The Chaos Slam: 2026 Roland Garros Week 1 Recap

Week 1 of Roland Garros delivered pure unhinged energy, and Resh and Stef were SCREAMING — recording live together in San Francisco for the first time in two years. The biggest WTA story? Clayomi. Naomi Osaka walked out in a Germanier x Nike couture collab ("I look like the Eiffel Tower at night"), made it to the fourth round for the first time in her Roland Garros career, and co-hosted an invite-only Black Party at Soho House Paris with Taylor Townsend. She's serving on and off the court, and the haters (hi, Laura Siegemund) can sit down. Meanwhile, Resh's pick Coco Gauff — the defending champion — lost a gut-punch third-rounder to Potapova, Hailey Baptiste went down with ACL and meniscus injuries at her career peak, and Victoria Mboko broke our hearts in a three-setter against Madison Keys. Also: it sounds like Serena Williams may be coming back to tennis as soon as next week. This is not a drill.

On the men's side, the Chaos Slam claimed its biggest victim when top seed Jannik Sinner — up two sets and 5-1 — melted in the sun and lost to the less known Cerundolo in five. The sun remains undefeated. Bright spots: 21-year-old Stanford data science student Nishesh Basavareddy upset 7-seed Taylor Fritz with cold-blooded drop shots, 17-year-old Moïse Kwame became the youngest player to win a Roland Garros match since 1991 (his prize money is locked in a bank until his 18th birthday, because France), and João Fonseca closed out a five-set win over Djokovic on three straight aces like it was nothing.

We also need to talk about ATP player Adolfo Daniel Vallejo, who blamed his loss on female umpire Ana Carvalho — a silver badge professional and one of the best in the world — claiming she lacked the "strength" to handle the crowd. Roland Garros fined him and issued a statement. We revisit the Hurkacz 2024 incident, the Fognini 2017 incident, and note that Roland Garros's allyship would land harder if women's matches were ever scheduled in prime time. Heading into week 2: Sabalenka and Iga are the top contenders (despite the hosts' predictions), the Ukrainian sweep is still mathematically alive, and Naomi faces Sabalenka in what is absolutely must-watch Monday tennis.