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Welcome to the French Open briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories on each day of the tournament.
On Day 3, a 17-year-old local thrilled the Roland Garros crowd, Aryna Sabalenka stuck to her script and Coco Gauff had an interesting morning.
How did a 17-year-old talent bring home cheer?
It’s been a tough few days for French tennis fans and players at their home Grand Slam.
They lost their talisman, 39-year-old Gaël Monfils, who fell in five sets Monday night on his final French Open appearance.
Their rising star, 21-year-old Arthur Fils, withdrew the day before the tournament started with a injury. Fils had to withdraw from last year’s tournament with injury too, after two thrilling wins.
23-year-old Loïs Bosson, last year’s Cinderella story, the wild card who barreled her way onto the semifinals, lost in the first round in the midst of an injury-riddled season.
Moise Kouamé to the rescue.
Kouamé, 17, became the youngest man to win a Grand Slam match in 17 years when he knocked off Marin Čilić in straight sets to kick off the day on Court Simonne-Mathieu. His win was close and then not close as all. He edged out Čilić, the 2014 U.S. Open champion, in a first-set tiebreak, then rolled to a 7-6(4), 6-2, 6-1 win.
Kouamé, who hails from Sarcelles, one of Paris’ northern banlieues, was emotional on the court in front of a delirious crowd. He won a tour-level match at the Miami Open in March, but his first major win was a tonic to a tournament in need of some zip — and some French success. It made him the first male player born in 2009 to win a Grand Slam match.
Kouamé, whose coach is Monfils’ contemporary, Richard Gasquet, doesn’t want to stop there.
“Is a good achievement,” he said of the win in his news conference. “Of course the most important is ahead. So now the head is focused on recovering and be ready as much as possible for the next round.”
He will have a decent shot. He faces Adolfo Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay, the world No. 71, on Thursday.
France will be watching, and hoping.
— Matt Futterman
How did Coco Gauff’s day start unexpectedly?
Coco Gauff opened her title defense with a straightforward 6-4, 6-0 win over her compatriot and friend Taylor Townsend, but her preparation was thrown off course by a very unexpected intervention.
“We kind of got in a mini car accident on my way to the site today,” Gauff said, laughing all the while, during an interview with TNT.
“There’s this pole thing, and it’s supposed to go down. And the police told him [the driver] to go and the pole was still there so we ran into it. You felt a little impact. I spilt my juice all over the car.”
Gauff explained that the car was no longer roadworthy, so a taxi and tournament car were needed to complete her journey to Roland Garros for the day.
The 22-year-old American, who won last year’s final over Aryna Sabalenka, said it was a “good omen” for everything to be happening before her first round, including her dress getting stuck just before she went on court, and her needing to store her tennis rackets in a cooler on another scorching day in Paris.
Unlike driving into a Parisian bollard, Gauff’s cooler trick has method to its apparent madness. Heat has not just been affecting tennis players and fans this week; it also affects the court and everything on it. Balls fly faster, because the hotter air gets, the less dense it is. Balls bounce higher, because the pressure inside them increases. And tennis strings, which players have set at a specific tension to balance power and control, get more elastic and trampoline-like. Keeping a racket in a cooler would help slow that process, and keep it closer to the tension it started at — provided it didn’t get too cold.
The bollard incident was Gauff’s only scrape Wednesday, and she will face Egyptian qualifier Mayar Sherif in the second round.
— James Hansen
How did Aryna Sabalenka stick to her script?
For fans of Aryna Sabalenka, Tuesday’s French Open first-round win over Jéssica Bouzas Maneiro was very familiar.
There was the patchy first set when a 4-0 lead became 5-4, before the much better second set — though still with some signs of rust — and ultimately a straight-sets, if not always straightforward, win.
Victories like Tuesday’s 6-4, 6-2 success over Bouzas Maneiro have become par for the course for Sabalenka at the slams, normally through the first few rounds, before she then hits her stride in the second week. It’s a sign of her dominance that she can win comfortably when not at her best, even if her third-round Italian Open defeat to Sorana Cîrstea earlier this month offered a reminder that she doesn’t always escape from tricky assignments.
Aryna Sabalenka got through yet another first-round match at a Grand Slam. (James Fearn / Getty Images)
The Cîrstea defeat also came after Sabalenka picked up a lower-back and hip problem, which didn’t bother her against Bouzas Maneiro. She said that she was feeling “100 percent” fit in a news conference ahead of the tournament.
“The first matches are always the trickiest ones because you’re trying to see where you’re at and trying to get used to conditions and kind of fight the nerves and everything,” Sabalenka said in her post-match news conference.
“The more I play, the further I get in the tournament, the more comfortable I get, my level becomes better… Emotions-wise, the first one is always the tricky one.”
Sabalenka faces French player Elsa Jacquemot in the second round, who is ranked 66 places below her. Don’t expect it to be straightforward. Do expect Sabalenka to come through.
— Charlie Eccleshare
Other notable results on Day 3:
- Daniil Medvedev (6) went out in the first round to smooth Jannik Sinner’s draw a little more. He lost to Australia’s Adam Walton 6-2, 1-6, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4.
- Kimberly Birrell stunned Jessica Pegula (6) of the U.S., coming from a set down to win 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.
- Félix Auger-Aliassime (4) survived a major banana peel against Germany’s Daniel Altmaier, triumphing 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(7).
- Iva Jović (17) won a battle of the besties on Court 14. The fast-rising U.S. teenager beat Alexandra Eala of the Philippines 6-4, 6-2.
Shot of the day
17-year-old Moïse Kouamé wasn’t content with a thrilling, milestone win. He had to produce some defensive magic, too:
Drop Shots
🚿 Rafael Nadal used cold showers to optimize his preparation. So we tried it.
🪷 At the French Open, there is a hidden treasure of a tennis court in a greenhouse.
🥷 Jannik Sinner’s secret weapon is a tactic that sneaks up on his opponents.
🌡️ As Roland Garros continues to bake, one player felt like a “zombie” — and won.
Up next: Second round continues
🎾 Women’s singles: Caty McNally vs. Belinda Bencic (11)
5 a.m. on TNT, HBO Max
Two of the best rally extenders in women’s tennis go head to head on the clay, with McNally’s heavy ball a nice foil to Bencic’s flat, scudding groundstrokes. The hot weather at Roland Garros could do both players a favor — Bencic’s shots will carry more zip and McNally’s more bounce — accentuating the contrast in styles and providing what could be a riveting match.
🎾 Men’s singles: Novak Djokovic (3) vs. Valentin Royer
10 a.m. ET on TNT, HBO Max
A tough assignment for Djokovic in every sense. Royer, a front-foot attacking player who is comfortable moving forward and relishes the role of underdog, will have at least some of the Court Philippe-Chatrier crowd behind him as the home player. The other factor is the weather. Djokovic has found hot conditions increasingly difficult to manage in recent times, and was never a big fan of them even at his peak.
🎾 Women’s singles: Jasmine Paolini (13) vs. Solana Sierra
10 a.m. on HBO Max
Jasmine Paolini’s dreamlike past two years have taken in two Grand Slam finals, two WTA 1000 titles and a rise into the world’s top five. 2026 has been tougher on the Italian, who has dropped out of the top 10 and gone through a wretched run of form. Sierra, who beat Emma Raducanu in her opening match and took Coco Gauff to three sets at the Italian Open, is a difficult draw — and an opportunity for Paolini to play herself back into some form.
🎾 Men’s singles: João Fonseca (28) vs. Dino Prižmić
10:30 a.m. ET on HBO Max
A clash between two members of the rising generation of men’s players who are fast-usurping their 1990s rivals. Fonseca and Prižmić both play with violent power and brute heft; Fonseca has greater deftness, Prižmić the better clay-court movement. A fascinating meeting between players attempting to evolve their games in real time.
French Open women’s draw 2026
French Open men’s draw 2026
Tell us what you noticed on the third day…
