French Open 2026 women's preview: Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff among 12 names to watch in wide-open field

· Yahoo Sports

The women’s singles draw of the French Open features the WTA No. 1, the most recent Grand Slam winner, the reigning Roland-Garros champion and the active leader in Roland-Garros titles.

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Rare are the years when all four of those are different people. Oh, and none of them won either of the clay WTA 1000 tournaments, the other biggest events of the season.

In contrast to a men’s field dominated by Jannik Sinner, the women’s field could not be more open. Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek all have their strengths, with none standing out as the significant favorite.

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There are intriguing players beyond that quartet as well, so let’s get into it.

Seed: 3, title odds: +275
2025 French Open result: SF, lost to Aryna Sabalenka
2026 clay results: QF Stuttgart, R32 Madrid, SF Rome

What she’s playing for: Being Iga Swiatek again

Why she’ll win: Swiatek played as well as she has in months in Rome, looking like a player entirely different than the one who has failed to make any sort of progress in 2026. It’s easy to attribute that to her change in coaching, going from Wim Fissette to Francisco Roig, the longtime assistant coach of her idol, Rafael Nadal (plus some help from Nadal himself).

It looks like a good match. The best version of Swiatek has always been defensively elite, with enough spin to pin her opponent back and then build an advantage. She had her issues in clay season, but she seems to be moving back to what worked in the first place. And you should never count out a four-time Roland-Garros champion who is still only 24 years old.

Iga Swiatek with her coach Francisco Roig during practice prior to the 2026 French Open. (Photo by Robert Prange/Getty Images)Robert Prange via Getty Images

Why she won’t win: We can’t ignore how badly this year has gone for Swiatek, even with those encouraging couple of weeks in Rome. Her last title was in Korea in September 2025, and she bowed out within her first two matches of her previous three tournaments before Rome.

The last of those was a Round of 32 upset at the hands of Ann Li, which saw Swiatek retire during the third set in tears due to an illness. Swiatek is tied for the best odds in the field at Roland-Garros, but she also might be the most likely of this top four to get stunned in the early rounds, especially with Jelena Ostapenko (who has a 6-0 record against her) waiting in the third round.

We really just don’t know what we’re going to get.

Seed: 1, title odds: +275
2025 French Open result: F, lost to Coco Gauff
2026 clay results: QF Madrid, R32 Rome

What she’s playing for: Her first non-hardcourt Grand Slam and more breathing room in the No. 1 race

Why she’ll win: Sabalenka was up a set on Gauff in last year’s Roland-Garros final, then started playing “the worst tennis I’ve played in the last, I don’t know how many months.” It was a bizarre final, but the point is that Sabalenka was a good hour away from hoisting the Coupe des Mousquetaires.

The Vogue cover model has certainly had her moments on clay, as evidenced by her three Madrid titles, and was reasserting her reputation as the best player in the world just a couple months ago when she won the Sunshine Double.

Why she won’t win: That final against Gauff is obviously also a reason for pessimism, as is this year’s clay court season.

Sabalenka’s loss to Hayley Baptiste in the Madrid quarterfinal was a surprise, and then she ran into an even bigger surprise in Rome with an upset at the hands of Sorana Cirstea. The latter was her earliest loss in a tournament since February 2025 and also saw her take a medical timeout with a lower-back and hip problem in the third set. Not ideal.

Seed: 2, title odds: +650
2025 French Open result: 4R, lost to Iga Swiatek
2026 clay results: W Stuttgart, R16 Madrid, QF Rome

What she’s playing for: Her first non-hardcourt Grand Slam and less breathing room in the No. 1 race

Why she’ll win: No player has earned more rankings points in 2026 than Rybakina, and she also happens to be the only player in this top group who actually won a clay title this year.

Four years after her Grand Slam breakthrough at Wimbledon, Rybakina is arguably playing the best tennis of her career and will likely be pushing Sabalenka for that No. 1 ranking over the coming months.

Why she won’t win: Rybakina’s success begins with one of the best serves in tennis, and Roland-Garros has never been kind to that style of play. There’s a reason she’s never advanced past the quarterfinal in Paris, though this year probably represents her best chance to do so.

Seed: 4, title odds: +700
2025 French Open result: W
2026 clay results: QF Stuttgart, R16 Madrid, F Rome

What she’s playing for: A repeat title

Why she’ll win: The defending Roland-Garros champion would likely be pushing Sabalenka and Rybakina in the rankings if she had a more reliable serve, and she finally appears to be turning the corner.

Nine months after hiring Gavin MacMillan, the biomechanics expert who fixed Sabalenka’s serve, Gauff has gone from regularly double-faulting a double-digit number of times in matches to only once in two of her Rome matches. She definitely hasn’t shaken the issue entirely — she double-faulted seven times in the final — but it’s the step forward she needed to remain among the elite.

We’re at the point where Gauff being only 22 years old feels a little surprising given how much she’s accomplished. It also means she has plenty more to do on what has been her clear best surface by winning percentage.

Why she won’t win: A good couple of tournaments doesn’t mean Gauff’s service issues are completely gone, and she still fell short in all three of her clay events this season. It’s also perhaps worth noting Gauff didn’t have the hardest path to last year’s French Open final, which leaves her with a little more to prove in this tournament than you might think.

Seed: 7, title odds: +1400
2025 French Open result: QF lost to Iga Swiatek
2026 clay results: SF Stuttgart, R32 Madrid, W Rome

What to know: Well, we identified a top-four group above, and Svitolina beat three of them (Rybakina, then Swiatek, then Gauff) on her way to the Rome title, so we’d say that qualifies her as a name to watch.

The Ukrainian is playing some of her best tennis ever at age 31, and Roland-Garros is the only Grand Slam where she has yet to reach the semifinal, despite five career appearances in the quarterfinal. She provided plenty of reason to believe she can break through that wall this year.

Seed: 8, title odds: +1000
2025 French Open result: QF, lost to Lois Boisson
2026 clay results: W Linz, SF Stuttgart, F Madrid, QF Rome

What to know: It’s been more than a year since Andreeva made her name with back-to-back 1000 titles at Dubai and Indian Wells at 17 years old. Now, a month after turning 19, the Russian is looking for her first Grand Slam title.

A fun question is whether that will be in singles or doubles, as Andreeva and partner Diana Shnaider reached the semifinals in Roland-Garros last year and just won Rome.

Seed: 15, title odds: +2200
2025 French Open result: 1R, lost to Sara Bejlek
2026 clay results: W Rouen, W Madrid

What to know: Kostyuk has been on the radar since 2018, when she reached the third round of the French Open at 15 years old. Now 23 years old, she’s still only reached one Grand Slam quarterfinal — the 2024 Australian Open — but winning 11 straight matches on clay will draw some attention.

Between Kostyuk and Svitolina, it has indeed been a good clay season for Ukrainian women, though Kostyuk had to miss Rome with hip and ankle issues. Hopefully, she’ll be 100% in time for Roland-Garros.

Seed: 9, title odds: +3300
2025 French Open result: 3R, lost to Qinwen Zheng
2026 clay results: R64 Madrid, TBD Strasbourg

Reaching the third round of last year’s Roland-Garros was the start of Mboko’s breakout, following it up with a WTA 1000 title in Montreal. Now 19 years old and a top-10 player, Mboko had her clay season interrupted by surgery for wisdom teeth removal, but is currently set to face Emma Navarro in the final of a tune-up event in Strasbourg. She begins her run in Paris two days later.

Seed: 5, title odds: +4000
2025 French Open result: 4R, lost to Lois Boisson
2026 clay results: W Charleston, R32 Madrid, QF Rome

Pegula remains a steady presence in the top 10 and repeated as the champion in Charleston to open the clay season, but then suffered lopsided losses to Kostyuk in Madrid (6-1, 6-4) and Swiatek in Rome (6-1, 6-2). Pegula remains one of the better players to never win a Grand Slam, but she’s never reached even the semifinals at Roland-Garros.

Seed: 6, title odds: +6600
2025 French Open result: 4R, lost to Aryna Sabalenka
2026 clay results: none

What to know: Like Swiatek, Anisimova dropped her coach this spring, parting ways with Hendrik Vleeshouwers after nearly two years together in a classic “my goal is winning Grand Slams, not just reaching finals” move.

It’s still unclear who her next coach is, and she hasn’t competed since the parting due to a wrist injury. She appears ready to return at Roland-Garros, where she reached her first Grand Slam semifinal at 17 years old in 2019. She’s still waiting for a return trip.

Seed: 17, title odds: +10000
2025 French Open result: 2R, lost to Elena Rybakina
2026 clay results: SF Charleston, R32 Madrid, R16 Rome, R16 Strasbourg

What to know: Jovic has broken into the top 20 at only 18 years old after reaching the quarterfinal of the Australian Open this year. She hits hard from both wings and will have one of the top first-round matches to watch, facing Alexandra Eala in a battle of rising stars.

Seed: 26, title odds: +10000
2025 French Open result: 4R, lost to Madison Keys
2026 clay results: R32 Charleston, R16 Rouen, SF Madrid, R32 Rome

What to know: Baptiste put herself on the map when she saved six matches to upset Sabalenka in Madrid, the WTA No. 1’s first loss since the Australian Open. Listed at a possibly generous 5-foot-8, Baptiste is one of the hardest hitters on tour and should be the first real challenge for Rybakina in the third round.

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