Thursday’s RG draw – what to look for

All eyes will be on four-time champion Iga Swiatek’s name when the draw ceremony takes place at 2pm on Thursday

Iga Swiatek, finale, Roland-Garros 2024©Nicolas Gouhier / FFT
 - Chris Oddo

Excitement is in the air around the grounds at Roland-Garros, as top players fine-tune their tennis ahead of this year’s clay court Grand Slam.

While qualifying continues hot and heavy, we take a brief respite to focus on Thursday’s draw ceremony, to be held in the idyllic L’Orangerie, located in the Jardin des Serres d’Auteuil adjacent to Court Simonne-Mathieu.

For those who want to experience the drama in real time, the draw will be broadcast live on the Roland-Garros YouTube channel.

What can we expect from the ceremony? And what might we learn? Scroll down to find out more… 

Swiatek as the No.5 seed 

It’s quite surprising, really. Four-time Roland-Garros champion Iga Swiatek, the most dominant clay-court player in the sport for the last five years, has dropped outside of the WTA’s top 4 for the first time since February 21, 2022. That means the three-time defending champion, who has not won a title on tour since she hoisted the Coupe Suzanne-Lenglen last June, will be the No.5 seed in this year’s women’s singles event. 

If the 23-year-old Pole – she of the mind-bending 35-2 lifetime record on the Parisian clay – progresses to the last eight, she is guaranteed to face one of the top four seeds when she gets there. Swiatek up against top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka in a quarter-final for the ages? A tad too early, perhaps, but bring it on! 

If you’re scoring at home, the top four seeds on the women’s side will be Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula and Jasmine Paolini, with Swiatek, Mirra Andreeva, Madison Keys and Zheng Qinwen rounding out the top eight – a compelling octet no matter how you slice it. 

Sinner, Alcaraz and the rest 

As the Big Three era – two decades of record-obliterating dominance by Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer that produced a total of 66 Grand Slam titles between the trio – comes to an end, a new era has begun at Roland-Garros.

Recently dubbed the “New Two” by former winner in Paris Jim Courier, defending champion Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have claimed each of the last five Grand Slam titles on offer. 

The dynamic duo is heavily favoured to make it six at the end of the RG fortnight. And they've got youth on their side.

This year at Roland-Garros, Alcaraz and Sinner will be the youngest top two seeds at a major in nearly 20 years, since the 2006 US Open, when 25-year-old Roger Federer and 20-year-old Rafael Nadal held the honours.

We’ll be watching intently to learn their paths to a potential final clash. 

Where will Novak land? 

The 24-time major champion Djokovic will make his 20th appearance at Porte d'Auteuil this year, as he bids for his fourth Roland-Garros and 100th overall title. Seeded sixth, Djokovic could draw either Alcaraz or Sinner as soon as the quarterfinals.

Two-time Roland-Garros champion Courier says he’ll be tuning in to find out where the Grand Slam king lands.

“It’s tough sledding for sure when you are seeded in the second foursome,” Courier said in a conference call to promote TNT’s coverage of Roland-Garros.

“He could end up with Sinner or he could end up with Carlos, as we saw in Australia. We will be watching with a lot of interest when the draw comes out.”

The groundbreaking Serbian has reached at least the quarterfinals in Paris in every appearance since 2010, and he owns a stellar 96-16 lifetime record on the Parisian clay.

But the soon to be 38-year-old (his birthday falls on the day of the draw) enters this year’s tournament in want of form. He has not won a title since claiming Olympic gold in Paris last July.

All eyes will be watching to discover Djokovic’s landing spot in this year’s draw.

Unseeded and dangerous 

With so much depth in today’s game, there are always players that fit the “unseeded and looming” category perfectly.

This year in Paris, we have an embarrassment of riches in that department, as top-flight talents like Gael Monfils, Joao Fonseca, Kei Nishikori and Stan Wawrinka could be drawn to face any seeded player in the first round. If a cluster of these dangerous and lurking talents all get pulled into the same section, things could really get interesting. 

Same on the women’s side, where former Grand Slam champions Emma Raducanu and Naomi Osaka are in good form, and unseeded, along with former quarter-finalist and ever dangerous protagonist Danielle Collins, as well as former Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic. 

Get your tickets now!

The Roland-Garros 2025 Opening Week is shaping up nicely! Tickets are still available to come and support the future stars and watch training sessions with the biggest names on the WTA and ATP tours.

Click HERE to buy your tickets on the official Roland-Garros 2025 ticketing website