Roland Garros

Roland Garros is a Grand Slam tennis tournament held in Paris on clay courts, played in May and June. Men and women compete at the same venue in the same fortnight, which is unusual outside the majors and makes it one of the few events where you can watch both tours in a single day. The main singles draw holds 128 players.

Roland Garros is the only major played on clay and the only one where the surface itself, rather than the opponent across the net, is often the harder problem. Best-of-five sets on the slowest courts in the sport produce the longest matches anywhere, and a first-round tie here can outlast a final on grass.

The tournament rewards a specific kind of player: one who can stay in a point for twenty shots and still choose the right ball to attack. Physical endurance is the entry requirement here, and players who arrive tired from the clay swing rarely survive the second week.

Weather changes the tournament more than at any other major. Cold, damp conditions make the courts heavier and the ball slower still, turning matches that would be four sets in the sun into five-hour afternoons.

The tournament opened to players from outside France in 1925 and moved to the ground named after the aviator Roland Garros in 1928. Court Philippe-Chatrier gained a retractable roof in 2020 and Court Suzanne-Lenglen followed in 2024, which is how Paris came to have night sessions at all.

Entry lists, the order of play and ticketing are on the official Roland Garros site.

One date to check against other calendars: ours is the first day of the main draw, not the first day of qualifying a week before it.

The Roland Garros main draw holds 128 players in single elimination, 7 rounds to the title and 127 matches in all. Seeds, byes and the Q beside a name: the draws guide covers them.

Roland Garros draw with every score is on its own page and updates while the tournament is being played.

Alexander Zverev won the men's title in 2026, beating Flavio Cobolli in the final by 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7, 6-1. They were ranked 2 in the world at the time of writing.

Mirra Andreeva won the women's title in 2026, beating Maja Chwalinska in the final by 6-3, 6-2. They were ranked 5 in the world at the time of writing.

6 of the 8 quarter-finalists in the men's draw were seeded, which is close to what the seedings predicted. Alexander Zverev took the Roland Garros title from the number 2 seeding, and the final went 5 sets.

8 of the 8 quarter-finalists in the women's draw were seeded, which is close to what the seedings predicted. Mirra Andreeva took the Roland Garros title from the number 8 seeding, and the final went 2 sets.

Rights to Roland Garros are sold country by country, so the answer depends entirely on where you are sitting. One country gets it free to air: France.

Roland Garros is played in Paris, in central Europe, and matches run through the European afternoon and evening, with the night session finishing late; for American viewers that means mornings.

If you are watching from France, you do not need a subscription: France Televisions carries it free. Everywhere else on the list above is behind a paywall of some kind, which is the normal state of tennis broadcasting rather than anything unusual about this tournament.

Roland Garros added a night session on Court Philippe-Chatrier, and it is scheduled as a single match starting around 8pm local, so it is a much shorter commitment than a full day session. Day play runs from 11am, which is mid-morning in the eastern United States. The tournament covers more courts than most majors, but the outside courts in the first week still fall outside the main feed in many countries.

Working out which subscription is worth it takes a season view: the guide has one.