Roland-Garros Authorizes Wearables For The First Time In A Grand Slam: Good Idea?

Roland-Garros 2026 allows wearables at the Grand Slam for the first time. Whoop, GPS sensors, connected rackets: what that changes for players.

For the first time in Grand Slam history, players will be able to wear connected equipment during their matches. Roland-Garros, which begins on May 24 and will serve as a crash test against IPTV piracy, announced in mid-April that it would authorize on an experimental basis all wearables approved by the International Tennis Federation. Wimbledon and the US Open will follow suit immediately. A decision awaited by players which nevertheless raises questions about its real benefit.

Watches, connected rackets and GPS sensors

Under the term “wearables” lie around forty devices tested and approved by the ITF: biometric watches, rackets equipped with sensors, geolocation tools. Perhaps the most iconic is the Whoop bracelet, which measures heart rate, heart rate variability, skin temperature and oxygen saturation. Brand ambassador Aryna Sabalenka, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner were all forced to remove them before their matches at the Australian Open in January, in what was seen as a public humiliation for high-profile athletes.

The logic of wearables in sport is well established. Biometric data collected during matches is valuable precisely because it is impossible to reproduce real competition conditions in training. Sinner himself explained it at a press conference in Melbourne: the point is not to have real-time information during the match, but to analyze the data after the fact to better prepare for the following sessions.

The Australian Open as a trigger

The Australian episode highlighted the absurdity of a rule with variable geometry: the WTA and ATP circuits have authorized these devices since 2021 and 2024 respectively, and the ITF had approved them for competition, but each Grand Slam kept control of its own regulations. Result: players wearing their wearables all year round were forced to remove them only during the most important tournaments. Pressure from players and associations finally got the better of this inconsistency, with Roland-Garros serving as a guinea pig for all the Grand Slams.

The US Open has also signed a sponsorship agreement with Oura, manufacturer of a connected ring included among the devices validated by the ITF? An initiative which leaves little doubt about the direction taken by the American organizers.

The data paradox

There remains one question that researchers ask with caution: do these tools really help? Collected in less stable conditions than in the laboratory, data from wearables must be interpreted carefully, warns Antonio Morales, physiology researcher at Insep. Used incorrectly, they can become “a source of stress” rather than an advantage.

The experience of certain players illustrates this paradox. 2025 Australian Open winner Madison Keys stopped using her smartwatch after becoming in her own words “a little too obsessed” by data, to the point of waking up at night to check the quality of their sleep. Diane Parry, although equipped with a Whoop, has also given up using it in competition: “We can quickly get psychotic about sleep and recovery”she confides to theAFP.

Jean Slawinski, researcher in biomechanics at Insep, summarizes the problem: a player who manages himself with his watch without specialized support is taking a risk. “Data or tools do not replace humans”he insists. Tennis, less advanced than other sports in the use of data, will have to learn to manage this new tool before reaping the expected benefits.