Destanee Aiava and Tristan Schoolkate have been awarded wildcards into the main draw of the French Open at Roland Garros, Tennis Australia announced on Monday 12 May.
The Wildcards
Aiava, ranked No.157, and Schoolkate, ranked No.129, are Tennis Australia’s picks under the reciprocal wildcard agreements between the four grand slams, which recognise the pair’s results over the past year.
The awards lift the Australian main-draw singles contingent to 15, with about a dozen more Australians entered in qualifying.
Main-draw play begins on Sunday 25 May. 7NEWS reports the wildcard guarantees at least 78,000 euros, about A$136,500, in first-round prize money.
The award places both players directly into the main draw. For Aiava, it means a Roland Garros main-draw debut, after she played qualifying there in 2024.
Aiava: ‘I Was Not Expecting It At All’
Aiava described the call from Sam Stosur on Tennis Australia’s The Sit-Down podcast, saying it came while she was recovering from a narrow loss the previous week.
Aiava said: “I’m so happy, honestly. I was not expecting it at all.”
She said: “I literally had just lost my match last week; it was a really tight match and I was crying. And I was just like laying down, you know, wallowing in my sadness, and then I got a call from Sam [Stosur], and I was like, oh, why is she calling me?”
She said: “She said ‘I hope this cheers you up, to offer you the French wildcard’. And I was like, excuse me? I had to look around to make sure like this was real life.”
She said: “I was just really happy, I was over the moon. Honestly it’s so special and I don’t think it’s sunk in yet, but I’m training on the clay and trying to prepare as best I can.”
She added: “There’s always something good around the corner, I guess, in this sport.”
Aiava turned 25 on Saturday 10 May, two days before the announcement. She came through qualifying at the 2024 US Open and at the 2025 Australian Open in January, beat Greet Minnen in the first round in Melbourne and then lost to Danielle Collins.
Schoolkate’s Breakthrough Year
Schoolkate, 24, from Perth, has had a career-best year, beginning with the Australian Open in January, where he took the first set off Jannik Sinner on Rod Laver Arena, ending a three-month spell in which the world No.1 had not lost a set, before losing in four.
He won his first ATP Challenger title at the 2024 Guangzhou International, beating Adam Walton, won a Challenger in Brisbane in February and made the Guangzhou final earlier this month.
He has not yet played a tour-level match on clay.
Schoolkate said: “Thank you to Tennis Australia for this incredible opportunity.”
He said: “My team and I have been putting in the work every day, always striving to reach new heights.”
He said: “I’m excited for the chance to compete against the world’s best on the clay in Paris.”
The Australian Contingent
Aiava is the sixth Australian woman in the main draw, alongside Daria Kasatkina, Kim Birrell, Maya Joint, Ajla Tomljanovic and Olivia Gadecki.
Schoolkate joins Alex de Minaur, Alexei Popyrin, Jordan Thompson, Aleksandar Vukic, Rinky Hijikata, Adam Walton, Chris O’Connell and James Duckworth in the men’s draw. Tennis Australia confirmed both lists in the same announcement.
The qualifying event will decide the remaining places in both singles draws before main-draw play begins on Sunday 25 May.
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Sources: Tennis Australia, https://www.tennis.com.au/fan-zone/news/2025/05/12/aiava-schoolkate-awarded-roland-garros-wildcards; Nine, https://www.nine.com.au/sport/tennis/roland-garros-2025-destanee-aiava-tristan-schoolkate-awarded-australian-wildcards-20250512-p5lygm.html; The Canberra Times (Australian Associated Press), https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8964275/schoolkate-and-aiava-earn-wildcards-into-french-open/; 7NEWS, https://7news.com.au/sport/tennis/aussie-tennis-star-destanee-aiava-celebrates-136000-birthday-present-with-french-open-wildcard-c-18663842
Photo: MasterMind5991, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Illustrative: Destanee Aiava serving at the Sydney International in January 2019. The photograph is not from the events described in the article.