For Five in Focus, we turn to our ausopen.com experts to give their thoughts on players generating interest.
As the countdown to Roland Garros continues, we caught up with Australian doubles legend Todd Woodbridge to discuss five players whose results in Madrid – or return in Rome – could shape what we see in Paris.
Casper Ruud
The logical place to start is with Casper Ruud, the sport’s newest ATP Masters 1000 champion who reminded us of his dynamism on clay.
The Norwegian is a former world No.2 and three-time Grand Slam finalist, including twice at Roland Garros. Yet he arrived in Madrid at a comparatively lowly ranking of world No.15 and with underwhelming results in 2025.
With a renewed focus on his mental health, Ruud appeared reborn in the Spanish capital, striking his ferocious forehand with venom and outplaying a string of seeds – including top-10 opponents Taylor Fritz, Daniil Medvedev and Jack Draper – to win by far the biggest title of his career at age 26.
He’d previously won 12 career titles, 11 of those coming at ATP 250 level.
"What had gone astray in Casper's game is that his weapon – his forehand – had been spraying,” Woodbridge observed. “He's been tentative in the court; [with] his court positioning he's been caught in different places that he doesn't like, meaning he can't use his forehand.
“This was sort of like a comeback to that [previously great clay-court] form. I think he definitely goes into Roland Garros as the troublesome one for everybody. He's been there, he's done it, he's felt it, and I think he truly believes he can win it.
“He'll be looking at the draw hoping to stay clear of [defending champion] Carlos Alcaraz, because he’s the one who can open him up and take away his weapon of a forehand. If Alcaraz is out early or something happens, then I reckon Casper's in good shape.”
Aryna Sabalenka
Also triumphing in Madrid was Aryna Sabalenka, who takes an even tighter stranglehold over the women’s game.
The world No.1 has already reached six finals in 2025 – the best start to a season since Martina Hingis in 2001 – and is now almost 4500 ranking points ahead of second-ranked Iga Swiatek.
This was Sabalenka’s third title in Madrid, and her third title of the season after Brisbane and Miami, proving she can be just as productive on clay as she is her beloved hard courts.
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With Swiatek’s dip in form (more on that later), Sabalenka now firms as the favourite for Roland Garros, where a triumph would put her three quarters of the way to a career Grand Slam.
"Dare I say it: it's hers to lose,” Woodbridge said of Sabalenka at the year’s second major event. “She's lost it before, because of concentration, belief, nerves. But I always give her credit for this; through all of those experiences she's come back better.
“This is clearly her year to win, and it's whether she can just remain clear in the head to be able to achieve what she deserves.
"No one can match her consistency at the moment, and barely anybody can match her power. And so she's got two things up her sleeve; with consistency comes confidence, and with power you have that ability to dominate when you're on court.
“What I like about her game is that she's increased the repertoire of shot selection. She's using spin and short balls to open up the court, because as soon as she gets an opponent into a corner or out of position, she's got that power to go hard into the open court, and there's no answer to that.
"On clay, it’s more of that chess game; there will be moments in matches where you're going to have to use [that full repertoire]. At Wimbledon, or on a medium hard court, you can just outhit your opponent. But this requires at times a little more.”
Jack Draper
It took a herculean effort from Ruud in the Madrid final to stop Jack Draper, the Indian Wells champion who was just a set away from becoming 2025’s first multiple ATP Masters winner.
The rising British star successfully translated his powerful left-handed game to the altitude and clay of Madrid and is now entrenched in the top five. He is already a major semifinalist – he reached the last four at the 2024 US Open – and Woodbridge believes another deep Slam run is on the horizon.
"I look at him coming into Roland Garros. Madrid's helped him because it's altitude and it's quick, so he can be a little bit more aggressive, but when we get to Roland Garros, I always feel that the clay there is quick – it's fine, it's powdery, it can be slippery a little, the ball can get through the court if you've got enough on it,” Woodbridge said.
"The impressive part is the dynamic he's bringing in his game. The power he's bringing, and the big ball-striking. So even though he's lost to Casper [in Madrid], the match point was just stepping up and ripping.
“He's just gone to another level of taking matches on, being aggressive. He's the dominant player on court, starting with the big left-handed serve. The most obvious thing to me, that stands out and puts him in contention to be an unlikely Grand Slam champion in the near future, is [that] he can hit through anybody and he can serve anyone off a court. If he's on, he can cause major upsets.
"I see him as a semifinalist in Paris. Now, that's a big call. But then I wonder: I don't think he goes into Paris with a lot of pressure, but he is going to be then thinking, the one I really want to win is Wimbledon.
“He's had a game somewhat crafted and moulded around playing on grass, and for me, he becomes one of the players to watch over the next eight weeks.”
Iga Swiatek
Trending in the opposite direction is Swiatek, who suffered a dispiriting 6-1 6-1 loss to Coco Gauff in the Madrid semifinals – her heaviest defeat in six years.
This time last year Swiatek was the game’s dominant No.1 and clay-court queen, scooping the Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros titles and building a 23-match winning streak on the surface.
Yet in her last three clay-court events – the Paris 2024 Olympics, and Stuttgart and Madrid in 2025 – she’s failed to reach the final. In fact, Swiatek hasn’t progressed to a final since winning in Paris almost a year ago.
"At times it's been a tough watch,” Woodbridge said.
“Iga for so long would come out like Steffi Graf and just positively bounce around and hit winners and dominate. But unfortunately for her, she's become internal. As an athlete, you can't perform your best in that headspace.
“She has to find a way to look down the other end of the court and not think about her own game. She has to get back to being instinctive and not reacting to the circumstances on the court. When she plays her best tennis, she's the one that sees the spot, hits it to that spot. At the moment she's steering the ball into those places. For her to be missing as wildly as she has, there's uncertainty about shot selection.
"If she's going to win this [Roland Garros], she has to simplify everything... It looks to me at the moment that she's overloaded with information. The other thing is balance; to play your best you have to have balance off the court to balance on the court. And perhaps, without any knowledge, it would look like that's off-kilter.”
The three-time defending champion in Paris, Swiatek is aiming to become the first women to win four consecutive Roland Garros titles since Suzanne Lenglen more than 100 years ago.
Woodbridge wonders if she can recalibrate her game in such a short time.
“What she has to try and remember is those memories [of success]. When you walk back into where you've performed so well, there's that possibility that it clicks,” he said. “You can get out onto the court at Roland Garros and you go: ‘I remember that, that's that feeling, there it is’.
“That's what she's got to try to look for."
Jannik Sinner
But before Roland Garros we have Rome, where world No.1 Jannik Sinner makes a highly-anticipated return on home soil after a three-month suspension.
When he last appeared on court, Sinner overwhelmed Alexander Zverev to win his second straight Australian Open title. In the intervening period, he’s held on to his top ranking while taking an enforced break, something Woodbridge believes could serve him well.
"It's actually one of the best scenarios he could ever have hoped for,” Woodbridge said.
“Not in terms of being banned and all that. But the fact he's had 12 weeks off after a massive 18 months, becoming world No.1, winning the US Open, winning the Australian Open again, he needed a break.
“If you're an athlete you need several things; you need to recover, and then you need to train, and you get a block of work in, and then you need to taper, and then you're ready to go again. And that's exactly what has happened.
"If I was the rest of the field, I'd be worried, because I think he's perfectly placed. If he can get two to three wins in Rome, watch out at Roland Garros. Because I think he is the player that everybody fears.
“If he brings the form he had to open the season, he's by far and away the best player.”