The three musketeers at the French Open

This peculiar 2026 French Open, where Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic sank early while Carlos Alcaraz stayed away, has been struck by a wave of three fresh faces. One’s a 19-year-old Brazilian boy wonder, one’s a 19-year-old Spanish sensation, and one’s a 20-year-old Czech giant.

Meet your new Slam surfers: Joao Fonseca, Rafael Jodar and Jakub Mensik.

All three have entered the last eight at Roland Garros for their first ever quarter-final appearance in a Slam. For the first time this century, three players below 21 will battle for a men’s singles semi-final spot in a Slam, as per OptaAce, with one of them guaranteed to get there on Tuesday. For only the fifth time in the last four decades, two teenagers have made the men’s singles quarter-finals in a Slam.

Fonseca, who knocked out 24-time major winner Djokovic from two sets to love down playing lights-out tennis, continued to dazzle in a four-set fourth-round win over former French Open finalist Casper Ruud.