The is about to crown new champions.
That alone makes this Roland Garros feel different.
No Carlos Alcaraz defending his title. No Jannik Sinner, the worlds No. 1 player. . No Iga Swiatek, who had won four of the previous six French Opens. No defending champion Coco Gauff, either. And , after the women’s world No. 1 lost to Diana Shnaider in the quarterfinals.
There’s no obvious script.
And Martina Navratilova thinks tennis could use a little of that.
Navratilova, an 18-time Grand Slam singles champion and one of the greatest players in tennis history, told OutKick in a recent interview that the chaos in Paris has made this years French Open fascinating heading into championship weekend.
“I think its amazing,” Navratilova said.
At the time, Swiatek, the four-time French Open champion, had already been knocked out of the womens draw by Marta Kostyuk. Defending champion Coco Gauff was already gone, too.
On the mens side, with a right wrist injury, Sinners stunning second-round loss blew a hole in the top of the draw, and Djokovics third-round exit removed the last familiar giant from the field.
Just like that, Roland Garros became something very different.
“So itll be a new womens champion and a new mens champion,” Navratilova said. “Its kind of a changing of the guard, but theres just a lot more players that can win these days.”
Thats the fun part.
Tennis has spent decades leaning on dominant stars. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic carried the mens game for nearly two decades. did the same on the womens side. Swiatek has owned Paris in recent years, and Alcaraz and Sinner have looked like the next two-man rivalry ready to grab the sport by the throat.
But sometimes, a Grand Slam needs a little madness.
This one got plenty of it.
Navratilova said Alcarazs absence, Sinners loss and the rest of the chaos changed the entire feel of the tournament.
“All of a sudden, everybodys champing at the bit,” Navratilova said. “Oh, I can win this tournament, because those two guys are not there anymore.”
Add , and the point becomes even stronger.
For years, winning a major on the mens side meant going through at least one tennis monster. Federer. Nadal. Djokovic. Then Alcaraz. Then Sinner. Maybe two of them. Maybe three.
At Roland Garros, that grip has been even tighter. Since Stan Wawrinka won in 2015, every mens champion in Paris has been Nadal, Djokovic or Alcaraz.
Not this time.
That does not mean tennis is better without stars.
It means tennis is better when fans dont already know how the movie ends.
“Most of all, you need rivalries. You need suspense,” Navratilova said. “Its not fun when its a given.”
That is the balance tennis is always trying to strike.
Dominance creates history. Rivalries create emotion. Uncertainty creates appointment viewing.
Navratilova pointed to Nadals absurd run at Roland Garros as the kind of dominance that deserves to be celebrated. Nadal won the French Open so many times that, for years, the only question in Paris was whether anyone could make him sweat.
“I mean, its amazing how many times Rafa Nadal has won this, no matter who was on the other side of the net,” Navratilova said. “So you honor that, but its best when youre not sure whos going to win. Thats what makes it beautiful.”
Thats what this French Open has now.
The final weekend is not about watching an inevitable champion finish the job. Its about finding out who can handle the moment when the draw suddenly says yes.
Navratilova said that kind of uncertainty is what pulls fans into the sport.
“Thats what made that and Sinner so compelling, because you didnt know who was going to win until the match was over,” she said. “And so you need rivalries. You need the contrasts and the personalities and for people to get involved emotionally behind the player. And thats what really ma
