• Clear dominance of general tournament queries: The highest-ranking keywords are general terms for the tournament itself. “roland garros” leads with 5,742 rankings, followed by “french open” (4,822), “roland garros 2025” (3,170), and “french open 2025” (2,816). In total, 7 general tournament keywords (including variations like “french open live” and “french open final”) amassed 17,076 rankings—about 41% of all rankings across the 50 keywords (41,775 in total). These broad keywords suggest that coverage anchored in event-level context rather than just individual athletes or matchups was particularly prominent.

• Player names drive over half of all rankings: Out of the 50 keywords, 29 contain at least one name of a player. These include major figures like “novak djokovic” (796 rankings), “jack draper” (760), “coco gauff” (676), “emma raducanu” (244), and “iga świątek” (80), among others. Altogether, keywords with player names generate 22,264 rankings (53% of the total), confirming that athlete-focused content played a key role in visibility.

• Strong UK angle: Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu featured prominently: The prominence of UK players is reflected in keyword rankings. Jack Draper appears in 4 keywords (“french open jack draper”, “jack draper”, “french open draper”, “draper french open”) that total 2,052 rankings, making him one of the most visible athletes overall. Emma Raducanu is also present in 3 keywords that together total 896 rankings. These numbers indicate a high SEO value for UK publishers who covered home players in the context of the French Open.

• Lois Boisson as a visibility driver during a strong tournament run: French player Lois Boisson appears in two high-ranking keywords: “lois boisson” (806 rankings) and “semi lois boisson” (72 rankings), for a combined total of 878 rankings. Her performance at the French Open 2025, where she reached the semifinals, explains her strong visibility in the data. While less internationally prominent prior to the tournament, her success on home soil clearly translated into increased coverage and keyword rankings, particularly relevant for local or French-focused English-language publishers.

• Matchups and dual-player queries stand out: A number of keywords feature head-to-head or dual-player setups, such as “alexander zverev novak djokovic” (120 rankings), “djokovic sinner” (104), “draper bublik” (98), and “coco gauff aryna sabalenka” (66). These 7 keywords accumulate 642 rankings and suggest that preview or recap articles centred around specific matchups contributed measurably to visibility.

• Broader interest in tennis celebrities and narratives: While most player-related keywords mention current competitors, some point toward broader narratives. “nadal farewell” (76 rankings) and “rafael nadal” (174) signal attention toward Nadal’s likely retirement, adding up to 250 rankings. Similarly, keywords like “swiatek french open” or “djokovic french open” indicate that connecting a player’s name to the event itself (rather than only using names standalone) had ranking power.

Based on these top 50 keywords for the French Open 2025, let’s now have a look at the most visible publishers that made it into the UK mobile News Boxes for the event.

Top publishers for the French Open 2025

Top publishers in UK News Boxes on the French Open

Before focusing on news publishers specifically, it’s worth briefly acknowledging that four of the top ten most visible domains in the mobile Google News Boxes during the French Open 2025 were not traditional news outlets. X (formerly Twitter) held the highest theoretical share of visibility at 12.71%, followed by the official tournament website rolandgarros.com with 7.75% (rank 4), YouTube with 7.03% (rank 6), and Facebook with 4.69% (rank 9). While these platforms are not included in the detailed publisher analysis below and have been visually greyed out in the chart, their prominence highlights the relevance of both social media and official event sources in driving visibility during large-scale sporting events. This analysis, however, focuses specifically on news publishers and how they positioned themselves during the tournament. Let’s now look at the news publishers that made it into the top 10:

1. BBC (bbc.co.uk)
   With 9.52% visibility, the BBC(.co.uk) emerged as the most visible news publisher covering the French Open 2025. The publisher saw its highest visibility on 3 June, reaching 18.45%. Across the observation period, it achieved 2,315 keyword rankings, with “french open” leading as the most ranked keyword (428 rankings, accounting for 9% of all rankings for that keyword). The most visible article was a match report on Jack Draper’s elimination in the round of 16: French Open 2025 results: Jack Draper loses to Alexander Bublik in Roland Garros last 16.
2. The Guardian (theguardian.com)
   The Guardian followed closely with a visibility share of 8.42%, peaking on the same day as the BBC, 3 June, with 19.01%. The outlet secured 1,925 keyword rankings overall, with “french open” again being the top keyword (400 rankings, 8% of all rankings for that keyword). The most visible article was Jack Draper stunned by Alexander Bublik in four-set defeat at French Open.
3. The Independent (independent.co.uk)
   The Independent reached 7.65% visibility, with notable peaks on 5 and 8 June, reaching 22.5% and 22.71%, respectively. It collected a total of 1,672 keyword rankings, where “french open” was once again the most frequently ranked term (309 rankings; 6%). The outlet’s most visible article shifted the focus slightly, centring on post-match controversy: Coco Gauff responds to Aryna Sabalenka over ‘not fair’ French Open final claim.
4. BBC (bbc.com)
   With 6.59% visibility, the BBC’s other domain. bbc.com, ranked just behind The Independent. Its visibility peaked early, on 26 May, at 19.35%. The site recorded 1,869 keyword rankings, and interestingly had the highest number of “french open” rankings among the top publishers (550, or 11% of total for that keyword). The most prominent article highlighted Emma Raducanu’s performance: Emma Raducanu at French Open 2025: Briton beats Wang Xinyu and will face Iga Swiatek in second round.
5. TNT Sports (tntsports.co.uk)
   TNT Sports achieved 5.94% visibility, with its strongest performance on 4 June at 13.1%. The publisher earned 1,801 keyword rankings in total, with “roland garros” as the most ranked term (571, equating to 10% of all publisher rankings for that keyword). Its most visible article offered live coverage: French Open LIVE – updates from Day 9 at Roland-Garros with Jannik Sinner facing Andrey Rublev after Jack Draper crashes out and Novak Djokovic wins.
6. Sky Sports (skysports.com)
   Sky Sports rounded out the group with 3.94% visibility and a peak on 5 June at 11.23%. The publisher posted 1,037 keyword rankings, with “roland garros” leading at 268 (5% of total rankings for that term). The most visible article was titled French Open: Emma Raducanu knocked out at Roland-Garros after Iga Swiatek thrashing, highlighting another key British angle in the tournament’s coverage.