The 2026 French Open is Jannik Sinner’s to lose.
The 24-year-old enters the second major of the year on a historic 29-match winning streak after winning the last five tournaments he’s played in. This is an incredible feat, to say the least. Because of his hot start to the 2026 season, Sinner is the clear frontrunner to win the title at Roland-Garros, which would be his first. A title would secure the career grand slam for Sinner, making him the 10th men’s player to achieve this feat.
Sinner’s most difficult and notable opponent in recent years, Carlos Alcaraz, will not be competing this year in Paris as he deals with a wrist injury that is sidelining him for the French Open and Wimbledon. Normally Alcaraz would be the toughest competitor for Sinner in the field, so who could be a threat to Sinner in Paris this year?
We’ve already taken a look at the projected path Sinner has to take in order to win the French Open, but let’s instead dive into some of the possible opponents who could overtake Sinner and end his winning streak.
WERTHEIM: 2026 Roland Garros Men’s Seed Report: Jannik Sinner vs. the Field
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic has a chance to win every major he competes in, there’s no doubt about that. He holds the record in men’s tennis with 24 major titles, and winning a 25th would become the outright tennis record. He’s no stranger to feeling the pressure of a grand slam, giving him the easy upper hand amongst these potential opponents listed. He’s played in a record 37 grand slam finals, and with his appearance in this year’s French Open, he’s the record holder with 82 appearances at a grand slam. No other active player comes close to hitting these milestones.
Apart from Djokovic being one of the G.O.A.T.s of the game, the 38-year-old is coming off a win against Sinner in their most recent meeting at the Australian Open semifinals. It was a close five-set match, but the veteran came out the victor. This was a big win for Djokovic as he lost the previous five meetings against Sinner, including at last year’s French Open semifinal. Six of their 11 meetings have been at major tournaments—Sinner holds an overall lead 6–5 over Djokovic, while they each have won three matches a piece at majors specifically.
The only chance for Sinner and Djokovic to meet is in the Roland-Garros final as the competitors are on opposite sides of the bracket, something that hasn’t happened in a while at a major as Alcaraz is normally in the mix. The biggest obstacle for Djokovic right now, though, regarding him reaching the French Open final is his own health. He’s been struggling physically this year, specifically because of an ongoing right shoulder issue. He withdrew from big tournaments like Indian Wells, Miami and Madrid because of his health. And, he didn’t look as sharp in his first-round match, in which he lost the first set but came back to win in four.
If Djokovic can overcome the physical concerns in Paris, then he’ll be a strong competitor for Sinner in the Roland-Garros final. You can always count on Djokovic to have a chance at winning a major, even if he’s competing against the best player in the game right now.
Alexander Zverev
Zverev at majors has always been the bridesmaid but never the bride. Could Alcaraz’s absence give the German his best chance yet at the winner’s circle of a grand slam? Well, with the Spaniard injured, Zverev, the world No. 3, rose to the second seed and thus will avoid Sinner until the final.
Zverev breezed through his first-round match in straight sets against Benjamin Bonzi, then got some more good news as Taylor Fritz, who had given him trouble in their recent meetings, was knocked out of the tournament in the first round. Fritz seemingly would have been Zverev’s toughest competition in his quarter. Now?
The most resistance will likely come from Karen Khachanov, who has just one win in the last five meetings with the German, and Jiří Lehečka, who has only played Zverev twice but looms as a threat due to the power in his game. In other words, Zverev, who has won 13 of 17 matches on clay this season and has reached the French Open final as recently as 2024, should cruise to the semifinal where he faces a possible date with Djokovic. However, the Serbian is a test Zverev has recently managed to ace more frequently.
Sinner, who has beaten Zverev nine straight times, including twice this clay court season, is another story. But with Alcaraz sidelined and Djokovic rusty entering the tourney, the opportunity for Zverev to break through for his first major is there, however unlikely it may seem.
Félix Auger-Aliassime
Aliassime isn’t exactly rolling on clay entering Roland-Garros, with his best result coming at the Monte-Carlo Masters, where he was dispatched in the quarterfinal by none other than Sinner. Overall, he’s won just three of six matches in the clay court season thus far.
So what’s he doing here, you ask? Well, we’ve seen the long, lithe Canadian, who possesses an explosive serve and a boom-or-bust baseline approach, test Sinner before, as recently as during a loss to the Italian in the semifinal of last year’s U.S. Open, in which he claimed the second set against the four-time major winner.
Aliassime landed a favorable draw at the French Open, as his biggest challengers in the quarter are Flavio Cobolli, who has beaten him twice, and Valentin Vacherot. Just last summer, we saw Aliassime knock out three top-15 seeds en route to the semifinal at Flushing Meadows.
Should Aliassime find that form again, he could rise to challenge Sinner in a grand slam semifinal once more.
French Open 2026: How to Watch, Betting Odds and Favorites to Win
Daniil Medvedev
In Sinner’s young career, Daniil Medvedev is one of the opponents he’s faced the most—the two have competed against one another 17 times, the same amount as Sinner and Alcaraz. Sinner holds the lead in their head-to-heads, winning 10 of the 17 meetings. These two met twice recently in the Indian Wells final and the Italian Open semifinal. Sinner won as he’s on a giant winning streak right now, but Medvedev put up a fight in both contests—the Indian Wells final resulted in two tiebreaks, and the Italian Open semi took three sets.
Although Medvedev hasn’t beaten Sinner since the 2024 Wimbledon quarterfinal, he has recent practice against the world no. 1 and has picked up some of Sinner’s strengths and tendencies to use to his advantage. Beating Sinner in the French Open would be the justice Medvedev’s been searching for in recent months.
If Sinner and Medvedev do meet at Roland-Garros, it would be in the semifinals as they sit on the same side of the bracket. It would be a massive upset for the Russian to overtake the Italian before the French Open final, which Sinner is almost an automatic lock for. As a reminder, Medvedev is a major winner (2021 U.S. Open), and he’s no stranger to having a crowd cheer against him. Being experienced in a grand slam final will help calm his nerves on the big stage if the opportunity presents itself. And he isn’t afraid to shush a crowd when he needs to.
Ben Shelton
Shelton, during this clay court season, has entered waters that had been uncharted for American men for over two decades. The 23-year-old triumphed at Munich—an ATP 500 event—back in April, becoming the first American man to win a clay-court title above the ATP 250 level since Andre Agassi in 2002.
While Shelton himself has admitted that he needs to find more consistency on clay—he lost in the first round in Madrid and Rome after winning at Munich—his recent results on the surface point to a ceiling that he previously had never reached on the dirt.
Shelton is in the same quarter as Sinner, a fate enough to make even the bravest man sweat. But other than that, the draw looks relatively stress-free on paper for Shelton, who dispatched Daniel Merida Aguilar in straight sets in the first round.
It will be a tall task for Shelton to best Sinner, who has won 29 straight matches entering the French Open and nine straight head-to-head meetings against Shelton. But if anyone’s game is best suited to the challenge, it would be the American’s powerful serve and baseline artillery.
Jakub Menšík
Jakub Menšík may seem like a random wild card to add to this list of possible Sinner opponents, but hear us out. Sinner’s on a 29-match winning streak heading into the French Open, so let’s take a look at the last loss the world no. 1 suffered. On Thursday, Feb. 19, Sinner lost to Menšík 7–6, 2–6, 6–3 in the Qatar Open quarterfinal. It was their first and only meeting.
Sure, Sinner could’ve had a bad day or Menšík could’ve had a particularly great day during that match. But, sometimes a player can be spooked by an opponent if they’ve only ever lost to them. Maybe it wasn’t a fluke that Menšík beat Sinner back in February.
Unfortunately, Menšík’s luck seemed to end with his upset win over Sinner back in February. He went on to lose in the quarterfinals or before in the next six tournaments he played in up until the French Open. He’s only won three clay matches upon arriving in Paris—it might take another lucky day for Menšík to climb through his opponents to face Sinner once again.
Menšík and Sinner are on opposite sides of the bracket, meaning their only chance of meeting is in the French Open final. It would be somewhat of a stretch to bet on Menšík reaching his first major final, but never say never. He could prove tough to the rest of his opponents on his journey to the final.
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