I didn’t think I would have much time to watch tennis this fortnight, so for Roland Garros 2026, I have defaulted to the excellent online radio. Radio Roland Garros has always been a highlight and continues to be so. Great balance of tennis commentary, general chatter, pun games, and friendly banter, and this year plenty of talk about the weather.

It’s been hot this past week, and I don’t envy anyone having to be outside for a prolonged period of time in these conditions - let alone playing several hours of tennis. But the tennis has continued unhindered, and whilst we have seen some of the players struggling with conditions, there have also been a lot of other talking points after only the first week.

• The Ukrainian players are doing so well this week. Kostyuk has made great progress, and astounded everyone talking after her victory about how only that morning she’d learned her family were just 100m away from a bomb zone. Horrendous. Oliynykova is a new name to me but has also been progressing through the draw and raising awareness as she goes. And it goes without saying that Svitolina is brilliant, I really want her to do well and she’s in a good half of the draw.
• I pay slightly less attention to the men’s draw, but you can’t miss how wide open it has all been blown. Alcaraz isn’t playing this fortnight due to injury, so yea, sure, Sinner will win. Except Sinner had a spectacular crumble and crashed out. Okay, fine, Djokovic is probably going to get his 25th at long last. NOPE. Now it really could be anybody’s trophy!
• Roland Garros bid a fond farewell to home favourite Gael Monfils, but welcomed a potential new entertainer in the form of 17 year old Moise Kouame. Obviously I could only hear his second-round match, but it sounded great fun. Until loser Adolfo Daniel Vallejo started mouthing off about female umpires. He’s reportedly getting fined for it, but oof, this is not a good look.
• I heard during one of the radio sessions that Ukrainian players had got together and agreed not to shake the hands of Russian players, even if they have switched allegiance and are playing for a different country. That was proven during one of the matches, I forget who the opponent was. This seems odd to me, we should be applauding those who are seeing sense and making such a big change. Apparently also they decided it wouldn’t count for Kastakina, she might still get a handshake… because she’s adorable, I guess?
• I was so annoyed at the coverage in the UK of the first couple of rounds. Raducanu went out early, losing in the first round, but were we expecting anything else? She showed some encouraging signs but has had nowhere near enough match practice. Meanwhile Fran Jones put on an incredible performance to beat Haddad Maia and has such a great story, why isn’t she getting more coverage?

I’ve been obsessed with the tournament this past week, and although there will be fewer singles matches to focus on over the next few days, I can see that continuing into the second week. On the men’s side it’s going to be a complete surprise, and on the women’s side there are a good few stories bubbling up. Fingers crossed for good tennis for the next week!