Auteuil area becomes a centre of tennis traffic, fans and international media during the tournament. That is why the opening week is increasingly viewed as an integral part of the tournament, and not merely as a qualifying prelude.
Prize money increased, qualifying gains additional weight
According to an Associated Press report, the total Roland-Garros 2026 prize fund has been increased to 61.7 million euros, around ten percent more than the previous year. The women’s and men’s singles champions are expected to receive 2.8 million euros each, and equal prize money in the singles competitions remains the standard at Grand Slam level. The increase in prize money is especially important for the early rounds and qualifying because, for players outside the very top, the costs of travel, coaches, physiotherapists and preparation make up a large part of the season. Entering the Roland-Garros main draw therefore brings not only prestige, but also financial stability that can influence planning for the rest of the year.
The discussion about revenue distribution at the biggest tournaments, however, did not end with the increase in the fund. The Guardian reported in early May that leading male and female players, including Novak Đoković, Jannik Sinner, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff, expressed dissatisfaction with the share of prize money in the total revenues of Grand Slam tournaments. According to that report, players are seeking a larger share of revenues and more influence over decisions concerning schedules, working conditions and the broader welfare of athletes. Roland-Garros is therefore being held at a time when tennis at the highest level is dealing not only with sporting issues, but also with the relationship between tournaments, players and organizational structures.
The tournament remains the most important test of the clay season
Roland-Garros is the only Grand Slam played on clay, which makes it especially demanding for male and female players. Clay slows the ball, lengthens rallies and rewards physical endurance, patience, movement and tactical discipline. Unlike grass or hard courts, where the serve and first shot often decide points more quickly, Paris clay requires more prolonged point construction and the ability to adapt to changing conditions. That is why qualifying matches, although formally the opening phase, can be physically extremely draining, especially for players who must win three matches in a few days to reach the main draw.
Stade Roland-Garros, located in the Paris area of Porte d’Auteuil, has been the centre of the tournament since 1928 and over almost a century has become one of the most recognizable tennis venues in the world. The complex has been modernized in recent years, including the main courts and spectator infrastructure, but it has retained the distinctive identity of the clay-court Grand Slam. The main Philippe-Chatrier court remains the central stage of the closing rounds, while Suzanne-Lenglen and Simonne-Mathieu play an important role in the distribution of major matches during the first two weeks. It is precisely the combination of tradition, a specific surface and the large Paris market that gives the tournament a weight that goes beyond sporting statistics alone.
The draw and first results turn attention toward the main tournament
While qualifying is under way, most attention gradually shifts toward the main tournament draw. The official Roland-Garros schedule states that the main draw ceremony is planned for Thursday, 21 May, during qualifying week. That is when the path of the leading seeds, possible early meetings of strong players and the placement of qualifiers who are later inserted into the draw will be known. For tennis players who come through qualifying, the short time between the final qualifying match and the start of the main tournament is often an additional challenge, because they immediately enter the two-week rhythm of a Grand Slam.
In the first days of qualifying, it is already visible how unpredictable the opening week can be. Some experienced players have to face young opponents who have little to lose, while home wild cards often receive strong crowd support. This is especially pronounced in Paris, where French male and female tennis players regularly play in early rounds before noisy stands. Such an atmosphere can be an incentive, but also a pressure, especially for young players performing on the Grand Slam stage for the first time. Qualifying is therefore not just a statistical addition to the main tournament, but a competition with its own rhythm, stories and sporting consequences.
Paris enters three weeks of Grand Slam rhythm
From 18 May to 7 June, Roland-Garros will gradually move from a qualifying rhythm into the closing stages in which the most important titles of the clay season are decided. The first week brings the battle to enter the main draw and the first training sessions by stars, the second week a full singles and doubles schedule, and the final days semi-finals and finals. Meanwhile, junior tournaments, wheelchair competition, mixed doubles and veterans’ programmes will also be played, making Roland-Garros a broader sporting event, not only a series of matches for the singles title.
For players, the Paris tournament is the peak of the clay season, and for the public one of the most recognizable events of the European sporting spring. Qualifying opened the competition on 18 May, a competition in which, over the next three weeks, favourites, comeback players, young challengers and players seeking their chance away from the main spotlight will alternate. That is exactly why the start through Opening Week has greater importance than the word qualifying itself suggests. Roland-Garros has already entered its competitive rhythm, and the first matches on Paris clay marked the beginning of the road toward the finals on 6 and 7 June.
Sources:
- Roland-Garros – official 2026 tournament schedule, including qualifying, Opening Week, main draw and final days (link)
- Roland-Garros – official announcement on Opening Week and the start of qualifying on 18 May 2026 (link)
- Roland-Garros – official announcement of wild cards for the 2026 main draw and qualifying (link)
- ATP Tour – overview of the men’s qualifying draw and highlighted names in qualifying (link)
- WTA – overview of the women’s qualifying field and first qualifying results (link)
- WTA – report on Sloane Stephens, Tamara Zidanšek and Martina Trevisan advancing in qualifying (link)
- Associated Press – report on the increase in the Roland-Garros 2026 prize fund (link)
- The Guardian – report on the debate among leading male and female players about prize money and the share of revenues at Grand Slam tournaments (link)