Can Zverev, Rublev, or Ruud Break Through at Roland Garros?

This year, defending champion Carlos Alcaraz is out. That led to Alexander Zverev taking over the second-seeded position. The German’s 2026 campaign has gotten off to a good start, with a straight-sets win over Benjamin Bonzi on the first day of play.

On paper, this could be one of his best chances to reach a major final for the fourth time in his career and bring him closer to the one prize he covets the most, a Grand Slam title. However, he does have some competition among his peers looking to break through from the bottom half of the draw and finally get over the hump.

Casper Ruud

Two-time French Open finalist Casper Ruud enters Paris this year with some momentum on his side. The 15th-seeded Norwegian is coming off a runner-up finish in Rome and a semifinal appearance only a few days ago in Geneva. The former world No. 2 was arguably one of the three best clay-courters in the world for a time. He will play Roman Safiullin in the first round.

Andrey Rublev

Andrey Rublev is the 11th seed and has been a top-15 mainstay for years now. Rublev reached the final in Barcelona and the quarters in Rome during the clay-court lead-ups to Paris. He has famously never advanced to a Slam semi despite his accomplishments.

The Russian could be hard-pressed to find a better opportunity to break through than this year, even though he faces one of the trickiest opening-round opponents in the tournament, Ignacio Buse, who’s fresh off his first career title in Hamburg.

Sinner and Djokovic Loom Large

The general consensus is that world No. 1 Jannik Sinner will represent the top half of the draw in the championship match in two weeks. But could his historic run through the Masters 1000 tournaments this year catch up with him, leaving him vulnerable in the last stage of arguably the toughest major of them all?

And lurking in the bottom half of the draw, too, is the third seed, Novak Djokovic, who, despite playing sparingly this year, is still a threat at a Slam, as demonstrated most recently by his Australian Open finals run at the start of the season.

Tough opponents, absent contenders, experienced champions—and the prospects of facing each other: Those are several of the main challenges that Zverev, Ruud, and Rublev are up against in Paris this year.

On the other side of that, though, lies opportunity, and whoever grabs it can finally find themselves among the true greats of the game with one of the grandest prizes of them all.