French Open 2021 tennis live stream: How to watch the action at Roland-Garros online from anywhere

Roland Garros French Open
Roland Garros French Open (Image credit: Corinne Dubreuil / FFT)

Can anyone stop Rafael Nadal from scoring an incredible 14th title at Roland-Garros, and will Serena Williams claim a long-awaited 24th Grand Slam? Read on for full details on how to watch French Open 2021 tennis, no matter where you are in the world.

The 125th edition of this grand slam tennis tournament sees it return to its familiar May slot in the ATP calendar, after last year's event was bumped to October last year due to the pandemic, while there will also be up to 5,388 spectators each day in attendance.

The men's contest sees Nadal and fellow old stagers Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer all placed in the same side of the draw. That could open things up for the likes of world number two Stefanos Tsitsipas, who has lost just three times on clay this year.

In the women's competition, doubts persist over what levels world number one Ashleigh Barty will be able to reach, with the Australian having not played since pulling out of the Italian Open in mid-May.

Last year's champ Iga Swiatek has meanwhile come into good form just in time to defend her title, with the Polish teenager now at her highest WTA ranking as world number nine.

While her odds may be longer than at any point in her career, no one will be writing off Serena WIllaims, with the 39-year-old still determined to clinch her a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title.

Read on as we explain below how to get a French Open 2021 live stream for this year's tournament.

French Open 2021: Where and when?

This year's action at Roland-Garros in Paris kicks off with the first round kicks off on Sunday, May 30.

The Mens and Women's finals take place on the 12th and 13th of June respectively.

Day session will start most days at 11am CEST / 10am BST / 5am ET / 2pm PT / 7pm AEST / 9pm NZST, while the tournament's night sessions are set to begin at 9pm CEST / 8pm BST / 3pm ET / 12pm PT / 5am AEST / 7am NZST

Watch French Open 2021 tennis online from outside your country

We have details of all the U.S, UK, Australian and Canadian broadcasters of this weekend's racing from Italy further down in this guide. If you're intent on watching the Italian Grand Prix, but find yourself away from home then you'll run into problems when trying to stream your domestic coverage online from abroad as it's likely to be geo-blocked.

That's where a VPN (Virtual Private Network) can be a lifesaver. They allow you to virtually change the ISP of your laptop, tablet, or mobile to one that's back in your home country, letting you watch as if you were back there.

VPNs are incredibly easy to use and have the added benefit of giving you a further layer of security when surfing the web. There are lots of options, and we recommend ExpressVPN as our #1 pick due to its speed, security, and ease of use. It can be used on a vast array of operating systems and devices (e.g. iOS, Android, Smart TVs, Fire TV Stick, Roku, games consoles, etc). Sign up for ExpressVPN now now and enjoy a 49% discount and 3 months FREE with an annual subscription. Or give it a try with its 30-day money back guarantee. Looking for other options? Here are some alternatives that are on sale right now.

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No matter where in the world you may be, a VPN is one of the easiest ways to watch the 2021 French Open. Get in on this deal now!

How to watch French Open 2021 tennis online in the US

NBC will be offering full live coverage of the French Open 2021 for viewers in the U.S. If you have NBC Sports on cable already, you're good to go and can watch the tennis from Roland Garros via the network's website. Just log-in and input details of your cable provider.

If you don't have cable, there's still got plenty of solid alternative options for streaming. Arguably the best bet for tennis fans wanting to watch a French Open live stream is Sling TV. The Sling TV Blue package currently costs just $35 a month and includes NBCSN.

Finally, one further option for hardcore tennis fans is to subscribe to Tennis Channel Plusfor $110 per year. This gets you 4,500 live and on-demand matches from over 100 ATP & WTA events including coverage of up to 12 courts at the Roland-Garros.

Out of the U.S. and want to watch your home coverage? No worries — just use a VPN as described above to stream all the action just like you would back at home.

How to stream French Open 2021 live in the UK

Lucky UK Tennis fans don't have to pay a penny to watch this year's tournament live. Free-to-air ITV 4 will be showing live coverage from Roland-Garros each day.

So long as you have a TV license, it's completely free to view and can be accessed by any viewer located in the UK, with coverage also available via the ITV Hub streaming service and app.

How to stream the French Open live in Canada

In Canada, the rights to all the tennis Grand Slams are owned by TSN, with the 2021 French Open no exception. So that means you can access this via your TV, online, or on the TSN app if you have access to the service.

Live stream 2021 French Open tennis in Australia

There's great news for tennis fans Down Under, with select matches from this year's French Open available to watch live without paying a penny thanks to free-to-air stations Channel 9 and 9Gem.

That also means viewers in Australia will be able to stream those channels' coverage via the 9Now streaming service, which is completely free to use also.

For hardcore tennis fans that want access to every match of the tournament live, Stan Sport, is where it's at, with the pay-tv broadcaster live streaming every match on every court, ad-free.

A subscription for Stan Sport will set you back $10 per month (on top of a $10 Stan sub), but you can take advantage of a 7-day FREE trial.

Play is set to start most days at 7pm AEST each evening, extending well into the early hours.

Kevin Lynch