Roland Garros is one of the most anticipated tennis tournaments every year. From the celebrities attending to the development of young prodigies of the sport, everyone keeps an eye out for what’s going on in the city of love and tennis during this time of the year. To make sure you didn’t miss any of the best, or the worst, of the 2025 edition of Roland Garros, here’s a list of what you should know.
Paying respect to a legend
On the opening day, May 25th, 14 times tournament winner, Rafael Nadal attended the Philippe Chatrier court to receive a heartfelt tribute for his great career and unforgettable path in the French Open. The 39 year old former number 1 of the world retired in October of 2024 and had the chance to reunite with old rivals and friends in Paris: Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray all participated in the homage.
Nadal had his name eternalized in the court, with a plaque that has his name and footprint engraved in it put right by the side of the net of the Chatrier court. Aside from that, Rafael was welcomed by a wave of fans wearing a shirt in honor of him that had “Merci Rafa” written on it. While addressing the public, he couldn’t help being very emotional and nostalgic in his speech.
Among heart signs and screaming fans, Carlos Alcaraz, current world number 2 in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), was in attendance paying his respect to one of his idols, not knowing that by the end of this tournament, he’d be earning his fifth Grand Slam with the same age, month and day that Nadal, who won his back in 2008 in Wimbledon against Federer. It’s safe to say that this “coincidence”, which Alcaraz himself called destiny, only boosts the public’s idea that he is going to be Rafael’s successor.
A rising brazilian star: João Fonseca
This was the first French Open of the young Brazilian and he started out with a bang. His debut was against the number 28th in the world Hubert Hurkacz, who he beat with 3 sets to 0. This result alone earned him 2 positions in the ATP ranking, reaching the 57th position, best so far in his entire career. Then, he went on to win against a local, french player Pierre Herbert, in a hard match that ended up 3-0.
Unfortunately, the third round of the tournament was the end of the line for João. The Brazilian lost 3 sets to 0 to world number 5 Jack Draper, who he had previously faced back in March of this year, at the Masters 1000, in Indian Wells. Even with the elimination, Fonseca seemed happy with the experience he had and said that “this was just the start”. At the moment, he is ranked 65th in the world.
An unfortunate sequence of injuries and controversies
Unfortunately for Lorenzo Musetti, number 7 in the world, his dreams of going to the finals in this years’ Roland Garros were cut short due to an injury. The Italian was playing against Alcaraz in the semifinals, down 2 sets to 1, when he felt his left thigh and had to walk out of the game.
Earlier this week, he had been in a little heat with a journalist because of a question predicting he was to face Alcaraz before the quarter finals between Carlos and Tommy Paul even happened. In a polite manner, the Italian answered “Honestly, I find really disrespectful for Tommy… there’s a match to play and honestly I don’t want to answer this question”.
Great games from legends and the ones in the making
In a very balanced face-off, Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev played a must-see hard fought match for the quarter final, of which Djokovic walked out the winner. The 38 year old veteran won the game by 3 sets to 1, in a slow start that turned classy by the time the 3 hours and 18 minutes of the game passed. Although he reached some domination by the third set, his match point only came in the fifth attempt, in the biggest rally of the entire game, with 41 balls exchanged back and forth.
Advancing to the semifinals, the veteran faced Jannik Sinner, rising star that ended up going to his first ever Roland Garros’ final. This match was an encounter of generations that started off as balanced but went on to be a show of the youngster, who worked on top of Novak’s mistakes and never gave a breach for the opponent to grow. This was another show of hard earned points, with games going up to 26 balls exchanged and close partials. It was amazing to watch such a high level of technique and follow the start of the promising career of Sinner, and possibly the last French Open of Djokovic.
The highest of heights: the finals
Last Saturday was the day for the women ‘s final between WTA’s (Women’s Tennis Association) number one Aryna Sabalenka and the number two Coco Gauff. The match was full of oscillations from both sides and a lot of wind, but the 21 year old American ended up the winner in a great comeback of 2 sets to 1. Winning only her second Grand Slam, aside from the 2023 US Open, Coco became the youngest American woman to be champion in the Roland Garros’ simple tournament since Serena Williams, in 2002. Serena was also the last American overall to win the French Open, 10 years ago.
Onto the men’s final, that took place Sunday, ended up making history. ATP’s world number 1, Jannik Sinner, faced the defending champion of last years’ French Open Carlos Alcaraz. The highly technical and battled match went on for 5 hours and 29 minutes, becoming, therefore, the longest final in the history of Roland Garros, surpassing the 4 hours and 42 minutes of the 1982 final between Mats Wilander and Guillermo Vilas.
The top athletes of modern tennis put on a great show for the viewers. Sinner started ahead, winning the first two sets, and making Alcaraz sweat for the third one. Battling for the fourth set, Jannik had the chance to bring the trophy home with 3 match-points, but Carlos overcame the 2 games of difference and ended up taking the set home, making everything equal and to be decided in the fifth set.
The fifth and final set of this years’ French Open was a display of talent and resistance, with both athletes making little to no mistake and fighting against the tiredness to win every point possible. Forcing the tie-break, the Spanish youngster Alcaraz dominated the games’ finale and won the tournament for the second time consecutively in great fashion.
Sabalenka vs Gauff: how to not handle defeat
The belarusian top player of the world Sabalenka reacted poorly when speaking about the loss of the French Open with the press. Going to this game as the favorite, Sabalenka took it pretty hard to lose to the young american, saying it was “the worst tennis” she played recently and stating that conditions were rough because of the wind. She also admitted to making lots of mistakes, with 70 unforced errors throughout the match, and losing it mentally.
What really disappointed fans was a quote by the Belarusian saying “she (Coco) won the match not because she played incredible, just because I made all of those mistakes.”. This quickly went viral on the internet and infuriated fans because of the seemingly disregard for Gauff’s talent and well played game, brushed by Sabalenka in a manner that many people online called “arrogant”, “disrespectful” and “an example of bad sportsmanship”. However, less than a day later, Aryna posted on her stories clarifying her previous comments and giving credit to Coco, saying “She earned that title”.
This years’ Roland Garros was a rollercoaster of emotions and an epic display of some of the best tennis we have nowadays. From youngsters like Fonseca to veterans like, 3 times champion of the French Open, Djokovic, all the games were fought tooth and nail, all the sets were full of emotion and we can only imagine what’s to come in the Boss Open, the next tournament of the ATP calendar, in Germany this June.
The article above was edited by Fernanda Miki Tsukase.
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