Paris will host a familiar mix of challengers in 2026, many of them still chasing a first title at Roland Garros. For a handful, this fortnight will feel less like a fresh quest and more like an opportunity to close chapters that have opened and then slipped away.

Jannik Sinner perhaps tops the list. In last year’s final he led Carlos Alcaraz two sets to love and had a break in the third set. After losing that set he held triple match point in the fourth with Alcaraz serving at 3-5, 0-40, and he served for the match in the next game as well before falling in five. He also led Alcaraz two sets to one in the semifinals the year before, also losing in five. Having been unbeaten since February and with Alcaraz unable to defend his title this year due to a right wrist injury, Sinner arrives with clear momentum.

Aryna Sabalenka was another who came painfully close last year. She snapped Iga Swiatek’s 26-match Roland Garros winning streak in the semis before losing a final thriller to Coco Gauff, 6-4 in the third, in which she committed 70 unforced errors. A four-time Grand Slam champion on hard courts, Sabalenka nearly added a title on a natural surface in Paris.

Alexander Zverev has been constantly within striking distance at the French Open. Two years ago he reached the final and led Alcaraz two sets to one before the Spaniard recovered to win in five. Zverev has also reached three other semifinals and three quarterfinals in Paris. As this year’s No. 2 seed he has a strong chance to reach another final, though he would face the challenge of snapping a nine-match losing streak against Sinner if they met there.

Casper Ruud has been to three Grand Slam finals without securing a major, and two of those finals came at Roland Garros. He lost in straight sets to Rafael Nadal in 2022 and to Novak Djokovic in 2023, the latter finishing 7-6 (1), 6-3, 7-5. A Madrid champion last year and a Monte Carlo and Rome finalist during his career, Ruud remains a persistent threat on clay.

Stefanos Tsitsipas still seeks a first major as well. He built a two-sets-to-one lead against Novak Djokovic in the 2021 Roland Garros final but ultimately lost 6-4 in the fifth. Once ranked No. 3, he has slipped to No. 82 after early exits at recent majors, yet Paris has been one of his more consistent venues.

Among the women, Karolina Muchova also carries unfinished business. She returned to the Top 10 this week at No. 10 and in 2023 stunned Sabalenka from match point down in the semifinals before taking a lead against Swiatek in the final only to lose the last three games and her best shot at a first Grand Slam title.

At 18, Darwin Blanch is moving quickly through the early stages of a professional career. The Boca Raton native has reached a career-high ranking of world No. 228 and collected two ITF World Tennis Tour titles in 2025. He was runner-up at the Knoxville Challenger last year and reached the semifinals at the Sarasota Open and, most recently, at the Danube Upper Austria Open.

A former junior world No. 4, Blanch grew up in a tennis family alongside siblings Ulises, Dali and Krystal. His development unfolded across different countries: practicing on a backyard court in Thailand with his brothers until age eight, then training in Argentina, Spain and the United States. He is now based in Florida at the USTA National Campus and has entered a new phase working with former world No. 15 Juan Ignacio Chela.

“I left the Ferrero Tennis Academy in Alicante last year and now I practice at the USTA in Florida,” Blanch explained following his semifinal run at the Danube Upper Austria Open in Mauthausen two weeks ago. “I started working with my coach Juan Ignacio Chela in November. I’m really enjoying it and learning a lot. We have a great relationship. I felt I needed someone who has played at the top level and understands what I’m feeling during matches – especially emotionally.”

On court, Blanch says he prefers to take charge. “I have a good serve and forehand,” he said. “I’m very energetic on court — that’s how I want to see myself.”

The jump from juniors to the professional tour has required adjustment. “The biggest challenge is maintaining a high level throughout a match,” he said. “At this level, if your level drops for even ten minutes, the match can be over.”

He has also found comfort on European clay while keeping hard courts as his preferred surface. “I feel comfortable on European clay, but my favorite surface is still hard court,” he admitted. “That said, Americans are improving on clay. You can see it — Ben Shelton won in Munich. It’s not our natural surface, but we’re getting better.”

Away from competition he balances routines and downtime. “Sometimes you have time in the afternoon, so I like to go into the city, walk around, maybe do some shopping or grab a coffee,” he said. “I like video games. I play a lot with my friends — mostly FIFA. I’m really good at it,” he said with a smile. “I’m also a big football fan and support FC Barcelona. Unfortunately, we got knocked out of the Champions League.”

Family support remains central. “Honestly, it’s kind of a mess sometimes,” he laughed. “There are days when all four of us are playing, and my parents don’t know who to watch. But it’s fun. We text a lot, and it’s great to have that support. My oldest brother Ulises has the most experience, and he helps me a lot with advice.”

With momentum building, Blanch set a clear target for the season. “My goal this year is to win a Challenger title,” he said. “I made a final last year, and I believe I have the level to win one.”

American Learner Tien has climbed into the ATP Top 20 after reaching the fourth round in Rome. The 20-year-old Californian moved from No. 21 to No. 20 following his best Masters 1000 result on clay. That run marked the first time in his career he has won back-to-back matches on the surface.

Tien’s most notable previous results have come on hard courts, including his first ATP title in Metz last year and another ATP final in Beijing last year. His best Grand Slam showing came with a quarterfinal at the Australian Open earlier this year, and his best Masters 1000 result before Rome was a quarterfinal at Indian Wells earlier this year. He is now finding form on different surfaces and has little to defend for the remainder of the clay season or even the grass season.

On the U.S. leaderboard, Tien is the No. 3-ranked American man behind Top 10 players Ben Shelton (No. 6) and Taylor Fritz (No. 8). Frances Tiafoe (No. 21) and Tommy Paul (No. 26) round out the U.S. men’s Top 5.

Spanish teenager Rafael Jodar also made a significant leap, rising from No. 34 to No. 29 to register his Top 30 debut and clinch a seed for Roland Garros. Jodar has moved from outside the Top 100 to inside the Top 30 in this clay-court season alone. He left Miami with his Top 100 debut and went 15-3 on clay, winning his first ATP title in Marrakech, reaching the semifinals in Barcelona and posting back-to-back quarterfinals in Madrid and Rome.

The 19-year-old is now the highest-ranked teenager on the ATP list, narrowly ahead of fellow 19-year-old Joao Fonseca at No. 30. They are the only two teenagers in the ATP Top 100. Jodar will be making his career debut at Roland Garros next week.

Two other Rome standouts climbed the rankings: Luciano Darderi rose from No. 20 to No. 16 after reaching his biggest career semifinal, surpassing his prior career-high of No. 18 and guaranteeing a Top 16 seed for Roland Garros; and Casper Ruud jumped from No. 25 to No. 17 after reaching the final in Rome, also securing a Top 16 seed in Paris given No. 2-ranked Carlos Alcaraz and No. 11-ranked Lorenzo Musetti’s injury withdrawals.