The first day of Roland Garros delivered. The upsets began straight away on the clay court. Four Grand Slam champions and, in what was the result of the day, a top-10 seed and the American men’s No. 1 were all sent packing on Day 1 in what was one of the most shocking first days in French Open history. Here are the five biggest shocks that rocked Paris.

5. Sloane Stephens

Sloane Stephens clawed through the qualifiers to earn her main draw spot, a comeback story the crowd wanted to believe. It looked like the 2018 French Open runner-up recovered completely from a right foot stress fracture. The crowd backed her, and the momentum she carried felt real.

Sara Bejlek, the Czech star, who also came through the qualifiers, had something else in mind. Bejlek dismantled Stephens 6-3, 6-2 in under an hour. Stephens committed 40 unforced errors, 22 of them just with her backhand. Bejlek won 59% of all points played.

But this isn’t the end of the line for Sloane Stephens in this year’s French Open, though. Fans will still see Stephens at Roland Garros as she has a media role with TNT Sports.

4. Sofia Kenin

Sofia Kenin is the 2020 Australian Open champion on a hard court. She also reached the French Open Final in the same year, only to lose out to Iga Swiatek. Kenin knows her way around the clay court, but her first-round opponent, Peyton Stearns, seemed better prepared.

Stearns outclassed Kenin 6-3, 6-3 in a dominant performance. Kenin never found rhythm as Stearns’ dominance made a comeback impossible from the opening set.

The exit marked a brutal end to Kenin’s clay swing, which saw her suffer early exits in Madrid and Rome. The hard-court swing earlier wasn’t kind to her, with early defeats at Indian Wells and Miami.

However, Kenin is still in the doubles draw, teaming up with Ashlyn Krueger.

3. Barbora Krejcikova

Barbora Krejcikova’s love affair with Roland Garros is special. She became the first woman in 21 years to win both the singles and doubles titles at the same major tournament in 2021.

After reaching a career-high ranking of World No. 2 in 2022, Krejcikova became injury-prone. Wrist injuries, back injuries, and thigh injuries derailed her career. She has hardly played this year, due to a left thigh injury. So there was a lack of match sharpness, and American 20th seed Hailey Baptiste made her pay.

Krejcikova took the first set and had two match points too, but Baptiste saved both. The momentum then swung as Baptiste looked unstoppable. Reaching the deciding set, she ran away with one of the day’s most dramatic comebacks, 6-7, 7-6, 6-2.

2. Emma Raducanu

Emma Raducanu walked onto Court Philippe-Chatrier as the British No. 1 and the 2021 US Open champion. She walked off it with the weight of a spring that went wrong in every way possible.

Raducanu had been struggling with the after-effects of a viral illness for much of the clay season. She skipped several tournaments, which meant she had little clay court preparation, and it showed.

Raducanu failed to win a game in the first set against Argentina’s Solana Sierra. She scored zero winners and made fifteen unforced errors. Raducanu showed some fight, coming back from 4-1 down in the second set, but Sierra closed it out 6-0, 7-6(4).

She was visibly emotional in her post-match press conference and broke down after yet another tough exit. Raducanu has been struggling with multiple ankle and wrist injuries throughout her career, and it has taken a toll on her.

“Having to stop [due to injuries] & come back all the time… what kind of mindset do you need to go through that? It’s very difficult,” she said. “You need a lot of resilience. I’m trying my best each day. That’s all I can ask of myself,” she said in the conference.

1. Taylor Fritz

Nothing on Day 1 compared to what happened on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

One of the biggest servers in the game, Taylor Fritz, the world No. 9 and seventh seed, entered Court Suzanne-Lenglen against a 21-year-old wild card ranked 148th in the world. Nishesh Basavareddy had never defeated a top-10 player in his career. He had just one main draw Grand Slam win to his name, against Christopher O’Connell in this year’s Australian Open.

Two hours and forty-five minutes later, Fritz was out. The scoreline read 7-6(5), 7-6(5), 6-7(9), 6-1.

Basavareddy became the first American man to defeat a top-10 opponent at Roland Garros since Jan-Michael Gambill defeated Nicolas Kiefer in 2000. Fritz headed into Paris having lost his only clay match of the season, a first-round defeat in Geneva to Alexei Popyrin. The rust was obvious.

In his post-match interview, Fritz said, “I really don’t think my level was that bad, to be honest. I thought, actually, I played all right.”

Fritz was also full of praise for his rival. “He just played incredibly well. I mean, the biggest thing was just the drop shots were crazy.”

Fritz’s clay-court season lasted four days and resulted in zero wins. It was the biggest moment of his career for Basavareddy, a former Stanford star who had climbed over 250 places in the rankings in two years.

The Bigger Picture at the French Open: Dawn of a New Era for Women’s Tennis

The mass exodus of four women Grand Slam champions in one day poses a deeper question. Former champions Krejcikova, Raducanu, Kenin, and Stephens all lost before the second round. The players who beat them, Baptiste, Sierra, Stearns, and Bejlek, are all young, hungry, and fearless on clay.

This is not a coincidence. Women’s tennis right now is in a transitional moment. The next generation has no respect for reputation. They look at opponents, attack weaknesses, and close out matches.

Day 1 at Roland Garros 2026 wasn’t just about upsets. It was a message. The old guards will have to adapt, or the new generation will just keep knocking them out before the tournament even gets underway.