Who is British qualifier Toby Samuel? Tricky start for Emma Raducanu and will Jannik Sinner have any sleepless nights? | Tennis News

Gigi Salmon looks ahead to the French Open with plenty of British interest in the form for Emma Raducanu and Cameron Norrie and a special focus on qualifier Toby Samuel! She also discusses Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic, as well an unpredictable women’s draw. It’s all in her latest Sky Sports column.

Some of the happiest people following Thursday’s draw for the 2026 French Open were the 64 players who found themselves in the bottom half of the men’s draw.

They know that they won’t have to face world No 1 and the currently unstoppable Jannik Sinner until the final!

Sinner is on a run of 29 matches unbeaten, that’s five straight Masters titles and he’ll be looking to become the seventh man in the Open Era to complete the career Grand Slam in Paris next month, an ambition strengthened with the absence of the two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz.

More on Sinner’s potential run to the title later but lets start with the Brits for you to watch out for, who they’re up against and their chances, remembering that Jack Draper misses the clay with an eye on returning on the grass with Andy Murray by his side.

Britain’s only seeded player is Cam Norrie and the 20th seed will face Paraguay’s Adolfo Daniel Vallejo, while the only other Brit with direct entrance is Jacob Fearnley, who lost to Norrie in the third round in Paris last year.

Fearnley – currently No 122 in the world – faces Argentina’s Juan Manuel Cerundolo, with Fearnley looking for his first win on clay in a year, with the winner more than likely to face Sinner in the second round.

Who is Toby Samuel?

British headlines go to 23-year Toby Samuel who won through three rounds of qualifying including taking out former world No 7 David Goffin along the way to book his spot in his first Grand Slam main draw.

Describing his achievement as “a dream come true”, Samuel has overcome injury setbacks which kept him out of most of the 2024 season, before going on a run at challenger level that saw him pick up back-to-back titles earlier this year on the hard courts before reaching the semi-finals of the challenger on the clay in Madrid.

He is sitting at a career high ranking of No 159, having dropped to down around 2,000 while injured in 2024.

Fergus Gavin, writing on X, highlighted Samuel’s achievement stating that he becomes just the fourth British man since 1973 to come through the Roland Garros qualifying draw.

Samuel, who played college tennis at the University of Carolina, will be rewarded with €87,000 for reaching the first round a sum that will rise to €130,000 if he wins through to round two.

To do that he will have to get past world No 7 Alex De Minaur who enters the tournament having warmed up with a semi-final showing on the clay in Hamburg.

Tricky tie for Raducanu

For the British women Emma Raducanu just missed out on being seeded and will start her campaign against Solana Sierra from Argentina.

It will be a first meeting between the two and just a second match for Raducanu on the clay after her return from a viral illness and alongside coach Andrew Richardson, who she last worked with during her run to the US Open title in 2021.

It’s a tricky tie with Sierra recently taking a set off Coco Gauff in Rome and with 16 matches on clay this year, so it will be interesting to see how Raducanu gets on with 2024 runner-up Jasmine Paolini a possible second-round opponent.

Joining Raducanu in the main draw are Katie Boulter who faces the winner of the USTA Roland Garros wildcard challenge, the American world No 184 Akasha Urhobo.

Urhobo, 19, is playing in the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time.

Fran Jones faces former French Open semi-finalist and former world No 10 Beatriz Haddad Mia – who has been struggling for form for a while now, so maybe an opportunity for Jones!

Any sleepless nights for Sinner?

Away from the Brits and I must return to Sinner who finds himself in the same quarter of the draw as top-10 players Ben Shelton and Alexander Bublik. Also in that section is former French Open finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Looking further down the top half and there won’t be anyone who gives him a sleepless night!

What might do that is the weather. It is due to be very hot in the French capital, conditions in which the Italian has struggled on occasion in the past.

I do feel like I’m clutching a little, looking for things that could stop Sinner, but without the injured Alcaraz and with the gap between the top two and the rest ever widening it will take something or someone special.

Could that be Novak Djokovic? He will be happy to be in the opposite half but not overly pleased with his possible route that includes the huge-serving Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, currently coached by Greg Rusedski, Brazilian prodigy Joao Fonseca and recent Rome runner-up and former finalist in Paris, Casper Ruud.

Djokovic is still in search of Grand Slam title No 25 but he comes into the tournament with only one clay match, a defeat in his first outing in Rome, together with a positive mindset. “The preparation has been positive in the last 10 days, so here I am and I can’t wait to be out on court,” he said.

Sascha Zverev is the second seed and while his draw doesn’t look that bad with the likes of Frenchman Ugo Humbert, Taylor Fritz just back from injury and a possible semi-final meeting with Djokovic, there are big question marks about his fitness as he nurses a back problem, which saw him pull out of Hamburg. Should he reach the championship match, does he really believe he can beat Sinner, if that’s who he faced? The answer on recent showings is a resounding no!

A first-round match to keep an eye on will be Gael Monfils, who opens up against Hugo Gaston, on his French Open farewell. It’s bound to be emotional!

Unpredictable women’s draw

Into the women’s draw which has a lot of strength in depth and is very unpredictable.

It’s easy to make a case for world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka, finalist in Paris last year, three titles this year together with a run to the Australian Open final.

Maybe a less than perfect clay swing, which included a quarter-final and a third round, will work in her favour, having had more time to prepare but with danger around every corner with the likes of Jessica Pegula, Victoria Mboko, Naomi Osaka and Alex Eala in her section of the draw.

Defending champion Coco Gauff headlines the second quarter of the draw. She brings an 8-3 record on clay into the tournament and her biggest obstacle to the quarter-finals is former Wimbledon and US Open finalist Amanda Anisimova, who is returning from injury.

Four-time champion Iga Swiatek headlines the top of the bottom half and while she’s not the overwhelming favourite this year she does seem to have renewed confidence since spending time with Rafael Nadal at his academy and officially hiring Nadal’s former coach Francis Roig.

And a word on Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina, she won a title on the clay in Stuttgart and reached the quarter-finals in Rome.

I’m always a bit cautious about backing her because she can be a touch unpredictable, but she has the game and mindset that can beat anyone!

As ever there are so many stories to follow. Who can beat Sinner? Will Djokovic get close to Grand Slam No 25? Do Monfils and Stan Wawrinka get fairy-tale endings? Can Swiatek win a fifth title in the French capital? Does Sabalenka win her first or can Gauff successfully defend hers?

I can’t wait for it to start and to be in among it and as far as predictions go my king and queen of the Parisian clay for 2026 will be Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek.

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