50 Fun Facts About French Open

The French Open's red clay is in fact a thin dusting of crushed what over white limestone?

Brick, crushed to a red powder, forms only the top millimetre or two of each court; beneath it lie layers of white limestone, clinker and gravel, so the famous surface is barely skin-deep.

Which 17-year-old Swede won the 1982 French Open, beating four of the top five seeds on the way?

Mats Wilander knocked out the seeds ranked two, five, four and three in successive rounds, and one rally in his final against Guillermo Vilas lasted 90 shots.

Where does the French Open sit in the calendar of the four Grand Slams?

Second in the year, after the Australian Open and a few weeks before Wimbledon, though when it returned after the war in 1946 it was played in July, after Wimbledon.

Roland Garros, the man the French Open's venue honours, was famous as what?

An aviator and fighter pilot, Garros made the first flight across the Mediterranean in 1913 and was killed in action in 1918, a day before his 30th birthday; an old classmate had the new stadium named after him.

Who won the 1988 French Open women's final 6–0, 6–0 in just 34 minutes?

Steffi Graf beat Natasha Zvereva without losing a game, the shortest women's final in the tournament's history, and went on to win all four majors and Olympic gold that year.

The first French Championships winner, in 1891, came from which country?

Great Britain supplied the first French champion: Briggs, an Englishman, is so obscure that his first name is unknown and record books disagree on his initial.

Until 1925 the French Championships were open only to whom?

Members of French clubs had the event to themselves until it opened to players from abroad in 1925, yet home players went on winning the men's title until an Australian took it in 1933.

The stadium at Porte d'Auteuil was built in 1928 so France could defend what?

The Davis Cup had just been won by France's four-man team on American soil in 1927, and to stage its defence at home the following year Paris needed a bigger stadium.

What is the French Open men's singles trophy called?

Coupe des Mousquetaires honours Borotra, Brugnon, Cochet and Lacoste, the four Frenchmen who ruled 1920s tennis; each new champion's name is inscribed on the silver bowl's base.

The French Open women's singles trophy is named after which French star of the 1920s?

Suzanne Lenglen won the title six times, and the trophy is an almost exact copy of a cup the city of Nice once presented to her.

What was the French Open's Court Philippe-Chatrier called before it was renamed in 2001?

Court Central took the name of Philippe Chatrier, the federation president who led the campaign that returned tennis to the Olympic Games in 1988.

Which Spaniard won three French Open women's singles titles, in 1989, 1994 and 1998?

Arantxa Sánchez Vicario was 17 when she won the first: the world number one served for the title at 5–3 in the deciding set of the 1989 final, but the teenager took it 7–5.

Who won the 2026 French Open for his first Grand Slam title, after losing his three previous major finals?

Alexander Zverev beat Flavio Cobolli in five sets, seizing his chance in a year when the two-time defending champion was out injured; no German man had won a major since Boris Becker in 1996.

Who became the first player ever to beat Rafael Nadal at the French Open, in 2009?

Robin Söderling, the 23rd seed, had never reached a Grand Slam quarter-final, yet in the fourth round he ended Nadal's unbeaten run of 31 matches at Roland Garros.

The plaque unveiled at Rafael Nadal's 2025 French Open farewell ceremony features what?

A replica of his footprint now sits on the court where he won 14 titles; it was unveiled at the end of a ceremony in which his three great rivals walked out to join him.

Who completed a career Grand Slam by winning his only French Open in 2009?

Roger Federer had lost the previous three finals to Rafael Nadal; when Nadal was knocked out early in 2009 he seized his chance and won the final in straight sets.

Which man won six French Open finals without ever losing one, including four in a row from 1978?

Björn Borg twice took the title without dropping a set, in 1978 and 1980, then stunned the sport by walking away from it in his mid-twenties.

Which woman holds the record of seven French Open singles titles?

Chris Evert took the last two of her seven titles, in 1985 and 1986, by beating her great rival Martina Navratilova in the final each time.

Who is the youngest man ever to win a Grand Slam singles title, taking the 1989 French Open at 17?

Michael Chang, cramping badly in the fourth round, threw in an underarm serve to rattle world number one Ivan Lendl and won in five sets, then beat Stefan Edberg in the final.

Who became the youngest ever French Open women's champion in 1990, aged 16?

Monica Seles was 16 years and six months old, and in the final she saved four set points in the first-set tie-break against the world number one before winning in straight sets.

Which 14-time major winner never won the French Open, managing only a semi-final in 1996?

Pete Sampras found that the slow clay blunted his attacking game: on his best run, in 1996, he beat two former champions in five sets before losing the semi-final in straight sets.

Which American won back-to-back French Open titles in 1991 and 1992?

Jim Courier won the first by beating his former roommate at Nick Bollettieri's tennis academy in the 1991 final, then kept the title a year later.

As of 2026, who is the last Frenchman to win the French Open men's singles, back in 1983?

Yannick Noah was spotted at 11 by Arthur Ashe at a clinic in Cameroon; Ashe alerted the French federation, which brought the boy to train in Nice, and in 1983 he ended a 37-year wait for a home champion.

Which Brazilian won the French Open three times, in 1997, 2000 and 2001?

Gustavo Kuerten was ranked 66th when he won in 1997; in 2001 he saved a match point in the fourth round, and after winning the final he carved a heart in the clay to thank the crowd.

Which Belgian won four French Open titles between 2003 and 2007?

Justine Henin won the last three of them in a row, then stunned the sport by announcing her retirement in May 2008 while she was still the reigning champion.

Which Pole won four French Open singles titles between 2020 and 2024?

Iga Świątek was ranked 54th when she won the first in 2020, thrashing the top seed in the fourth round a year after winning just one game against her at the same stage.

Which player won the 2011 French Open to become China's first Grand Slam singles champion?

Li Na had lost the Australian Open final earlier that year; in Paris she made no mistake, sealing the title by winning the closing tie-break without dropping a point.

Which Italian won the 2010 French Open, becoming her country's first female Grand Slam singles champion?

Francesca Schiavone, 29 and seeded 17th, beat the favourite Sam Stosur in straight sets, then fell to her knees and kissed the clay.

Which unseeded Latvian won the 2017 French Open women's title from a set and 3–0 down in the final?

Jeļena Ostapenko, ranked 47th, had never won a tour-level title; she struck 54 winners in the final and became Latvia's first Grand Slam singles champion.

Which Swiss won the 2015 French Open men's title, beating world number one Novak Djokovic in the final?

Stan Wawrinka came from a set down to win in four, then joked to reporters that his now-famous shorts had won him the title.

Which man last held all four majors at once before Djokovic's 2016 French Open?

Rod Laver had last done it in 1969; Djokovic matched his 47-year-old mark after losing the first set of the final, then winning the next three to take the one major he lacked.

Which Australian won the 2019 French Open women's title, her first major?

Ashleigh Barty had quit tennis in 2014 to play professional cricket and stayed away for 17 months; five years after walking out she was a Grand Slam champion.

Which Romanian won her first major at the 2018 French Open after losing three Slam finals?

Simona Halep trailed Sloane Stephens by a set and a break in the 2018 final before fighting back to win in three; two of her three lost finals had also been in Paris.

Which Czech doubles specialist won the 2021 French Open singles in only her fifth Grand Slam singles main draw?

Barbora Krejčíková dedicated the title to Jana Novotná, the former Wimbledon champion who had coached and mentored her and who died in 2017.

Whom did Coco Gauff beat in three sets to win the 2025 French Open women's title?

Aryna Sabalenka, the world number one, took the first set on a tie-break, but in windy, testing conditions Gauff fought back to win the next two.

The 1968 French Open was the first Grand Slam tournament to do what?

Admit professional players: the majors had been for amateurs only, so Ken Rosewall, champion as an amateur in 1953 and then shut out once he turned professional, came back at 33 to win the first open one.

As of 2026, who is the last Frenchwoman to win the French Open women's singles, back in 2000?

Mary Pierce was born in Montreal to a French mother and an American father and raised in Florida, but chose to play under the French flag; she won the doubles title that fortnight too.

Whom did Serena beat in the 2002 French Open final, the first of four straight major finals between them?

Venus Williams lost to her younger sister in the finals of the French Open, Wimbledon, the US Open and the Australian Open in turn, which left Serena holding all four major titles at once.

Who led the 1984 French Open final by two sets before losing to Ivan Lendl, his first defeat of that year?

John McEnroe was unbeaten all season and two sets up when Lendl fought back to win in five; it was one of only three matches McEnroe lost in 1984, and the only French Open singles final he ever played.

After Wimbledon automated in 2025, the French Open was the only Slam still using what?

In 2025 umpires at Roland Garros still settled disputes by inspecting the ball mark on the clay.

Which French Open arena, opened in 2019, is surrounded by greenhouses?

Court Simonne-Mathieu is sunk into the Serres d'Auteuil botanical garden, ringed by four glasshouses of tropical plants; it is named after a 1930s champion who went on to work with the French Resistance.

The 2020 French Open, the first with a roofed main court, also saw the tournament's first what?

Night matches under floodlights became possible once lights were fitted to the courts for 2020, and play duly ran late: one quarter-final that autumn did not finish until about 1.25am.

Which Russian completed her career Grand Slam by winning the 2012 French Open?

Maria Sharapova beat Sara Errani in the final to become the tenth woman to win all four majors, having fought back from shoulder surgery that had threatened her career.

In 2006, the French Open became the first Grand Slam to do what?

Start on a Sunday: the extra day made it a 15-day event, and the idea spread, with the Australian Open following in 2024 and the US Open in 2025, which left Wimbledon as the only major still starting on a Monday.

Which former world number one was named the French Open's tournament director in 2021?

Amélie Mauresmo took up tennis at four after watching a Frenchman win the title on television in 1983; she won the junior event there in 1996 and came back to run the tournament.

Who saved three championship points to win the 2025 French Open final, the longest in the tournament's history?

Carlos Alcaraz was two sets down to Jannik Sinner and one point from defeat three times in the fourth, yet won on a deciding tie-break after five hours and 29 minutes.

Which network took over US television coverage of the French Open from 2025?

TNT Sports took the rights from NBC, which had shown the tournament to American viewers for decades; its parent company already carried the event across Europe on Eurosport.

Who beat the world number one in the 2016 French Open final to win her first Grand Slam title?

Garbiñe Muguruza won in straight sets, making amends for losing to the same opponent in the previous year's Wimbledon final.

Who won the 1999 French Open to complete a career Golden Slam of all four majors and Olympic gold?

Andre Agassi lost the first two sets of the final to Andrei Medvedev 6–1, 6–2 before winning the next three, adding the one major he lacked to the Olympic gold he had won in Atlanta in 1996.

Whom did Novak Djokovic beat in the 2016 French Open final?

Andy Murray, the first British man in the final since Bunny Austin in 1937, won the opening set 6–3 but took only seven more games.