Heading for Roland Garros with the pope’s divine blessing

Jannick Sinner is gearing up for his sixth attempt at winning the French Open this week - one of the two Grand Slam title missing from his honors list.

The Italian will find out who he will face in the first round in Thursday’s draw. What we do know is that he will start out on the opposite side of the bracket to defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, who defeated him in straight sets in last weekend’s Italian Open final.

Sinner, Alcaraz and Djokovic could meet in the Last 8 at Roland Garros

Sinner made it to the semifinal at Roland Garros last year - his best finish at the tournament, only to lose to Alcaraz. The two rivals, ranked No.1 and No.2 in the ATP world ranking, will not play on the same day during the early rounds of this year’s tournament and the only chance of a potential meeting would be in the latter stages, from the quarter finals onwards - if they both advance that far.

Both will also avoid three-time winner Novak Djokovic until the last 8, although they could face some strong competition during the opening rounds, potentially crossing paths with Alejandro Davidovich (26), Felix Auger-Aliassime (30), Matteo Berrettini (28) or Hubert Hurkacz (31).

The 2025 French Open singles main draw begins at 2 p.m. local time (CEST) 10 a.m. ET / 7 a.m. PT on Thursday 22 May 2025.

Sinner meets the Pope

On the plus side for Sinner, unlike his rivals, he heads into Roland Garros with an apostolic blessing. The No.1 seed met with the new pontiff Pope Leo XIV during the ATP Tour in Rome last week.

Sinner met presented the Pope with a tennis racket and a ball as a gift. Sinner was accompanied by family members and Italian Tennis Federation president Alberto Binaghi during the brief visit to the Vatican.

“We all felt the passion that Leo XIV has for our sport and this filled us with pride,” Binaghi said afterwards. “We hope to embrace the Holy Father again soon, maybe on a tennis court.”

When is the 2025 French Open?

The 2025 French Open get underway on Monday 19 May 2025 at Roland Garros, Paris, France, starting with the qualifying rounds. The 32 men’s seeds enter the tournament in Round One on Monday 25 May. The men’s singles final will be played after 3 p.m. local time (11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT) on Sunday 8 June.

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