The French Open follows the Australian Open on the annual Grand Slam tennis calendar.
The Australian Open is traditionally the first major of the year, staged in Melbourne in January. The French Open, also called Roland-Garros, comes next in late May and early June, followed by Wimbledon and then the US Open. This sequence reflects the four tournaments’ usual position in the tennis season, not their age or prestige.
The French Open is played on outdoor red clay, a surface that slows the ball and produces a high bounce. That makes it very different from the Australian Open’s hard courts. A common mix-up is choosing Wimbledon because it is often regarded as the most historically famous Grand Slam, but Wimbledon is the third major in the yearly order. The Davis Cup is a team competition rather than one of the four Grand Slam tournaments.