The whole world is glued to their television sets when the major Grand Slams come around the corner. This includes the very famous clay courts of Roland Garros, the tennis stadium named after a French aviation pioneer Eugene Adrien Roland Georges Garros. The French Open is the second of the four annual Grand Slam tournaments, the other three being the Australian Open, the US Open, and the Wimbledon. It is the only major Grand Slam to be played on clay.
History of the French Open
The men's edition of the French Open began in 1891 under the name 'Championnat de France', which translates to 'French Championships' in English. But in those days, the tournament was only open to members of French clubs. By 1925, the French Open was open to all amateurs internationally.
The initial tournament was held at the Stade de France before the championship moved to the newly constructed Stade de Roland Garros in 1928, and has been held at the competition ever since.
In 1946 and 1947, the French Championships were held after the Wimbledon, making it the third Grand Slam event of the year. In 1968, the French Championships were the first Grand Slam tournament to open, allowing both amateurs and professionals to compete.
Open Era and the Nadal dominance
The defending champion of the tournament is Novak Djokovic. The Serbian beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in a brilliant comeback, beating his opponent 6-7, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. But the world no. 1 is not the best player at the tournament. That record goes to Rafael Nadal, who established himself as a clay-court king during his illustrious career.
Nadal won the French Open nine of the first 10 times, and 13 times overall. With a win rate of 97.2 percent, Nadal is by far the best player on the clay court that tennis has ever seen. He won the French Open on his first attempt as a 19-year-old in 2005 and then went on to add four more consecutive crowns from 2005 to 2008 to his name. He also beat then-world no. 1, Roger Federer, in three consecutive finals from 2006 to 2008.
After a loss in the Round of 16 to Sweden's Robin Soderling in 2009, the Spaniard avenged this loss in the next French Open, defeating him in 2010 final. He went on to win five consecutive crowns from 2010 to 2014. But he was not done there.
Nadal completed the La Decima (winning 10 titles) in 2017 and then won an unprecedented three more titles, making him the only tennis player male or female, to win 13 Grand Slams at a single major. He is also the only player to have three streaks of four consecutive titles at a Grand Slam.
Fight of the Americas among the women
Two women stars of their generation — Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert — dominated the Open Era of the Roland Garros in the initial years. Between 1979 to 1986, the American duo won seven of the eight available titles. Meanwhile, Evert has the record for the most titles — seven.
Since 2008, no women's tennis player has won consecutive trophies, highlighting the competitiveness in the women's game at the French Open. The defending champion is Czech Republic's Barbora Krejcikova, but the onus will be on recently crowned world no. 1 Iga Swiatek to win her second title in three years.
