The 2026 French Open gets underway on Sunday with a packed first-round schedule headlined by Novak Djokovic's return to Roland Garros. The 24-time Grand Slam champion faces a tricky opener against home favourite Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, arriving in Paris with just one clay court match this season following a shoulder injury layoff. Second seed Alexander Zverev begins against Benjamin Bonzi, while Taylor Fritz looks to shake off a difficult 2026 campaign in his clash with wildcard Nishesh Basavareddy. The day also features two of the clay swing's breakout stars - Alexander Blockx and Dino Prizmic - opening their campaigns as favourites alongside a batch of qualifiers eager to make their mark on the biggest clay court stage.
Djokovic meets French firepower in opener
The 24-time Grand Slam champion faces his first test against the powerful Frenchman in what promises to be a fascinating stylistic contrast. Djokovic arrives with question marks regarding his form with just one match on clay under his belt, losing to promising talent Dino Prizmic in Rome's first round. The Serbian was recovering from a shoulder injury for about two months, missing most of the clay courts season. Last year, Djokovic came to Paris fresh off winning the ATP 250 title in Geneva and made it into semifinals, including the great victory over Alexander Zverev in quarterfinals.
Mpetshi Perricard is very well known from his big-serving game, averaging over 14 aces per match in ATP main draw matches during last 52 weeks. This rarely translates into deep tournament runs, though. The 22 years-old is ranked 80th in ATP rankings and his current form on clay looks even more concerning. The Frenchman won just one main tour match in first round of Rome against Jacob Fearnley, then trying his abilities in Bordeaux Challenger making into quarterfinals. Mpetshi Perricard scores "only" 6 aces per match on clay this season at any level, which also describes the struggles of home crowd's representative on this surface.
This first meeting between the pair could hinge on Mpetshi Perricard's ability to hold serve consistently. Djokovic's all-rounder game and return skills against first serves gives him a clear path to victory if the Frenchman's delivery falters. For the Serbian, it looks like a challenging start against player with specific profile, but can be a good way to take off from rust in the opening stages of the tournament.
Zverev eyes strong Paris start against Bonzi
The German second seed faces a first-round assignment against the experienced Frenchman, who has a very modest achievements on clay this season. Benjamin Bonzi has scraped through qualifiers at top level just once in Madrid, winning the only one match in main draw against Titouan Drouget there. Zverev's clay court form has been impressive this season, posting an 13-4 record with strong fundamentals across all metrics. He is winning 80% of service games, 30% of return games and attacks opponent's second serve very efficiently with 54% success rate.
The key battle lies in the longer rallies where Zverev's power and court coverage should give him clear advantages. Bonzi will need to maximize his home support and capitalize on any early nerves from Zverev, who sometimes starts slowly in Grand Slam openers, like in this year's Australian Open when the German dropped one set in each of first three rounds. However, the ranking difference reflects genuine quality gaps that favor the German advancing.
Fritz seeks bounce-back against Basavareddy
Taylor Fritz comes to Roland Garros with simillar situation as Novak Djokovic - getting there after two months of break with just one appearance on clay this season ended up in lossing maner. Fritz has lost to Alexei Popyrin in Geneva, creating no breakpoints against the Australian ranked 61st in ATP rankings despite 7 aces fired. It's a continue of this year's struggles for Fritz who won just 12 out of 21 matches played in 2026 with a final run in Dallas being the only one reasonable highlight. No single victory against top 10-ranked opponent is also a concern for Fritz in terms of eventual deep run ambitions. Nishesh Basavareddy is his opponent on Sunday, making fifth career's Grand Slam appearance. The 21 years-old ranked 156th in ATP list has already achieved his maiden main draw and sole main draw win against Christopher Oconnell in Australian Open at start of the season. His this year's achievements on clay relate mostly to Challenger circuit with victory in Savannah one month ago, but the experience on highest level is still limited. The semifinal run in Auckland at start of the 2025 is still the biggest mark in his career so far, but the further progress did not come yet. Fritz's struggles this season and limited mileage on clay can be some sort of chance for the world number eight's fellowcountry though, to at least make this match a competitive one on a good day.
Young contenders start their campaign as favorites
Alexander Blockx and Dino Prizmic were one of the sensations of the European clay court swing. The Belgian has impressed with the fantastic run to semifinals in Madrid, getting stopped by Alexander Zverev. Prizmic advanced to main draw both in Madrid and Rome, showing his abilities especially in Foro Italico during his run into round of 16 - including the comeback from set down against Novak Djokovic. Blockx has broke through the top 40 of the rankings with 10 wins in 14 matches played on clay in main draw ATP matches this season. Dino Prizmic has played more matches in Challenger level and qualies with a record 19-6, which lifted him up to 71st in the rankings. Both got the formidable start in the draw.
Blockx seeks for his maiden Grand Slam main draw victory, playing against Coleman Wong, who got a lucky loser spot out of qualifiers. The player from Hong Kong was already capable to score some good run in US Open 2025, making into third round with two victories over top 100 opponents. Prizmic makes his fourth attempt to score a victory in Grand Slam after three tries on hard courts, although playing against like Novak Djokovic and Andrey Rublev in 2024 and 2025 was not a perfect luck in a draw to do so. The Croatian plays against Michael Zhang, who won all his three qualifying matches and notes second main draw appearance alongside this year's Australian Open where he defeated Sebastian Korda in five sets.
Qualifiers looking forward for big start
There are some interesting names who managed to find a place in main draw after qualifying week. French fans will surely keep fingers crossed for the veteran and great doubles specialist - Pierre Hugues Herbert who made through the qualies in age of 35 and plays against Lorenzo Sonego. Another French qualifier to play tomorrow is Kyrian Jacquet - the 25 years-old plays against 36 years-old Marco Trungelliti in fourth career's Grand Slam appearance.
Pablo Llamas Ruiz advanced into main draw following the successful qualifying run in Rome, where he defeated two top 50 opponents - Ethan Quinn and Corentin Moutet in main competition. The Spaniard sets up an interesting clash between competent clay courters against Thiago Agustin Tirante.
Hugo Dellien continues his path as a player focused on clay. The 32 years-old Bolivian played 64 matches in all levels including ATP and Challenger Tour - 59 of those were played on clay including 39 wins and three of those happened in qualifiers to French Open. Dellien looks for his third Roland Garros match victory against Valentin Royer.
Two youngsters make their appearance on biggest clay venue tomorrow. 19 years-old from Italy Federico Cina plays against serve-bombing experienced American - Reilly Opelka. Luka Pavlovic makes his Grand Slam debut as the world number 240, meeting 28th seed Joao Fonseca.
