The French Open, (French:Internationaux de France) is an annual tennis tournament held over two weeks in May and June. Established in 1891 and played since 1928 on outdoor red clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France,[1] the French Open is one of the four Grand Slam tournaments played each year which include the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. Organised by the Fédération Française de Tennis (FFT), the French Open is the second of the four Grand Slam tournaments of the year to be played.[2]
Location | Paris![]() |
---|---|
Venue | Stade Roland Garros |
Governing body | Fédération Française de Tennis (FFT) |
Created | 1891 (established) Open Era: 1968 (48 editions) |
Surface | Alternate between sand and clay (1891–1907) Clay (red) (1908–Present) |
Trophy | Coupe des Mousquetaires |
Website | http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/about/history/winners.html |
Most titles | |
Amateur era | 8: Max Decugis |
Open era | 9: Rafael Nadal |
Current champion | |
Stan Wawrinka (First title) |
The winner receives the Coupe des Mousquetaires named after The Four Musketeers of French tennis: Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon, Henri Cochet, and René Lacoste.[3] The event was not held from 1915 to 1919 because of the First World War and was held unofficially under German occupation from 1941 to 1944 during the Second World War.[4]
Rafael Nadal has won the most French Open titles with nine. He also holds the record for the most consecutive wins in the Open era with five from 2010 to 2014.[5] Max Decugis won the most titles before the Open era with eight.[6] Michael Chang is the youngest player to have won the French Open. He was 17 years and 3 months old when he won in 1989. The oldest winner in the Open era was Andrés Gimeno; he was 34 years and 9 months old when he won in 1972. André Vacherot was the oldest winner when the competition was restricted to members of French clubs. He was 40 years old when he won in 1901.[7] French players have won the most French Open titles, with 38 victories, followed by Spanish players (12) and Australian players (11). The current champion is Stan Wawrinka who beat Novak Djokovic in the 2015 final.[8]
History
The French Open was established in 1891 and was originally known as the French Championships. The tournament was only open to French players or foreign players who were a member of a French club during the first 34 years on its existence.[9] The first winner of the Championship was H. Briggs, a member of Club Stade Français which entitled him to compete.[10] French players were dominant in the early stages of the tournament, in particular Max Decugis, who won eight titles before the outbreak of the First World War.[11] The championship started to attract the best players after it became an international event in 1925, which was won by René Lacoste. France's victory in the 1927 Davis Cup increased interest in the tournament and required a new stadium to be built. Previously the tournament had alternated between Racing Club and La Faisanderie, before the Stade Roland Garros was built in 1928.[12] Henri Cochet won the first tournament at the new venue.[13]
French dominance started to decline in the 1930s, from 1933 to the suspension of the tournament in 1940 following the outbreak of the Second World War, no French players won the title. Don Budge's victory in 1938 was notable, as he won all of the Grand Slam tournaments during the year.[14] Though the event was suspended in 1940, it was held unofficially under the guise of the Tournoi de France. Bernard Destremau won the first two events, while Yvon Petra won three from 1942 to 1945. These results are not recognised by the FFT or other major international organisations and are considered unofficial.[4] Marcel Bernard won the first event after the end of the war in 1946 and he would be the only Frenchman to win the event before the advent of the Open era in 1968.[11]
No one player would dominate the event during this period. Only five players, Frank Parker, Jaroslav Drobný, Tony Trabert, Nicola Pietrangeli and Roy Emerson, won multiple titles.[11] The tournament became an Open in 1968, as professional players were allowed to compete with amateurs, previously only amateurs could compete in the Grand Slam tournaments.[15] The tournament, won by Australian Ken Rosewall, was the first Grand Slam tournament to be played in the Open era.[16]
Swede Björn Borg won the majority of the tournaments in the early years of the Open era. He won consecutive titles in 1974 and 1975, before winning four successive titles from 1978 to 1981.[17] Yannick Noah became the first Frenchman to win the event since 1946, when he won in 1983.[18] Ivan Lendl would dominate the event in the subsequent years. He won his first title in 1984, before losing the following year to Wilander in the final and won two consecutive titles in 1986 and 1987.[17] Michael Chang became the youngest man to win the French Open when he beat Stefan Edberg in 1989.[19]
American Jim Courier won consecutive titles in 1991 and 1992 before Spaniard Sergi Bruguera repeated the feat in 1993 and 1994.[20][21] Gustavo Kuerten won three titles in 1997, 2000 and 2001.[17] 2005 marked Rafael Nadal's first French Open; he would go on to win four consecutive titles from 2005 to 2008.[22] Nadal was beaten in the semi-finals of the 2009 tournament by Robin Söderling who would lose to Roger Federer in the final.[23] Nadal regained the title in 2010, which he held until 2015, when he was knocked out by Novak Djokovic, who lost in the final to Stan Wawrinka.[8]
Champions
† | French club members only event, which was called the French National Championship |
---|---|
* | Champion won the Tournoi de France, which is not recognised as an offiicial competition by the FFT[24] |
- The "Year" column refers to the year the competition was held, and wikilinks to the article about that season.
- Set score in parentheses indicates a tiebreaker score.
- — indicates that the score for the final is unavailable.
French Championships
French Open
Statistics
Multiple champions
Years in italics indicate competitions before 1925, which were only open to French nationals and foreigners who were a member of a French tennis club.
Champions by country
Country | Amateur Era | Open Era | All-time | First title | Last title |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
France (FRA) | 37 | 1 | 38 | 1892 | 1983 |
Spain (ESP) | 2 | 15 | 17 | 1961 | 2014 |
Australia (AUS) | 9 | 2 | 11 | 1933 | 1969 |
United States (USA) | 7 | 4 | 11 | 1938 | 1999 |
Sweden (SWE) | 1 | 9 | 10 | 1957 | 1988 |
Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 0 | 5 | 5 | 1970 | 1987 |
Germany (GER) | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1934 | 1937 |
Italy (ITA) | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1959 | 1976 |
Brazil (BRA) | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1997 | 2001 |
Great Britain (GBR) | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1891 | 1935 |
Egypt (EGY) | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1951 | 1952 |
Argentina (ARG) | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1977 | 2004 |
Switzerland (SUI) | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2009 | 2015 |
Hungary (HUN) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1947 | 1947 |
Romania (ROU) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1973 | 1973 |
Ecuador (ECU) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1990 | 1990 |
Austria (AUT) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1995 | 1995 |
Russia (RUS) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1996 | 1996 |
See also
Footnotes
General
- "Past Winners". Roland Garros. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
- "French Open Men's champions". SuperSport. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
Specific
- ^ "The Origins of the Tournament". Roland Garros. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
- ^ "Grand Slam Overview". International Tennis Federation (ITF). Retrieved 23 July 2015.
- ^ Bowers, Chris (27 February 2009). "The New Musketeers". Davis Cup. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
- ^ a b Fetter, Henry D. (6 June 2011). "The French Open During World War II: A Hidden History". The Atlantic. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
- ^ Newbery, Piers (8 June 2014). "Rafael Nadal beats Novak Djokovic to win ninth French Open title". BBC Sport. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
- ^ Clarey, Christopher (22 May 2014). "A Century Ago, a French Title Collection to Rival Rafael Nadal". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
- ^ Lynch, Steven (29 May 2015). "Rafael Nadal the youngest French Open winner?". ESPN. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
- ^ a b Newbery, Piers (7 June 2015). "Stan Wawrinka stuns Novak Djokovic to win French Open". BBC Sport. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
- ^ "French Open History". Tennis. Tennis Media Company. 16 August 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
- ^ Gillmeister 1998, p. 225.
- ^ a b c "Roland Garros past single winners". CNN. 23 May 2008. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
- ^ Lewis, Gabrielle (23 May 2002). "French Open History". BBC Sport. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
- ^ "Henri Cochet is dead; French Tennis Leader". The New York Times. 3 April 1987. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
- ^ Gray, Michael (28 January 2000). "Donald Budge". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
- ^ Ford, Bonnie D. (12 October 2008). "Reform to an Open status altered the course of tennis history". ESPN. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
- ^ Henderson, Jon (15 June 2008). "Now I'd choose tennis". The Observer. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
- ^ a b c "Rafael Nadal, Bjorn Borg, Ivan Lendl and the seven kings of clay". Sky Sports. 22 May 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
- ^ Gross, Jane (6 June 1983). "Noah captures French crown". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
- ^ Gittings, Paul (8 June 2012). "Chang's 'underhand' tactics stunned Lendl and made Tennis history". CNN. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
- ^ "Topics of The Times – An American in Paris". The New York Times. 10 June 1992. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
- ^ Roberts, John (6 June 1994). "Bruguera towers above tired Berasategui". The Independent. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
- ^ Newberry, Piers (8 June 2008). "Nadal storms to fourth French win". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
- ^ Ornstein, David (7 June 2009). "Federer claims historic Paris win". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
- ^ Robertson & Kramer 1974, p. 375.
References
- Gillmeister, Heiner (1998). Tennis: A Cultural History (Repr. ed.). London: Leicester University Press. ISBN 978-0718501952.
{{cite book}}
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(help) - Robertson, Max; Kramer, Jack (1974). The Encyclopedia Of Tennis: 100 Years Of Great Players And Events. Studio. ISBN 978-0670294084.
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