2025 French Open: Dates and draw as Sinner and Sabalenka lead event ahead of Alcaraz and Swiatek

Shahida Jacobs
Iga Swiatek and Carlos Alcaraz with the 2024 French Open trophies
Iga Swiatek and Carlos Alcaraz were the 2024 French Open champions

The second Grand Slam of the 2025 tennis season, the French Open, is around the corner and here is all the information you need ahead of the clay-court major at Roland Garros.

When does the 2025 French Open take place?

This year marks the 124th edition of the French Open and it will once again be staged at Stade Roland Garros – the venue since 1928.

The only clay-court Grand Slam on the calendar will get underway on Sunday, May 25.

The women’s final will take place a fortnight later on Saturday, June 7 on Court Philippe-Chatrier while the men’s showpiece match will be on Sunday, June 8 at the same spectacular clay-court venue.

When is the draw for the second major of the year?

The main draw for the men’s and women’s singles will take place on Thursday, May 22 with proceedings getting underway at 14:00 local time (13:00 BST).

There will be 128 names in both the men’s and women’s singles draws with 16 players coming through qualifying and eight gaining entry via wildcards.

The cutoff for direct entries for both draws was just after the 100 mark while there are also a couple of protected/special rankings entrants.

What does the daily schedule look like?

Play gets underway 11:00 local time (10:00 BST) all on courts except for Court Philippe Chatrier as the action starts at 12:00 (11:00 BST) on the showpiece court.

One singles match – either men’s or women’s – will be staged during the night session on Chatrier from May 25 until June 6 and the action will not get underway before 20:15 (19:15) local time.

The women’s singles final will take place on June 7 at 15:00 (14:00 BST) and the men’s finals will be staged 24 hours later.

Who won the 2024 singles titles in Paris?

A new name was added to the Coupe des Mousquetaires as Carlos Alcaraz won his first title at Roland Garros, beating Alexander Zverev 6–3, 2–6, 5–7, 6–1, 6–2, just days after he also defeated Jannik Sinner in five sets.

It was a familiar story in the women’s final as Iga Swiatek won her fourth title in Paris and third in a row as the Pole was too strong for first-time Grand Slam finalist Jasmine Paolini, winning 6–2, 6–1.

Who are the top 10 seeds for both events?

Jannik Sinner will be the top seed at Roland Garros for the first time in his career as he only became No 1 after last year’s tournament.

He is followed by Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz, Jack Draper, Novak Djokovic, Casper Ruud, Lorenzo Musetti, Alex de Minaur and Holger Rune.

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On the women’s side, Iga Swiatek won’t be the top seed for the first time since 2021 as she has dropped down the rankings following a poor clay-court season so far.

Instead, the honour goes to Aryna Sabalenka with Coco Gauff taking second place. Jessica Pegula, Jasmine Paolini, Swiatek, Mirra Andreeva, Madison Keys, Zheng Qinwen, Emma Navarro and Paula Badosa complete the top 10.

Any noteworthy wildcards, protected rankings or other entrants?

The cutoff for direct entries for the ATP side was 101 while Reilly Opelka (33) and Jenson Brooksby (52) are some of the high-profile players who entered with their protected ranking.

Former French Open champion Stan Wawrinka and the retiring Richard Gasquet are among the high-profile wildcards while 16 more players will come through qualifying.

Two-time Grand Slam winner Petra Kvitova used her special ranking of 14 to enter after she missed most of the 2024 season as she was on maternity leave.

Emma Raducanu will play at Roland Garros for only the second time and the first time since 2022 as she qualified via her WTA Ranking of 47.

Meanwhile, rising star Alex Eala will make her debut as her incredible Miami Open run helped her to qualify with a ranking of 72. Last year she lost in the third round of qualifying.

Who will miss the clay-court Grand Slam this year?

So far there have been no high-profile withdrawals from the tournament, but a week is a long time in tennis.

Which TV channels will broadcast the clay-court Grand Slam?

The host broadcaster for the French Open is France TV while Prime Video will also air the tournament in France. Most of Europe is covered by Eurosport with the exception of Austria (Servus TV), Belgium (RTBF) and Switzerland (SRG SSR).

There have been changes to the United States broadcasting deal as TNT Sports, Max and Tru TV will broadcast the event while the tournament will be available on RDS and TSN in Canada.

ESPN covers Latin America and Brazil, a combination of BeinSport, SuperSport and Canal+ will show it in the Middle East, North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Asia is covered by BeinSport, China has CMG and SSPORTS), Japan has WOWOW, India has Sony Ten and Australia has Channel 9 and Stan Sports.