The 2026 edition of Roland-Garros produced several surprises, such as the elimination of world number 1 Jannick Sinner after just two rounds. There are now only four in the running: the German Alexander Zverev, the Czech Jakub Mensik, the Italian Flavio Cobolli and his compatriot Matteo Arnaldi. Whoever wins, they will lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires for the first time.

Published on: 04/06/2026 - 16:57

Carlos Alcaraz is not here to defend his title. Injured, the Spaniard announced his withdrawal from Roland-Garros in April. In theory leaving the field open to his rival Jannik Sinner to win his first Porte d’Auteuil title. The Italian, however, had to pack his bags after the second round, overcome by the heat and Juan Manuel Cerundolo, winner in five sets.

Besides Sinner, many top seeds such as Novak Djokovic, Félix Auger-Aliassime, Ben Shelton, Daniil Medvedev and Taylor Fritz were eliminated, making the outcome of the tournament even more uncertain. Of the four semi-finalists at Roland-Garros, three are novices at this stage of the competition. Who are the players to have reached the last four?

Read alsoIn the land of Roland-Garros, clay is disappearing on tennis courts

• Zverev, the eternal second

The German has been carrying around his reputation as a Grand Slam loser since 2020 and the US Open final lost to the Austrian Dominic Thiem. Since then, "Sascha" Zverev has reached two other finals at Roland Garros and the Australian Open, losing. He therefore hopes to finally break the glass ceiling this year in the major tournaments.

So far, Alexander Zverev has been very solid, dropping only one set to reach the semi-final. With a fairly quiet run, he confirms his status as world number 3 and is the big favorite for the final victory.

He will face young Czech hopeful Jakub Mensik.

• Matteo Arnaldi, the warrior

The 25-year-old Italian is the lowest ranked of the semi-finalists (104th in the world), but he showed courage and resilience to reach the last four. The winner of the Davis Cup in 2023 was able to seize his chance to achieve his best Grand Slam run in two years.

Matteo Arnaldi fought hard to advance in the tournament, eliminating two seeded players: the Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor in the first round, then the American Frances Tiafoe, against whom he delivered a sensational performance to overthrow the latter in five sets. His quarter-final was cut short after his compatriot Matteo Berrettini retired in the second set.

In the semi-final, he will face another of his compatriots, the number 10 seed Flavio Cobolli.

• Flavio Cobolli, the footballer

The other Italian qualified in the semi-final has a rather atypical sporting background. Until the age of 13, he played as a winger for AS Roma and played tennis at a high level at the same time. The young Florentin really revealed himself last year, when he reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, against Novak Djokovic.

Seeded number 10 in the Parisian Grand Slam, Flavio Cobolli mastered his subject, not dropping a single set before his round of 16 against the American Zachary Svajda. However, he had to put out a great performance to get rid of the number 4 seed, the Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime, at the end of a very close game, played in four sets.

He will face Matteo Arnaldi in the last four. On paper, he is the favorite given the significant ranking gap.

• Jakub Mensik, the youngest

At just 20 years old, the Czech hopeful is in his third full season on the ATP circuit. Jakub Mensik made himself known in 2025 with his surprise victory at the Masters 1000 in Miami by beating Novak Djokovic. Thanks to his good results at the start of the season, he climbed to the top 10 (12th place in the world in March).

Since then, despite a loss of 15 places in the ATP rankings, the Czech is still performing at an impressive level. At Roland Garros, the number 26 seed had a scare, against the Argentine clay court specialist Mariano Navone (38th in the world) and against the former top 10 Andrey Rublev, finishing the two matches in five sets. He emerged victorious in his quarter-final with a “next gen” atmosphere against Joao Fonseca, the 19-year-old Brazilian.

He will face the very experienced Alexander Zverev in the next round.

To display this X content (Twitter), it is necessary to authorize audience measurement and advertising cookies.

An enticing program awaits spectators at the Philippe-Chatrier court in the coming days with the semi-finals of the women's draws, scheduled for Thursday, and the men's, scheduled for Friday.

Keywords associated with the article

The content you are trying to access does not exist or is no longer available.