Roland Garros 2026, where to watch and live stream

Roland Garros runs in Paris, France from 24 May – 7 Jun, played on slow red clay. Bounces sit higher than on any other tour surface and rallies run longer, which suits heavy topspin and punishes flat hitters. It is a Grand Slam, one of the four biggest events on the tennis calendar. The singles champion takes 2,000 ranking points, plus the largest prize pool of any event on tour.

First held in 1891, played at Stade Roland Garros, Paris. Play starts in 17 days, on Sunday 24 May, with the main draw running through to Sunday 7 June.

Carlos Alcaraz defends the men's title · Coco Gauff defends the women's title.

Read the full Roland Garros preview →

Roland Garros plays on red clay laid over a crushed-brick foundation that grips more aggressively than any of the warm-up venues. Bounces sit higher, rallies run longer, and the cushioning underfoot makes sliding into recovery shots feel almost effortless once a player has acclimatised. Court Philippe Chatrier under the closed roof becomes a slower, heavier version of itself, with humidity rising and the topspin ball kicking up to chest height even on a third shot. The bonus week introduced in 2024 to spread the men’s singles draw across fifteen days has settled in: the back end of week one is now genuinely meaningful for the seeds, who can no longer ease through the first three rounds in three days.

The 2025 men’s final, Sinner against Alcaraz across more than five hours, has rewritten what the surface looks like at its absolute peak: defence as offence, ninety-shot rallies decided by who blinks at the start of a tiebreak, and a willingness to spend a full set probing the same backhand corner. Coco Gauff took the women’s title that year. Best-of-five for the men through the back half of the draw means the third-set crisis is rarely the end of the match here, which is why physical conditioning shows up more clearly at Roland Garros than at any other slam.