French Open 2024: Preview and predictions (including one shock winner)

The 2024 French Open begins on Sunday, May 26, and will feature some fantastic first-round matches. One is Alexander Zverev versus Rafael Nadal, of course, and another is Stan Wawrinka against Andy Murray. The women's side will have some excellent potential matchups but there is not as much high drama in the first round as with the men's side.

But tennis fans do not tune in to watch what happens only in the early rounds. Sure, we are very interested, but the real stress comes later in the tournament. The quarterfinals, for instance, will be held on June 4 and 5, the semifinals on June 6 and 7, the women's final on Saturday, June 8, and the men's final on Sunday, June 9.

The time for each of the finals will be 15:00 Paris time (or 9 am ET) on their respective days. The early rounds will start no earlier than 11:00 (or 5 am ET). If you want to watch most of the French Open and you live in the Eastern time zone, you will need to get up early.

Predictions for who will win the French Open

In 2023, Novak Djokovic won on the men's side, which at the time was his 23rd Grand Slam victory (he has since added one more). On the women's side, Iga Swiatek won. That was her third title at Roland Garros. She is still only 22 years old.

WTA prediction

Let's be real. This is Swiatek's tournament to lose. She is not only the best and most consistently good player in women's tennis, she is at her best on clay. She has won four majors already with most coming at Roland Garros. She hasn't made it past the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and the semifinals only once at the Australian Open.

The pick is for Swiatek to win the French Open again in 2024, but that is not shocking. The question is who she will play in the final. Aryna Sabalenka is WTA No. 2 but she has never made it past the semifinals on the Paris clay. The pick here is that Daria Kasatkina makes it through to the final - she reached the final at the Charleston Open earlier in 2024 and is a good clay-court player - where she wins four games total off Swiatek.

ATP prediction

Since 2005, only one person (and one time) not named Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, or Roger Federer has won the French Open. That was Stan Wawrinka in 2015. No tournament has been dominated quite the same way by the Big 3 as Roland Garros. This year will be different.

Nadal is likely to lose in the first round to Zverev and Djokovic is nowhere near the form he is usually in at this point in the year. He has yet to even make a final in 2024. Federer, of course, does not play anymore.

The top younger players who might have a great chance of winning are Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner but Sinner and Alcaraz have been battling injuries over the last month. They might be getting close to being fully healthy, but they are also going to be rusty. If ever there was a year when a player who is not either already an all-time great or ascending in that direction was going to win at Roland Garros, 2024 is the year.

Casper Ruud will break through and win his first major. He has reached three Grand Slam finals, including the last two years at Roland Garros. He is best on clay, too. He might not ever win another major, but he should win the 2024 French Open.

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