French Open 2022: Dates, draws, prize money and everything you need to know

PARIS -- The long, arduous spring clay-court season will come to its conclusion starting next week at the French Open. Iga Swiatek headlines a strong field with aspirations of winning one of the most coveted events of the season. Here's a look at everything you need to know. When does the tournament start?

This will be the 126th staging of Roland Garros, which begins on Sunday, May 22. Since 2006, the tournament has featured a Sunday start, with the first round of the singles draw played across the first three days. Doubles begins on Wednesday, May 25, and mixed doubles gets underway on Friday, May 27. 

The second Slam of the season, Roland Garros features a 128-player singles draw, 64-team doubles draw and 32-team mixed doubles draw. It is played on outdoor red clay and will use the Wilson Roland Garros ball. 

When are the finals? 

The singles final will be played on Saturday, June 4. 

The doubles final is scheduled for Sunday, June 5. The mixed doubles final will be played on Thursday, June 2. 

What format is used at Roland Garros? 

Women's singles and doubles matches will be played in a best-of-three format with a 10-point tiebreak at 6-6 in the final set. 

Mixed doubles will be played in a best-of-two, no-ad format. If the teams split sets, a 10-point match tiebreak will be used to decide the match.

Navratilova's take: 5 former French Open champions and their prospects in 2022

Who are the top seeds?

1. Iga Swiatek
2. Barbora Krejcikova
3. Paula Badosa
4. Maria Sakkari
5. Anett Kontaveit
6. Ons Jabeur
7. Aryna Sabalenka
8. Karolina Pliskova
9. Danielle Collins
10. Garbiñe Muguruza
11. Jessica Pegula
12. Emma Raducanu
13. Jelena Ostapenko
14. Belinda Bencic
15. Victoria Azarenka
16. Elena Rybakina

Other notable seeds: No.17 Leylah Fernandez, No.18 Coco Gauff, No.19 Simona Halep, No.20 Daria Kasatkina, No.23 Jil Teichmann, No.27 Amanda Anisimova. 

With the withdrawals of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Elina Svitolina, No.34 Petra Kvitova is the last seeded player.

Who are the defending champions?

Barbora Krejcikova became the first woman since 2000 to sweep the singles and doubles titles at Roland Garros. The 26-year-old strung together a memorable run to win her first major title, saving a match point in the semifinal against Maria Sakkari and defeating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 in the final. Ranked No.33, Krejcikova became the first Czech woman to win Roland Garros since Hana Mandilikova in 1981.

Photos: Roland Garros championship anniversaries

The next day, Krejcikova paired with longtime partner Katerina Siniakova to defeat Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Iga Swiatek 6-4, 6-2 to win their third major title. 

What does the draw look like?

The draw ceremony will take place on Thursday, May 19 at 7:00 p.m. local. Check back here for a full draw analysis.

What is the prize money and ranking points on offer?

First round: 10 points/€62,000
Second round: 70 points/€86,000
Third round: 130 points/€125,800
Round of 16: 240 points/€220,000
Quarterfinal: 430 points/€380,000
Semifinal: 780 points/€600,000
Final: 1,300 points/€1,100,000
Champion: 2,000 points/€2,200,000

Key storylines

Swiatek eyes second Roland Garros title: The 20-year-old brings her 28-match winning streak into Paris after clinching her fifth straight title, in Rome. Roland Garros was the site of her breakthrough win in 2020. At this point it's easy to forget that was not only Swiatek's first major title, but her first title on the Hologic WTA Tour.

If Swiatek runs the board at Roland Garros, she will extend her streak to 35 consecutive wins, matching Venus Williams' mark for the longest WTA win streak of this century. She would also become the first woman since Venus, also in 2000, to win six consecutive tournaments in a single season.

Fertile ground for first-time champions: Roland Garros has crowned a first-time women's major champion in nine of the past 15 editions, including the past six years. That's particularly heartening news for players like No.6 Ons Jabeur, who comes into Paris with 11 wins in her past 12 matches on clay. Her only loss came against Swiatek in the Rome final. Maria Sakkari and World No.3 Paula Badosa are two other players with viable chances to win a first major title.   

Questions surround the defending champion: Krejcikova returns to Roland Garros as the No.2 seed but the Czech has not played a match since February. After a strong 2021 campaign in which she went 27-3 during one stretch, she began 2022 in encouraging form before sustaining an ongoing arm injury. She has not played since Doha.