Alexander Blockx arrives at Roland Garros still chasing his first major match win, but he has arrived at the tournament with momentum after a breakout start to 2026.

Earlier this week he appeared alongside Grand Slam champions Iga Swiatek and Daniil Medvedev at a Tecnifibre event. As a child he had commemorated a visit to Turin by having his photo taken with Medvedev. “It was my first appearance at the Next Gen Finals as a fan back then. He was already a professional tennis player at the highest level,” Blockx reflected.

“I knew I had a very long way to go, but somewhere I also knew I would get there one day as well. It’s definitely special to be here now and go through everything he has been going through as well. It’s nice to see that the work paid off.”

So far in 2026 Blockx has moved into the ATP Top 40. The Antwerp native reached the semifinals of the Mutua Madrid Open, knocking off Felix Auger-Aliassime, Francisco Cerundolo and Casper Ruud along the way. That run came between a pair of wins at Monte Carlo and Rome, a sequence that has raised expectations without changing his daily approach.

“For me personally, not much has changed. Of course the ranking is higher now but I’m still doing the same things,” he says. “Maybe the players recognize me a bit more, but I’ll still be playing tennis as if I have no ranking. It’s just the process for me. I will always like it.”

Blockx is now Belgium’s No. 1. Zizou Bergs sits just two spots behind him in the rankings and Raphael Collignon is establishing himself as a Top 100 mainstay, signaling a new generation emerging at home.

David Goffin made his final French Open appearance earlier this week in the second round of qualifying. Reflecting on Goffin’s record and influence, Blockx was emphatic. “I think he was the best Belgian male tennis player we ever had. Did a lot of great things. Brought Belgium to the Davis Cup Finals two times, played the finals at the Nitto ATP Finals. If we could sign a paper with his career, we would immediately sign it,” declared Blockx.

“It’s definitely something we cannot take for granted. It’s sad that he will be retiring at the end of the season but at the other side, he’s had an amazing career. The next generation is competing so high right now, Raphael and Zizou are playing amazing tennis this year. He definitely has a few Belgians to back him up in the future.”

Arthur Fils has withdrawn from Roland Garros and will not play his scheduled first-round match against Stan Wawrinka. The French Tennis Federation listed “an injury” as the reason for the withdrawal, removing a seeded player from the men’s draw.

Fils had earlier retired four games into his Rome opener against Andrea Pellegrino because of a hip issue. He had offered an optimistic update on social media shortly afterward: “Felt something during the match in Rome,” he wrote on X. “I ran all the tests with the team and everything is clear. Already back to work for Paris. Thanks for the messages.”

This is the second consecutive year that an injury has disrupted Fils’s campaign at his home major. A year ago he pushed through a second-round clash with Jaume Munar but sustained a stress fracture in his back that ultimately sidelined him for eight months.

The 21-year-old had staged a notable comeback this season after missing the Australian Open, advancing to the final in Doha and the semifinals in Miami. He also won in Barcelona and compiled nine consecutive clay wins, a run that included a deep showing in Madrid, where he reached the final four.

Organizers and fans will now adjust to the change in the draw following the seed’s late withdrawal. The development truncates a much-anticipated meeting with a former major champion and removes one of the young French players expected to feature on the clay at Roland Garros.

© 2026 Tim Clayton

Speaking in Paris on his 39th birthday, Novak Djokovic acknowledged a difficult spell with his body over recent months but said recent preparation has been encouraging as he arrives at Roland Garros chasing a record 25th Grand Slam.

He admitted he had endured “challenging times with [his] body through the last six to eight months.” The 24-time major champion reached the Australian Open final in January — upsetting Jannik Sinner in the semifinals before falling to Carlos Alcaraz — despite entering that tournament without match play.

Djokovic said the clay season offered little competition because of his physical issues. He had “played just one match during the clay-court season, and losing it,” and explained: “I wanted to play more, but my body was not allowing me,” adding, “I\] really wanted to go to Rome \[[where he was visibly ill in a loss to Dino Prizmic ] to give it a shot and try and see how I feel.”

He described needing that lone match as a way to feel match nerves before deciding whether he could play in Paris. “I was far from being ready to compete, but still, I needed at least that one match just to have the score called by chair umpire and have experience of the nerves before I eventually come to Roland Garros, which at that point I didn’t know if I was going to be able to play or not.

“Thankfully, the response of the body and the preparation has been positive in the last 10 days, so here I am, and we’ll see what happens.”

Placed in the bottom half of the draw for his 22nd Roland Garros appearance, Djokovic noted the absence of Carlos Alcaraz was unfortunate for the event but said it did not materially alter his approach: “Of course, you know, it’s a big blow for the tournament not to have him,” and “Whether that changes my approach to this tournament, I don’t think it does significantly change.”

On his priorities, he reiterated the focus on major events: “[I spent] lots of hours spent on the court and trying to perfect the game and the body and enable myself physically and game-wise to be ready for best-of-five,” he added. “Let’s see. I don’t know whether that’s going to be the case, you know, for the entire tournament, however long that tournament will be for me.

“Grand Slams have been, I mean, I have said this many times, always the priority list, particularly last couple of years. So I always try to aim to be at the peak of my own abilities to perform well in Grand Slams. So can’t wait to get on a court and start competing.”