The 2026 French Open has felt like a real changing of the guard. All four participants in the women’s semi-finals were 24 years old or younger. On the men’s side, three of the four semi-finalists were 25 years old or younger. This is a look at some of the young stars who broke out at Roland-Garros this year.
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Next Generation of the ATP
Flavio Cobolli
Flavio Cobolli is headed to his first career major final. The 24-year-old Italian made a run to the Wimbledon quarter-finals last year. He has consistently played great tennis over the past two years, which propelled him to 12th in the ATP rankings. However, he had not gotten a signature win or signature title to his name over that stretch. However, Cobolli’s win over World No. 6 Felix Auger-Aliassime to send him to the French Open semi-finals was that win. Now, he can take it one step further by defeating Alexander Zverev and winning a major title.
Jakub Mensik
It was an amazing run to the Roland-Garros semi-finals for 20-year-old Jakub Mensik. The Czech broke onto the scene last year by defeating Novak Djokovic in the 2025 Miami Open final. He won his first ATP Masters 1000 at 19 and has made a major semifinal at 20. The sky is the limit for Mensik and his blossoming career. Unfortunately, he ran into a far more experienced player who is desperate to win his first major, Alexander Zverev. Mensik seems like he will be competing at these big tournaments for a long time.
Joao Fonseca
Joao Fonseca is one of the most exciting young players that tennis has seen in a long time. The Brazilian is only 19 years old and already going toe-to-toe with some of the best players in the world. He broke onto the scene at his first career major, where he beat World No. 9 Andrey Rublev in the first round of the 2025 Australian Open. Fonseca ended up winning two titles in 2025. He has been a force to be reckoned with so far in 2026 and showed his potential ceiling here at Roland-Garros. Fonseca beat the greatest player of all time, Novak Djokovic, in a five-set thriller earlier in this tournament. Unfortunately, his run came to an end against fellow youngster Jakub Mensik.
Rafael Jodar
Rafael Jodar is about one month younger than Joao Fonseca. The 19-year-old did not turn professional until this year, spending 2025 playing college tennis at the University of Virginia. Jodar proved he should be playing on a professional level right away. Within his first few months on the ATP Tour, he won his first ATP title, made the quarter-finals of two Masters 1000 events and made the quarter-finals at his second-ever major. Jodar is a clay specialist by nature and has proven that over the past few weeks. However, he has the talent to compete with the best on any surface. He should only continue to get better as time goes on.
Next Generation of the WTA
Mirra Andreeva
Mirra Andreeva has advanced to her first career major final at 19 years old. If she wins on Saturday, she will become the 10th-youngest woman to win a major title. That top-10 also contains the likes of Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, and many more superstars. Andreeva is not even 20 years old yet and she has already won an Olympic silver medal, two WTA 1000 titles and could add a major title to that list of accolades on Saturday. Andreeva has proven that she is clearly one of the six or seven best players in the world this year. There is no telling how much she can achieve in this sport over the next decade-plus.
Marta Chwalinska
One of the most improbable Cinderella runs in recent sports history has been made by Marta Chwalinska at this French Open. Chwalinska is only 24 years old, but she has spent the last few years grinding through qualifiers and WTA 125/Challenger Tour events. She has three WTA 125 titles to her name, but has never been able to compete at a high level with the best players in the sport. That is, until this incredible run at Roland-Garros. Chwalinska has become the first woman to ever make the French Open final as a qualifier, and only the second to do so at a major. She has already nearly tripled her career earnings, no matter the result on Saturday.
Coming into this tournament, Chwalinska had $861,237 in career earnings. Just by making this final, she has earned approximately $1.625 million. This has been a life-changing tournament for Marta Chwalinska. Now, we can see if it was just a one-time run or if she can maintain a high level of play over the coming months and years.
Marta Kostyuk
Marta Kostyuk went on an incredible run of her own over the past couple of months. She is not a Cinderella story by any means, as she has been a solid player for the last couple of years. However, she went on a remarkable unbeaten run this clay season. The 23-year-old Ukrainian won the Open de Rouen and the Madrid Open, before making a run to the semifinals here at Roland-Garros.
Diana Schnaider
Diana Schanider was more known for being Mirra Andreeva’s doubles partner before this tournament. Schnaider is a fantastic doubles player and won a silver medal alongside Andreeva in Paris in 2024. However, she had not made a real name for herself in singles prior to this tournament. Schnaider made it to the semi-finals and picked up a signature win over World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka. Schanider has now proven that she is a force to be reckoned with in her own right, moving forward.
