Aryna Sabalenka @ 5/2
Iga Swiatek @ 3/1
Coco Gauff @ 5/1
Mirra Andreeva @ 15/2
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When in Rome, do as the Romans do. And organisers of the forthcoming French Open will be hoping that when in Paris, they can emulate the Romans too.
Because the Italian Open – the last major stop of the clay swing, situated in Rome’s historic Foro Italico – delivered a rapturously received home champion on the women’s side of the tournament, and the biggest match-up the sport has to offer as the final of the men’s.
There is, however, a much better chance of the latter happening at Roland Garros than the former.
Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz arrive seeded #1 and #2, and if they successfully navigate their way through their respective halves of the draw, they will meet in a grand slam final for the very first time.
Their burgeoning rivalry is tantalisingly poised. While Sinner has been the dominant force in the sport over the last 18 months – playing a penetrating, incredibly consistent, fluster-free brand of tennis – culminating in a remarkable 26-match winning streak; Alcaraz has won their last four meetings, including the recent Rome final, which he wrapped-up in straight sets.
Does Alcaraz have a permanent advantage over Sinner on clay courts? Or was Sinner simply short of matches following his controversial three-month suspension? Is the flamboyant Spaniard only able to curtail the concentration lapses, which seem to affect him against lower-ranked opponents, when he plays the ice-cold Italian?
Hopefully we will get some answers – learn a bit more about the direction of these crucial shifting sands of momentum – when the final takes place on June 8th.
Of course, there will be 126 other players in the draw hoping to spin their own gripping narrative over the next two weeks. Jack Draper, for example, who is surely only one deep run at Wimbledon away from becoming a massive name in British sport, will be looking to continue his outstanding 2025.
And, not for the first time, intrigue surrounds the status of Novak Djokovic. Have we really seen the last of the bionic Serb as a serious grand slam contender? Are the sands of his career also shifting, slowly down, through an increasingly depleted hourglass? Could this be his last tango in Paris?
In a remarkably swift recession, Iga Świątek, who has won 4 of the last 5 French Opens, will land in Roland Garros seeded a lowly 5th. No tournament wins in 2025, and several humiliating defeats in recent weeks for the once-dominant Pole – is her decline a permanent trajectory? Or can she seize upon her favourite courts to reassert her footing in the upper echelons of the women’s game?
Aryna Sabalenka has never lifted the Suzanne-Lenglen trophy but remains the favourite to do so in 2025. Though in what feels like the most open Open in the women’s game for a while, several contenders will feel that their time is now.
Rome champion Jasmine Paolini must be regarded as a serious contender too – having also made it to the Paris final last year – and winning the French Open would crown her stunning late-career renaissance. A potential quarter-final against Iga Świątek could be a decisive encounter.
The Indian Wells champion, teenage upstart Mirra Andreeva, will hope to equal or better her 2024 Roland Garros semi-final advance; whole former youth prodigy Coco Gauff will feel that a second grand slam title is probably due, having now reached the ripe old age of 21.
The shifting tectonic landscape of women’s tennis could have a very different shade and appearance when the ink has dried on the final sentences of this stimulating clay page-turner.
