French Open 2024 men's final: Preview, prediction, and how to watch

Tennis fans can be assured of one thing after the men's French Open final. Whoever wins the match will have won the title at Roland Garros for the first time. The last time the ATP side of the French Open had a winner that had won the event before was, surprisingly, Novak Djokovic in 2016. In only three years since 2006 has there been a first-time winner for the ATP at Roland Garros.

There is a very good chance that whoever wins the event in 2024 could repeat again as well, but should Carlos Alcaraz win, he might reel off a bunch of titles on the Paris clay. He might not reach Rafael Nadal-level success, but he is a natural clay-court player and excellent overall. In the future, we might hope that is the top seed or second seed and faces Jannik Sinner in a lot of finals.

Alexander Zverev is an excellent clay-court player and is ATP No. 4. He can win on any court anywhere. Zverev and Alcaraz should make for a great final. That, of course, means one player will win easily in straight sets.

Who will win the men's final at the 2024 French Open?

To be fair, Lob and Smash had predicted that Casper Ruud would win on the men's side. We were close as Ruud made the semifinals. But it feels right that Alcaraz and Zverev should be the final. Alcaraz, at his best, is probably the best player on the ATP tour. Zverev might be the best player on clay. He has already dispatched French Open GOAT Rafael Nadal and he could take care of Nadal's heir, Alcaraz.

Both players might be playing at the peak of their powers so maybe this match is a classic and goes five sets. Zverev probably wins the first set, while Alcaraz takes the second. The German's metronomic serve will keep him in the match. In the end, Alcaraz wins his first of many titles at Roland Garros taking the fifth set 6-3.

How can you watch the French Open men's final?

Most of the world makes it easy for viewers. Broadcasters such as Eurosport carry the tournament from beginning to end in Europe. No stress there for tennis fans as they will keep tuning into the same channel they have been watching for the last two weeks. BEIN in Asia, NINE in Australia, and ESPN in Central and South America work the same way. Just keep doing what you are doing in those regions, tennis fans.

The United States is where it gets weird. The Tennis Channel has done a great job of showing the event for much of the French Open. For the finals, however, one had to tune into NBC. The broadcast team for NBC is excellent - play-by-play by Noah Eagle, commentating by John McEnroe and Mary Carillo - but it still feels wrong that the three-letter network steals the Tennis Channel's thunder at the very end of the tournament. That's how money works, though.

The match will begin at 15:00 Paris time. That is 9 am ET. For those tennis fans who live in Newfoundland, the start time will be 10:30 am.

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