On the opening day of Roland Garros the image that captured attention was simple: Jannik Sinner practicing in a plain white T-shirt that read, “Winning Starts With Training.” The message, literal and unadorned, is also the throughline of Sinner’s recent evolution on clay.

The world No. 1 arrives at Roland Garros this year seeking his first title at the event. Earlier this spring, when he won the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, Sinner joined Rafael Nadal as the only player to have swept all three spring Masters 1000 titles. That achievement sits alongside a career that once produced only sporadic clay success.

Sinner’s first clay title came at an M25 in early 2019 at Santa Margherita Di Pula when he was ranked No. 322. His next clay triumph would not arrive until the ATP 250 in Umag three years later, where the beaten finalist was a young Carlos Alcaraz. Between those milestones and this season, clay proved a mixed arena: losses to Holger Rune (Monte Carlo, semifinals), Franciso Cerundolo (Rome, fourth round) and Daniel Altmaier (Roland Garros, second round) were followed by 2024 setbacks to Stefanos Tsitsipas (Monte Carlo semifinals), a hip injury that forced a Madrid walkover to Felix Auger-Aliassime, and defeat by Alcaraz in the Roland Garros semifinals.

A doping suspension interrupted the 2025 clay season and cost Sinner live match time, but it also became an unintended reset. He used the break to focus on clay-specific work and returned in Rome, where he reached the final before losing to Alcaraz. “It was my first big final on clay,” he said. “We worked a lot for that.”

Sinner has described the gap as a loss of match “feedback”: “I didn’t know exactly how I was playing, if the shots were on the right pace or not, if I’m moving well or not, many things,” he said. The team compared early Monte Carlo data with Rome performances to get “a big picture” template for improvement. As he put it in Monte Carlo this year, “I never won anything big on this surface. So, I’m looking forward to it, trying to put myself in the position hopefully, and then we’ll see.”

Training, coach Simone Vagnozzi and a willingness to leave comfort zones have reshaped Sinner’s clay game. “I take my confidence from training, not tournaments.” He has been candid about the work: “You arrive to a point when you play against Carlos where you have to go out of your comfort zone. So I’m going to aim to, you know, [do that]. . Maybe even lose some matches from now on, but trying to do some changes, you know, trying to be a bit more unpredictable as a player.” Off court he acknowledges perception: “I feel like the fans don’t know how I am as a person [because] I’m very serious on the court.” After his Rome breakthrough he reflected, “I cannot compare this to any other tournament,” he said. “There is here that extra pressure, extra hunger and the feeling [desire] to play the best possible tennis. The whole tournament was very challenging, but also so beautiful at the same time. So I just love this tournament. It has so much more history [for Italians] than the ATP Finals in Turin,” an event Sinner also won on home soil.

Stan Wawrinka closed his long run at Roland Garros with a four-set defeat to lucky loser Jesper de Jong, going down 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. The 41-year-old’s final appearance at the clay major concluded with an on-court ceremony that acknowledged a career threaded through this event.

De Jong, who gained entry as a lucky loser after Arthur Fils withdrew, moves into the second round. Late in the match Wawrinka produced one last surge of his trademark power and created a break point when de Jong served for the match, but he was unable to convert. At one point he went to the ground as the sun towered over Court Simonne-Mathieu.

Wawrinka won his second of three major titles at Roland Garros 11 years ago and was the 2017 runner-up. With retirement scheduled to be capped later this season in Basel, he finishes his Roland Garros record with 46 match wins at the clay-court major.

After the match a ceremony on court featured congratulatory messages from Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic. Wawrinka’s speech was emotional and his voice cracked early, but he maintained his composure. He was presented a commemorative gift by Gilles Moretton, president of the French Tennis Federation, and tournament director Amélie Mauresmo.

Wawrinka made a final circuit of the court to acknowledge the packed house before exiting. The match and the tribute provided a bookend to more than two decades of appearances at the tournament, and offered a final, public farewell at the clay major where he enjoyed some of his greatest success.

A first-round match on Court 13 at Roland Garros between the world No. 65 and No. 105 rarely produces a main-room press conference. It did when Matteo Berrettini fought back to beat Marton Fucsovics 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-1, 6-2, registering his first match in Paris since 2021.

“I have a resilient mind,” said the oft-injured Italian after beating Marton Fucsovics in four sets.

Berrettini acknowledged a slow start but emphasised the value he places on the event. “It feels good to be here and talking about a win,” he said. “I didn’t start in the right way. I had to find a little bit the right mindset, I would say. I really care about this tournament in general. Every match that I’m playing, I’m trying to play my best. … Sometimes this sport can be brutal, but I think I finished the match better than the way I started, which is a good sign. So I’m really excited for what’s next.”

Injuries and illness have interrupted the Italian’s career since he reached a career-high ranking of world No. 6 in 2022. Those issues contributed to repeated withdrawals from the clay major, and last year he “ran out of time” to recover after suffering an oblique injury in Rome.

Since his run to the Wimbledon final five years ago, Berrettini missed eight of the subsequent 18 Grand Slam events, including this season’s Australian Open. Still, he pointed to moments of high-level play this spring and to his motivation to continue competing. “When injuries are coming, you’re always negative, and you don’t want to stop, and you are thinking about I could have done this, I could have done that, but at the same time, I’m looking at myself in the mirror right now, and I so proud of my career and what I’ve achieved,” he said.

He reflected on the trade-offs of his game and his mindset. “It’s kind of like part of who I am. If I have a big serve, big forehand, I also have this issue. I also have a resilient mind, and I always work hard to come back and … I just like to compete. I like to put myself in situations where most of the people would struggle a little bit and the tough forgets, the more I’m there. I’m just a little bit psycho, I think.”

“Again, that’s what I like to do in the next years that I’m playing. I like to compete. I like to have fun with it. I like to win as many matches as possible.”