The Athletic\u00a0has live coverage of Day 3 at the 2026 French Open<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Welcome to the French Open briefing<\/a>, where The Athletic\u00a0<\/em>will explain the stories behind the stories on each day of the tournament.<\/p>\n On Day 2, it was a scorcher in every sense, as the sun beat down. Players and fans responded in kind.<\/p>\n For the second day of the French Open<\/a> main draw, temperatures reached 91.4 degrees and stayed there into the evening.<\/p>\n For fans, queues to fill up water bottles and stand underneath shower sprinklers lengthened throughout the day. But such conditions did not deter them from packing the courts, nor waiting over half an hour to gain a prime spot on tiny courts. In the early rounds of a major, big stars always play at venues that resemble a modest club.<\/p>\n For the first time at Roland Garros, digital boards above walkways around the complex provide real-time updates on how full a court is.<\/p>\n Despite Court 7 saying it was 98 percent full, tennis fan Nawfel Barah remained patient in a queue that wrapped around the court\u2019s walls. \u201cIn the heat, that\u2019s not ideal for a tennis life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n However, Romuald Pattier from Normandie, sporting a tied shirt around his neck to protect himself from sunburn, said he would take this type of weather over rain any day of the week. \u201cIt\u2019s harder for the players than the fans,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n That was true Monday. During No. 11 seed Andrey Rublev\u2019s win over Ignacio Buse, a ballkid required assistance after feeling dazed at the end of a point. No. 15 seed Casper Ruud was two sets up and served for the match against Russia\u2019s Roman Safiullin, but almost literally wilted in the heat. Ruud lost the next two sets, but Safiullin experienced physical issues of his own, and Ruud recovered quickest to win in five sets.<\/p>\n Players don\u2019t just have to adapt physically.<\/p>\n Heat lowers air density, so shots travel faster. It also makes air expand, increasing the pressure inside a tennis ball and making it bounce higher. When four-time French Open winner Iga \u015awi\u0105tek arrived in Paris, the temperature was lower and the balls heavier. \u201cYou could put your whole body and power into the ball, and you would still feel like you controlled it,\u201d she said in a news conference.<\/p>\n In hotter climates, players will also tighten the tension of their racket strings to improve control. But the major impact of heat is how it saps energy and demands endurance. Somehow, the tennis fans at Roland Garros on Day 2 had plenty of that.<\/p>\n \u2014 Charlotte Harpur<\/em><\/p>\n There are certain players who have the honor of being someone\u2019s tennis kryptonite. For reasons that go beyond matchup problems, they hold an unreasonably favorable head-to-head matchup against someone who, on paper, should be beating them more often than not.<\/p>\n Think Dustin Brown\u2019s 2-0 record against Rafael Nadal, or Iga \u015awi\u0105tek\u2019s 0-6 record against her potential third-round opponent here, Jelena Ostapenko<\/a>. Even Taylor Fritz\u2019s 9-5 record against Alexander Zverev counts, now that Fritz\u2019s win streak against him is up to six matches.<\/p>\n Anna Bond\u00e1r was in danger of becoming Elina Svitolina\u2019s kryptonite Monday at the French Open, where the Hungarian world No. 57 nearly beat the Ukrainian \u2014 a five-time quarterfinalist who is on the longlist of favorites for the women\u2019s title \u2014 for the third consecutive match.<\/p>\n Bond\u00e1r seemed to have Svitolina\u2019s number, after knocking her out of the U.S. Open in the first round last year, then beating her at the Madrid Open last month, both times in straight sets.<\/p>\n But Svitolina rebounded after trailing 3-1 in the final set to win 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(3) in two hours and 26 minutes. The day\u2019s smothering heat that required as much mental fortitude as it did physical stamina, and Svitolina reset to roll through the third-set tiebreak after being broken to love when serving for the match at 5-4.<\/p>\n She called it one of the most difficult opening-round matches she\u2019s had at a Grand Slam.<\/p>\n \n Elina Svitolina reveled in her victory over Anna Bond\u00e1r at the French Open. (Anne-Christine Poujoulat \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cShe just plays really well against me. She just serves big, goes down the lines, cleans the lines, and just playing great tennis,\u201d Svitolina said.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes happens like this. I think when people have nothing to lose against you, and it is a bit, you know, they are going for it full, you have to just find a way to win.\u201d<\/p>\n Fans had this match circled as a potential upset because of Bondar\u2019s recent history against Svitolina, even though Svitolina leads their head-to-head 3-2.\u00a0But Svitolina rejected the idea that the two straight losses were enough to have her in her own head going into the match \u2014 especially because one of them happened in Madrid, where the city\u2019s altitude makes it an outlier on the clay swing.<\/p>\n In fact, two losses on two different surfaces, at two different points in the season and in different conditions, provided just the right balance of tactical information and motivation.<\/p>\n \u201cI really sit down with my coach and talk about things that I can improve for the upcoming match, the things that I did well. Still, you know, in Madrid, it was really bad performance from my side. She played unbelievable,\u201d Svitolina said.<\/p>\n Svitolina doubled over in despair several times throughout the match, and both players used ice towels at every changeover, but her body language during points never changed. When she won a 14-minute game to move to 1-1 in the third set, she raised her fist in defiance.<\/p>\n \u201cWith a little bit of nerves, it\u2019s normal that you\u2019re not feeling at your best. It\u2019s all about the mental toughness and really fighting for every single point, even if I\u2019m break-point down.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing strong and giving, like, all my energy into that game, really put me through and put me back on the track, because, you know. I had no right to give her the lead in the third.\u201d<\/p>\n No kryptonite here.<\/p>\n \u2014 Ava Wallace<\/em><\/p>\n There were plenty of eyes on Rafael J\u00f3dar<\/a>\u2019s first match at Roland Garros on Monday.<\/span><\/p>\n J\u00f3dar, 19, has spent the past two months announcing himself as a rising star, another player from Spain with clay-court skills, but of a completely different kind from its greatest export, Rafael Nadal.<\/span><\/p>\n And what a debut it was. Ranked outside the top 700 a year ago, the No. 27 seed made a mess of<\/span> 27-year-old American Aleksandar Kovacevic, 6-0, 6-1, 6-4. <\/span><\/p>\n J\u00f3dar won 84 points. Kovacevic won 48 and didn\u2019t play badly. <\/span>J\u00f3dar, who can obliterate the ball, came out hot and stayed that way on a scorching day, winning half of the points on Kovacevic\u2019s serve.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cFirst matches are always difficult,\u201d J\u00f3dar said in his news conference, even though his didn\u2019t look very difficult at all.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0Fans looking to get a glimpse of a next big thing stood five and six-deep around the small field court. There\u2019s a good chance J\u00f3dar, a semifinalist at the Barcelona Open and a quarterfinalist at the Madrid Open this clay season, won\u2019t be on them long.<\/span><\/p>\n It was that kind of day at Roland Garros, with the outside courts producing thrilling moments of every kind. There was Ignacio Buse, fresh off his biggest career title at the Hamburg Open in Germany. The 22-year-old Peruvian lost 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3, 7-5 to No. 11 seed Andrey Rublev, but produced one of the shots of the tournament. Buse, scrambling backward and holding a continental grip \u2014 making him unable to impart topspin to dip the ball \u2014 ripped it past Rublev to steal the second set:<\/p>\n There was Thanasi Kokkinakis, playing his first main-draw match at a Grand Slam since January 2025, after surgery in which an Achilles tendon was taken from someone who had passed away and used to attach his pectoral muscle to his shoulder. He overcame T\u00e9rence Atmane of France in a seesawing, at-times absurd match, 6-7(5), 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. The final set turned into a sun-splashed, sweat-drenched movie, before at 5-5, Atmane missed two overheads (look out for one of them below) and gave Kokkinakis the chance to serve out the match. He took it and collapsed to the clay in disbelief.<\/p>\n It was that kind of day.<\/p>\n \u2014 Matt Futterman and James Hansen<\/em><\/p>\n Fans would be forgiven for rolling their eyes at yet more tennis goodbyes. With so many from the sport\u2019s most recent golden generation bowing out over the last few years, waving off another star has felt almost routine.<\/p>\n But there are surely few who would begrudge Stan Wawrinka<\/a> and Ga\u00ebl Monfils<\/a> getting big send-offs at their final French Open. Wawrinka won the tournament in 2015<\/a>, beating a peak version of Novak Djokovic, who was on a 28-match winning streak in the middle of his career-best season. And Monfils has spent his career lighting up Court Philippe-Chatrier, especially at night, where he played his last match at the tournament against compatriot Hugo Gaston.<\/p>\n \n Ga\u00ebl Monfils said farewell to his home Grand Slam. (Alain Jocard \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n For Monfils, 39, and Wawrinka, 41, this is their final year on tour. Wawrinka\u2019s final Roland Garros ended in defeat to Dutch lucky loser Jesper de Jong in four sweaty, gripping sets. Monfils, meanwhile, delivered his calling card: A late-night five-setter on Court Philippe-Chatrier. He fell to Gaston, but the crowd was there for him through it all.<\/p>\n After the matches were over, the farewell parties began. De Jong began the tributes to Wawrinka, referencing the fact that he had once been a ballboy for Wawrinka.<\/p>\n Then came the video thank-you montage, and as male players go, it doesn\u2019t get much more A-list than Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, and the home hero Monfils. Winning three Grand Slams, the Davis Cup and an Olympic gold in the toughest era tennis has ever known earned Wawrinka these kinds of friends and admirers.<\/p>\n Wawrinka appeared for Monfils too, alongside Federer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Alcaraz, Arthur Fils and Ugo Humbert.<\/p>\n Wawrinka and Monfils were also relatable. Wawrinka beat Djokovic in 2015 in a pair of red, white and grey plaid shorts that went down in tennis infamy (the pattern of which was reproduced on his shirt collar in Monday\u2019s match against De Jong), the night after having a couple of drinks to settle his nerves.<\/p>\n It was that relatability, plus the stunning shotmaking, that made them so popular whenever they played. Nowhere more so than in Paris. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to say goodbye to you here,\u201d Wawrinka said on court. \u201cIt\u2019s because of Roland Garros that I wanted to become a tennis player.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s room for more tennis goodbyes after all.<\/p>\n \u2014 Charlie Eccleshare<\/em><\/p>\nHow did players and fans respond to scorching heat?<\/h2>\n
How does tennis kryptonite work?<\/h2>\n
A day of eyebrow-raising results \u2014 and shots?<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2026\/05\/25153429\/Untitled-ezgif.com-optimize-2.gif\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nHow did two legends bow out?<\/h2>\n
![\"Ga\u00ebl](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2026\/05\/25183947\/Tennis-Gael-Monfils-French-Open-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\nOther notable results on Day 2:<\/h3>\n
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