History looms, chaos brews: Welcome to a French Open with no clear script

9m read 29 May 2025 5d ago

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There’s a lot to unpack: a No. 1 chasing her first Paris breakthrough, a draw packed with trapdoors and a handful of players riding momentum into Roland Garros. From Iga Swiatek’s historic pursuit to Mirra Andreeva’s rise, this is your full-field guide to the 2025 French Open.

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Rome 2025: How it all unfolded on and off the court

13:30

So many possibilities at the year’s second Grand Slam. In the culmination of the clay-court season, nearly anything and everything is possible.

Will Iga Swiatek

, suddenly looking vulnerable, rally and win her fifth title at Roland Garros in six years? Can World No. 1 break through and win her first major on clay? Is it time for , who reached the final here at the age of 18? Or -- the youngest player in the PIF WTA Rankings -- who actually is 18?

What about Rome Champion Jasmine Paolini

, a finalist last year, or Zheng Qinwen, who won the last time they played here, taking home the Olympic gold medal in singles?

“Honestly, I don’t have any expectations for myself, and of course any expectations for other players,” Sabalenka told reporters in Paris. “You know, Grand Slams are tricky tournaments. Everyone feels a lot of pressure, and there is so many upsets on the tournaments -- I have been recently -- on the Grand Slams.

“So whatever’s going to happen going to happen.”

There’s a lot to unpack here, so let’s get to it:

The heavy hitters lane

Big Five: Their history in Paris in one sentence

No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka

View Profile : Won a single match her first two years, then lost in the third round three years in a row, semifinals and quarterfinals the past two years.

No. 2 Coco Gauff

View Profile : A finalist in 2022 and semifinalist in 2024 -- sturdy overall record of 20-5.

No. 3 Jessica Pegula

View Profile : Quarterfinalist in 2022, did not play last year because of an injury.

No. 4 Jasmine Paolini

View Profile : Won three matches in five previous appearances before reaching last year’s final, falling to ...

No. 5 Iga Swiatek

View Profile : Champion in 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024.

Swiatek’s Paris resume deserves its own banner

The 23-year-old from Poland hasn’t lost here in nearly four years. Let that one sink in for a moment. She’s riding a winning streak of 21 straight.

Only Chris Evert (29, 1974-1981), Monica Seles (25, 1990-1996) and Justine Henin (24, 2005-2010) have won more consecutive matches at Roland Garros in the Open Era.

Swiatek can become the first Open Era woman to win four consecutive titles here -- and the first in more than a century, following Jeanne Matthey (1909-1912) and Suzanne Lenglen (1920-1923).

Only two other women in the Open Era have won four straight titles at any Grand Slam -- Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon (six, 1982-1987) and Chris Evert at the US Open (four, 1975-1978).

While Australian Margaret Court was an extraordinary 20-1, (.952) at Roland Garros, winning five titles, Swiatek has the next best Open Era record in Paris, at 35-2 (.946). A trip to the semifinals -- no guarantee with Jelena Ostapenko

a possible fourth-round opponent -- would equal Court’s winning percentage, doubling her match-victory total.

Swiatek and Sloane Stephens are tied for the most Roland Garros match wins among active players, with 35 apiece.

Are the pursuers closing in?

Coco Gauff

View Profile : Her only Grand Slam singles title came on hard courts at the US Open, but she is No. 3 in the new WTA clay-court power rankings. Gauff’s second career title came on the dirt at the WTA 125 in Parma, and she was the only player in the field to reach the finals this year at both Madrid and Rome.

Aryna Sabalenka

View Profile : Took her third title in Madrid and followed it up with a credible effort in Rome despite not being her best, beating , and before falling to Zheng Qinwen.

Jasmine Paolini

View Profile : The first Italian player of either gender to win the singles title in Rome in 40 years -- and then she added the doubles crown with . Won six matches here last year, defeating and in the quarterfinals and semifinals.

Game. Set. Stats.

Best winning percentage on clay in 2025

Elina Svitolina 12-2, .857
Aryna Sabalenka 11-2, .846
Jasmine Paolini 10-2, .833
Katarzyna Kawa 4-1, .800
Coco Gauff 11-3, .786

(Minimum of 5 matches)

Lowest-ranked players to win at Roland Garros

Since the WTA rankings were first published in 1975:

Iga Swiatek

2020 (No. 54), 2017 (No. 47), 2021 (No. 33), Francesca Schiavone 2010 (No. 17), Justine Henin 2005 (No. 12).

Perfect runs

Seven women in the Open Era have won at Roland Garros without dropping a set: Evonne Goolagong (1971), Billie Jean King (1972), Chris Evert (1974), Steffi Graf (1988), Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (1994), Justine Henin (2006-07) and Iga Swiatek

(2020).

Unqualified success

A qualifier has never reached the women’s singles final at Roland Garros in the Open Era. Nadia Podoroska

came close, losing to eventual winner Swiatek in the 2020 semifinals. Sixteen qualifiers will find themselves in the main draw after Friday’s final round.

Where the wild things … aren’t

A wild card has yet to reach the women’s singles final at Roland Garros in the Open Era. Mary Pierce went the furthest, losing to eventual winner Serena Williams in the 2002 quarterfinal. This year six of the eight wild cards are from France.

WTA 1000 winners: Will it translate?

Here are the six women who followed up a win in Madrid or Rome with a title at Roland Garros: Chris Evert (1974-75, 1980), Steffi Graf (1987), Monica Seles (1990), Serena Williams (2002, 2013), Maria Sharapova (2012, 2014), Iga Swiatek

2022, 2024.

Will Sabalenka (Madrid winner) or Paolini (Rome winner) follow suit?

Note: Only Williams (2013) and Swiatek (2024) won all three titles in the same year.

Next Gen, New Again & Nearly There

Youth in the mix: Youngest contenders to know

No. 6-ranked Mirra Andreeva, 18, is the youngest player in the Top 100 -- and was a semifinalist here a year ago. Absolutely fearless, Andreeva is an aggressive player whose power is only starting to come into play.
Maya Joint, ranked No. 80 at the age of 19, is the other teenager to gain direct entry into the main draw. A semifinalist earlier this year in Hobart, the Aussie player qualified in both Madrid and Rome. This week, she's currently added her first clay-court semifinal in Rabat.
Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah, 19, is the only French teenager in the Top 400. She reached the Rouen quarterfinals on her WTA debut last month and has received a wild card.
No. 130-ranked Iva Jovic, 17, of the United States was also granted a wild card. She’s won main-draw matches this year at the Australian Open, Indian Wells and Bogota.
Three teenagers qualified for the main draw, including 18-year-olds Tereza Valentova and Victoria Mboko, who each won all three matches in straight sets. Valentova, last year’s junior champ, will make her tour debut, while Mboko is 40-5 this season with five ITF titles.
Sara Bejlek, 19, also came through qualifying for the sixth time in her career and second time at Roland Garros.
Another noteworthy player is Alexandra Eala, who turned 20 on Friday. The left-handed Filipina caused a sensation in Miami by making the semifinals by defeating three major champions -- Jelena Ostapenko, Madison Keys and Iga Swiatek -- and nearly repeated the win over Swiatek in Madrid, where she led by a set and a break before falling. Eala is now at a career high of No. 69.

Past precedent: How far can youth go on the terre battue?

A teenager has won at Roland Garros eight times -- and five of those instances were courtesy of the legendary Monica Seles and Steffi Graf.

At 16 years and 177 days, Seles in 1990 was the youngest women’s winner at Roland Garros in the Open Era. She did it again in 1992 and 1993. Graf was a back-to-back winner in 1987 and 1988, at the ages of 17 and 18.

Arantxa Sánchez Vicario won the title in 1989 at the age of 17, Chris Evert (1974) and Iga Swiatek

(2020) were 19-year-old champions.

Jelena Ostapenko

began the 2017 French Open as a 19-year-old, but turned 20 two days before winning the title.

At the other end of the spectrum …

Serena Williams, at 33 years and 241 days, was the oldest titlist at Roland Garros in the Open Era.

Players on the rebound

Barbora Krejcikova, the 2021 Roland Garros champion, played her first matches in six months after a stubborn back injury. She lost in both singles and doubles this past week in Strasbourg but reports that she is finally pain free.
Likewise Paula Badosa returned from a similar injury and extended break in Strasbourg as the No. 3 seed. She saved two match points against Liudmila Samsonova before succumbing in a third-set quarterfinal.
Marketa Vondrousova, out with a shoulder injury since February, is back in Paris with a resume that includes the quarterfinals last year and the final in 2019. She gets a qualifier in the first round.

Dangerous floaters: Outside the Top 20, but inside the conversation

Jelena Ostapenko, No. 21: Your 2017 Roland Garros champion -- and 2025 Stuttgart winner, beating Sabalenka and Swiatek.
Clara Tauson, No. 22: Just defeated No. 9-ranked Emma Navarro in Rome and made the Round of 16 last year in Paris, beating Ostapenko and Sofia Kenin.
Beatriz Haddad Maia, No. 23: A semifinalist at Roland Garros two years ago and a 2025 semifinalist in Strasbourg after beating Emma Navarro.
Marta Kostyuk, No. 26: A quarterfinalist at 2025 Madrid and followed it up with a Round of 16 in Rome.
Peyton Stearns, No. 28: Rome semifinalist 2025, beating Anna Kalinskaya, Madison Keys, Naomi Osaka and Elina Svitolina.

RG Vibes: Style, Social & Smarts

What’s buzzing before the first ball?

While the grounds were abuzz with qualifying matches on Tuesday, Sabalenka and Swiatek had a practice hit, surrounded by beautiful gardens, in the total privacy of Court 1.

Four shades of pink -- who knew?

Naomi Osaka

’s signature Nike Osaka GP Challenge 1 PRM shoes feature four branded shades -- Pink Foam, Pale Pink, Hyper Pink and Polarized Pink.

“Spring is sakura season,” Osaka wrote. “The girlies are gonna love this one.”

Hail, the Italian champion

Jasmine Paolini

’s fresh title in Rome had fans yelling congratulations to the Italian when she first took to the practice courts.

Quiz: How well do you know Roland Garros?

The terre battue awaits, but before first ball, how well do you really know Roland Garros? From teenage breakthroughs to surprise champions and stats that separate contenders from the rest, this quiz covers the quirks, milestones and key moments that define Paris. Whether you’ve followed every rally or just tuned in for the drama, it’s time to test your clay-court IQ.

First-round fireworks, late-round obstacles

The 2025 Roland Garros draw is here … and it’s anything but straightforward.

Iga Swiatek

, seeded No. 5, has landed in a loaded section that includes (who's never lost to her) and . Throw in a few heavyweight first-round matchups and early landmines for the top seeds, and the road to the trophy feels more treacherous than ever. Here’s what (and who) to keep an eye on. Check out our full breakdown.