From May 18 to June 7, 2026, the clay-court tennis tournament known as Roland-Garros takes place in Paris’s 16th arrondissement, at Porte d’Auteuil. For three weeks, from the qualifiers to the main draw, hundreds of players go head-to-head on the orange clay under the Paris sun. Armed with their trusted rackets, they unleash forehands and backhands, execute drop shots, fire aces, and pepper the court with powerful strokes. But how many of these little yellow balls are used each year at Roland-Garros?
It's hard to say for sure how many balls were used, but in 2017, our colleagues at Le Parisien reported that around 70,000 balls were used over 15 days of competition, or around 5,000 per day. If the figures haven't changed since then, we can count on more than 100,000 tennis balls being used over the three weeks of the tournament! In the course of a tennis match, balls are changed every 9 games. As clay wears out the balls more than any other surface, you need to count on more than for any other Grand Slam tournament.
However, there's no question of throwing away these balls, which are still almost new after use! Some are resold in the tournament store, but the majority are sold to tennis clubs, where they are largely used up. They are then recycled thanks to Opération Balle Jaune, run by the FFT since 2009, crushed in factories and reused to create sports floors and courts!
Roland-Garros 2026: which channel will broadcast it, what's new, and the latest news about the tournament
Here we go for Roland-Garros 2026, running May 18 through June 7. Three weeks to watch the world's best tennis players at Porte d'Auteuil. A quick rundown of the latest tournament news and updates you need to know. [Read more]
Location
Roland-Garros Stadium
2 Avenue Gordon Bennett
75116 Paris 16
Roland-Garros 2026: which channel will broadcast it, what's new, and the latest news about the tournament
