French Open 2025: How to watch the men's and women's singles opening rounds at Roland Garros

New York Times

25-05-2025

The second Grand Slam of the year begins on Paris' clay courts Sunday morning, with the first round of French Open action across men's and women's singles. Sunday also marks the debut of a massive new U.S. broadcast deal for the tournament with TNT, but the defending champions aren't in action until the following day. Carlos Alcaraz begins his singles title defense on the men's side Monday; Iga Świątek starts her pursuit of a fourth Roland Garros triumph in a row, which would be unprecedented in women's tennis in the Open Era, on the same day.
Here's what you need to know for the tournament's opening three days.
Alcaraz arrives at No. 2 in the world rankings, up one spot after his victory at Rome's Italian Open earlier this month. He defeated rival and top-ranked player Jannik Sinner, 7-6(5), 6-1. But it was Sinner that claimed the first Grand Slam of 2025, winning the Australian Open final 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-3 against No. 3 Alexander Zverev, before being sidelined for three months during an anti-doping ban.
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The Italian now goes for his maiden French Open title. He'll face France's Arthur Rinderknech, with two more Frenchman, Terence Atmane or Richard Gasquet, vying to be his potential second-round draw.
Alcaraz had been slated to take on former world No. 4 Kei Nishikori in the first round, but he withdrew at the last minute. Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri instead gets the daunting task of facing the Spaniard.
Those two are tournament favorites, understandable considering that this duo has shared the past five Grand Slams. The highest-ranked Frenchman coming into this French Open run is 20-year-old Arthur Fils at No. 14. He was a first-round exit in both 2023 and 2024, but has much loftier aims for this year.
Novak Djokovic is aiming for his fourth French Open title, after triumphs in 2016, 2021 and 2023.
On the women's side, Świątek goes for a record fourth-straight tournament win. She hits the weekend fifth in the WTA rankings, trailing Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula and Jasmine Paolini.
Sabalenka lost to Madison Keys in the Australian Open final (6-3, 2-6, 7-5), but she has since won in Miami and Madrid. She is listed as the betting favorite to start the event.
The first round will run from Sunday through Tuesday, with singles second-round action on Wednesday and Thursday. Sunday's programming is set to honor Rafael Nadal, the all-time great who retired last year.
The Athletic's Matthew Futterman on forthcoming TNT broadcast updates:
'Change rarely comes quickly to tennis media. Coverage of a Grand Slam tournament today doesn't look all that different from 10, 20 or in some cases 30 years ago, despite huge technological advances. The camera angle slanting down from above, which can flatten the real shape of the players' shots. Two familiar voices, likely stars from decades past, reciting the most entrenched ideas about the people on court. Post-match analysis from different voices in the same demographic, mostly looking ahead to the next match and divining what, if anything, the result means for the grand narrative of the tournament…
TNT's promise to tennis fans is something different. Interviews with coaches mid-match, some of whom will be mic'd up. Interviews with players at practice sessions. New camera angles. And whip-around coverage reminiscent of the NFL's Red Zone, which spends game days hopscotching from one game to another when teams have scoring opportunities. In Paris, where tension and drama arise, TNT says, the cameras will go.'
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(Photo of Carlos Alcaraz: Dan Istitene / Getty Images)