Clay season has built to its peak, and the second Grand Slam of 2026 is finally here. The 2026 Roland Garros bracket challenge is officially open on Brckt, with men’s and women’s draws, featured groups, and a whole stack of new features that have shipped since the Australian Open.

Key Tournament Dates

Mark the calendar. The next three weeks of tennis are stacked.

Qualifying Rounds: May 18 – 22, 2026
Main Draw Ceremony: Thursday, May 21
Main Draw Begins: Sunday, May 24
Women’s Final: Saturday, June 6
Men’s Final: Sunday, June 7

The Main Draw Ceremony: Why Thursday Matters

The main draw ceremony on Thursday, May 21 is the single moment that turns Roland Garros from speculation into a real bracket. The ceremony kicks off at 2:00 PM local time in Paris (8:00 AM ET / 5:00 AM PT / 1:00 PM BST) at Roland Garros, and is when all 128 men’s and 128 women’s main-draw players are slotted into the bracket. Seeds get placed in their pre-assigned positions, and the remaining players (including the 16 qualifiers from this week’s qualifying rounds and the wildcards) are drawn in around them. By the time it wraps you’ll know every potential path to the final: who’s in Sinner’s quarter, who lands in Świątek’s section, where the seeds collide, and which unseeded floaters could blow up a quarter.

That ceremony is also the starting gun for the Brckt challenge. Shortly after as the draw is finalized, both the men’s and women’s brackets will go live on Brckt. You can open them up, walk through the matchups, and start filling out your picks. From the ceremony on Thursday to first ball on Sunday the 24th, you’ll have roughly 72 hours to lock in your bracket: time to run the AI analysis on tricky sections, check Kalshi market odds on the early-round upsets, compare head-to-head history, and submit your picks across any groups you’ve joined.

A few things to keep in mind once the draw drops:

groups will be ready to enter immediately. No need to wait for the draw to come out.
Duplicate Bracket lets you fill out one bracket carefully and copy it into every other group you’re in with a single click.
Draft vs. submitted brackets are now clearly differentiated, so you can save progress and come back to finish later without worrying about whether your picks are locked in.

What’s New Since the Australian Open

A lot has shipped between Melbourne and Paris. Here are the upgrades worth knowing about heading into Roland Garros.

AI Bracket Fill

The biggest swing of the off-slam stretch. If staring at a 128-player draw feels overwhelming, AI Bracket Fill will analyze the bracket and generate a complete set of picks for you in seconds, using player form, head-to-head history, surface performance, and tournament context. You can use it as a starting point, duplicate it, and then adjust the picks you feel strongly about.

Prediction Market Odds (Kalshi)

Brckt now pulls live Kalshi prediction market odds directly into match details. You’ll see real-money market-implied win percentages for upcoming matches and live matches. It’s a great gut-check against your own instincts before you lock in a pick.

Shareable Match & Bracket Cards

A new shareable match card lets you generate a clean, personalized image of any match or your full bracket pick to drop into group chats, X, or Instagram. The bracket video has also been redesigned with proper Brckt branding and a much smoother round-by-round reveal.

Tournament Pass

If a full Pro subscription isn’t the right fit, you can now buy a one-off Tournament Pass directly from the pricing page. It unlocks advanced stats, AI analysis, and private group discounts for a single tournament. Perfect if you only want to go all-in for the slams.

Tournament Chatter

Every tournament now has its own discussion thread, so the takes, hot reads, and “I told you so”s all live in one spot during the two weeks of competition.

Push Notifications & PWA

Brckt is now a full Progressive Web App. Install it to your home screen on iOS or Android, no app store required.

Player Rankings & World Rank on the Draw

Every participant in the draw now shows their current world ranking inline, pulled from the live ATP/WTA standings feed. Combined with the new dedicated player leaderboard page, it’s much easier to spot the dangerous floaters before you commit your picks.

Light Mode + Refreshed Profile Page

For the dark-mode skeptics, Brckt now supports light mode across the entire site. The profile page also got a full visual refresh and a new public view so other users can see your point history and tournament results.

Smarter Scoring

Fibonacci scoring is now the default across all tournaments, with totalPoints and pointsRemaining stored directly in the database. That makes the leaderboard faster, sorts more accurately mid-tournament, and means your “points left” number is finally trustworthy.

Get Your Picks In

A reminder that you can enter multiple groups and use Duplicate Bracket to copy picks across them in one click. Once the draw is set on the 21st, you’ll have right up until first ball on the 24th to finalize.

It’s going to be a great two weeks of tennis. As always, feedback is welcomed. Reach me on X or at [email protected].

Allez!

Keith