Move over Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, a new generation are already announcing themselves on the big stage at Roland Garros in the absence of the “top two”.
No one could have predicted how the men’s draw of the French Open would unfurl in 2026. By the fourth round it was already confirmed that whoever lifted the trophy would be winning a grand slam for the first time.
The losses started before the tournament began: Alcaraz withdrew with a wrist injury, for home favourite Arthur Fils it was hip/back, for Jack Draper it was a knee, and former world No 5 Lorenzo Musetti pulled out with a leg muscle issue.
When the French Open started on May 24, the odds were skewed more in Sinner’s favour than they had been for Rafael Nadal at the height of his unprecedented dominance in Paris.
Yet at the start of the second week, Sinner’s most dangerous opponent proved to be the heat, and he crashed out in the second round. One round later and it was 19-year-old João Fonseca who proved too much for Novak Djokovic in a remarkable 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 7-5 comeback.
As Father Time finally caught up with 39-year-old Djokovic, who bowed out as the last player left to know what it feels like to win a grand slam, attention swiftly turned to those two decades younger. It seems 2026 is a year for the teenagers.
It has only been two years since Nadal bade farewell to the French Open, but as cries of “Vamos Rafa” echo around the courts, another fist-pumping Spaniard is delighting the crowd.
Rafael Jodar was ranked 165 at the start of 2026 and only played his first grand slam in Australia earlier this year, and, at 19 years old, has not yet filled out his 6ft 3in frame, but he certainly knows his way around a clay court.
Even his quarter-final opponent Alexander Zverev has been impressed by Jodar’s ability to attack on both the forehand and backhand sides, and he is one for the big occasion already, encouraging the crowd on a packed Court Suzanne-Lenglen.
In his 22 tour-level matches on clay, he has won 19 of them, more than Roger Federer (16), Nadal (13) and Novak Djokovic (10) at the same stage.