Which Grand Slam tournament comes before the French Open each year?

The Australian Open is the Grand Slam tournament that normally comes before the French Open each year.

The Australian Open is traditionally the first of tennis’s four Grand Slam tournaments, held in January at Melbourne Park. The French Open follows in late May and early June at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, making it the second major on the standard tennis calendar.

The sequence continues with Wimbledon, usually played in June and July, followed by the US Open in August and September. This order is easy to confuse because the French Open and Wimbledon are closer together on the calendar, while the Australian Open is separated from them by several months.

The calendar has occasionally been disrupted. In 2020, the French Open was postponed to September because of the COVID-19 pandemic, after the US Open. In ordinary scheduling, however, the Australian Open is the major immediately preceding Roland Garros. It is played on hard courts, while the French Open is famous for its outdoor red clay.