Roland Garros opens up to wearables: it is the first Grand Slam

Roland Garros 2026 will be the first Grand Slam tournament to authorize wearable devices during matches on a trial basis. Director Amélie Mauresmo confirmed that the exemption will cover all 24 events of the tournament and will apply to devices included in the Player Analysis Technology list approved by World Tennis, among them the Whoop wristband.

"We want to offer players the best possible experience and we listen to their requests," Mauresmo said. The trial will then continue at Wimbledon and the US Open, which have already confirmed they will follow suit: of the three Slams still to be played in 2026, all will allow wearables.

The FFT's decision reverses the scenario of just a few months ago. At the Australian Open in January, umpires Marija Cicak and Greg Allensworth forced Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner to remove the Whoop bands hidden under their wristbands, and the same had happened to Aryna Sabalenka, even though the wristbands were already authorized on the ATP and WTA tours. The episode sparked a weeks-long controversy, with Whoop founder Will Ahmed declaring that "data is not steroids".

Paris is choosing the opposite path and is the first to open the door to heart rate, variability, workload and recovery metrics collected in real time during a Slam match. It remains to be seen how those numbers will be used: today they serve the player and their staff after the match, tomorrow they could become sensitive material for in-box coaching and, on more slippery ground, for those betting on the matches. The main draw started on May 24: the trial has already begun.