With Djokovic, Alcaraz and Sinner out, no previous men's champions remain at Roland Garros

Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner were all out of the men’s singles draw at Roland Garros by May 31, leaving the 2026 French Open without a previous men’s champion in the field. BBC Sport said that combination of exits meant the tournament was left with no former men’s title winners still competing, after the three biggest recent champions were eliminated from the draw. The Athletic also noted on May 31 that Alcaraz, Sinner and Djokovic were already gone from the men’s bracket. ### How unusual is this position for the men’s draw in Paris? May 31 became the point at which the tournament’s recent hierarchy had fully broken up. Djokovic, Alcaraz and Sinner accounted for the recent center of the men’s game, and their exits left the event without an established Roland Garros men’s champion still alive in the draw, according to BBC Sport. (bbc.com) The Athletic described the same draw as missing Alcaraz, Sinner and Djokovic by that stage of the tournament. That left attention shifting from familiar title holders to the remaining contenders and younger players still advancing through Paris. ### Which younger players moved into the spotlight? João Fonseca, 19, reached the quarter-finals on May 31 by beating two-time finalist Casper Ruud, BBC Sport reported. (bbc.com) The result added to Fonseca’s run after his earlier victory over Djokovic and placed him among the most prominent teenagers left in the men’s event. Rafael Jódar, also 19, advanced by coming back from two sets down to beat Pablo Carreño Busta 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2, the Guardian reported. (nytimes.com) That victory set up a quarter-final against Alexander Zverev. ### Why did Fonseca’s run draw so much attention? Fonseca’s May 31 win came against Ruud, a player who had twice reached the French Open final. (bbc.com) BBC Sport framed the result as further evidence of the significance of Fonseca’s earlier win over Djokovic, because he followed that upset by staying in the tournament and reaching the last eight. The sequence mattered because it turned one upset into a deeper run. (theguardian.com) With Djokovic already out and Ruud then beaten as well, Fonseca became one of the clearest symbols of the new shape of the men’s draw in Paris. ### What did Jódar’s comeback add to the picture? Jódar’s route was different from Fonseca’s, but it pushed the same story forward. The Guardian said the Spaniard recovered from a two-set deficit against Carreño Busta and moved into a quarter-final against Zverev, adding another teenager to the later stages of the event. (bbc.com) That meant the conversation around Roland Garros was no longer only about the exits of Djokovic, Alcaraz and Sinner. By the end of May 31, it also centered on which younger players could take advantage of the opening created by those departures. ### What comes next in the tournament? The quarter-finals were the next step in the men’s draw, with Alexander Zverev set to play Rafael Jódar after Jódar’s comeback win on May 31. (theguardian.com) Fonseca had already booked his place in the last eight with his victory over Ruud, leaving the next rounds in Paris to decide who would emerge from a field with no previous men’s Roland Garros champion remaining. (bbc.com)