Grand Slam tennis returns to Stade Roland-Garros in Paris this month for the sport's most prestigious clay court tournament. Read on for your full guide to getting a French Open 2021 live stream and watch online from anywhere.
Restored to its rightful place in the ATP calendar after last years tournament was shunted to last October thanks to the pandemic, it comes as little surprise to find last year's winner Rafael Nadal is installed as this year's favourite with the bookies.
Despite being seeded third behind Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev, the Spanish clay specialist will be going in search of an extraordinary 14th title win in Paris this year.
The women's tournament sees Polish teenager Iga Swiatek marked out as a 3/1 favourite to defend her title, ahead of Australian world number one Ashleigh Barty. Meanwhile, sporting romantics will be hoping that Serena Williams will clinch a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam singles title.
We've got all the info on how to live stream all the French Open 2021 action no matter where you are in the world with our guide below. And if you happen to be outside of the country and can't access your preferred domestic broadcaster, you can always use a VPN to bypass those geo-restrictions.
Where can I live stream French Open 2021 tennis in the UK for free?
You can catch all the key matches from this year's tournament at Roland Garros live through good old free-to-air ITV 4 and you can also watch online and on the go via the ITV Hub app and website.
When is the French Open 2021 ?
Starting about a week later than its traditional mid-May slot in the calendar, this year's tournament takes place between Sunday, May 30 and Sunday, June 13.
Day sessions start at 11am CEST / 10am BST / 5am ET / 2pm PT / 7pm AEST / 9pm NZST, with the tournament's night sessions beginning at 9pm CEST / 8pm BST / 3pm ET / 12pm PT / 5am AEST / 7am NZST.
How to live stream French Open Tennis 2021 in the UK
ITV once again has the UK live broadcast rights for the French Open. That means anyone with a valid TV license can watch a live stream for free using the network's ITV Hub platform.
Play is set to start most days at around 10am BST each morning, and extends through the day and deep into the evening.
The great news is that there's dedicated ITV Hub apps for a wide variety of devices including:
- Desktop: Windows, Mac
- Mobiles: iOS, Android
- Streaming devices: Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Roku, Now TV
- Consoles: Xbox One, Xbox One S, Nvidia Shield
- Smart TVs: Samsung TV (2012 and later), FreeSat, YouView (BT, Talk Talk, Sony), Freeview Play, Virgin V6 Box
How to live stream French Open Tennis 2021 if you're abroad
If you're out of the country during this year's French Open tournament , you can still get access to a live stream - simply use the best VPN around to avoid geo-restrictions.
With most domestic broadcasters locking streaming services to their country, you may hit a wall when it comes to accessing the likes of ITV, NBC and Channel 9 when overseas. However, by getting yourself a handy streaming VPN, you can hop onto a server within the US or UK (or anywhere else for that matter depending on where your online content is geo-restricted to), and this will switch your IP address to make it appear as if you're browsing right from the comfort of your own home.
How to live stream the French Open 2021 in the US
Like last year's tournament, NBC Sports once again has exclusive rights to show French Open action live in the the US.
Play tends to start at around 5am ET / 2am PT early each morning, and extends into the late afternoon.
Things are pretty straightforward if you're a cable subscriber and already have NBC Sports as you'll be able to watch the tennis from Roland Garros via the network's website - just log-in with details of your cable provider.
If that's not the case then there's still plenty of solid alternatives.
Arguably the best of those for watching the French Open is Sling TV, with the service's $35 a month Blue package including NBCSN.
Sling is currently offering a pretty generous deal you get a whole month of Sling Blue for a mere $10.
Top that up with the Sports Extra add-on for an extra $11 a month to get the Tennis Channel and more and you're all set with a significantly lower outlay than cable.
One further option is fuboTV, which has both NBCSN and the Tennis Channel on its plans and starts from $64.99 a month for over 120 channels. Better still, there's currently a FREE 7-day FuboTV trial currently being offered by the service, which would allow you to watch a big chunk of this year's tournament without laying out a cent.
If you're outside the US right now you can always use a VPN to get access to your home coverage.
How to live stream French Open tennis anywhere else in the world
No matter which corner of the world you're tuning in from, there is a French Open 2021 live stream option for you.
It's good news for those looking to tune in from the host nations, with you can see all the action live on free-to-air channel France TV Sport.
For tennis fans in Canada, premium sports network TSN and the French-language RDS have you covered. If you get them as part of your cable deal, then you'll just be able to log in with the details of your provider and get access to a Roland Garros live stream, with matches starting from 5am ET / 2am PT each day.
If you don't have cable, then you can subscribe to TSN or RDS on a streaming-only basis from just CA$4.99 a day or (much better value) $19.99 a month.
Australian sports fans are being served up select matches from Roland Garros for free via terrestrial network Channel 9 and its online portal 9Now.
If that's not enough to satiate your appetite for action from Paris, Stan Sport, will be live streaming every match on every court from Roland Garros, ad-free. A subscription 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 Down Under at 7pm AEST each morning, and extends into the late afternoon.
In New Zealand pay-tv network Sky Sport has the rights to show the Fence Open in the region.
If you're already a subscriber, you can tune in online using the country's Sky Go service, while cord-cutters and anyone else can try the Sky Sport Now streaming-only platform - where a weekly pass costs just $19.99.
Play should start most days at 9pm NZST each evening, extending through the night and early hours, into the following morning.
How to use a VPN to unblock any restrictions
If you're outside of your preferred broadcaster's boundaries, you can use a VPN to unblock any geo-restrictions and live stream French Open as if you were right at home. Here's our step-by-step guide on how to do just that.
- VPN - standing for virtual private network - offers security and anomality as you browse online, using set protocols to encrypt your data and make it unreadable to outsiders.
- As a part of that, you can also switch your IP address, which identifies your location.
- Most VPNs offer a list of locations where its servers are based to join. Connecting to them switches your IP to appear as if you're browsing from that country/city. In turn, you can then access content locked to that country.
- When it comes to finding a VPN, you should make sure you find the best one that's suitable for your chosen device, with VPN providers offering compatibility for a ton of devices, including VPN for Mac, VPN for Android smartphones, an iPad VPN, and even a range of fairly nifty free VPNs.
- Once you've made the decision for the most suitable VPN for your device and your means for using a VPN, sign-up and install it.
- To live stream Ireland vs England, all you need to do is select a UK server from its list of available servers and connect. You'll then be able to hop over those geo-restrictions with the likes of ITV Hub and NBC opening its online gates to you.
- We also want to ensure your money is well spent, so we would recommend going for a VPN that offers a risk free trial. ExpressVPN is one of many providers that has a 30-day money back guarantee.
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