French Open: All you need to know

The most prestigious clay court tournament gets underway from 20th May – 9th June this year as Roland-Garros in Paris plays host to the 128th French Open. It is considered to be the most physically challenging tennis tournament in the world with the clay court’s tough conditions, it certainly pushes the players to their limits.

Below is all the information you need about the clay season’s biggest tournament.

The Overview

The French Open is the Grand Slam which signals the end of the clay court season on the ATP Tour every year. The French Open is the only Grand Slam played on clay with the US and Australian Open on hard court, and Wimbledon played on grass.

The French Open is played over three weeks at the Roland-Garros in Paris. Since its inception in 1891, the French Open has attracted all of tennis’ best players and has played host to many memorable matches.

The tournament is made up of 128 competitors in both the men’s and women’s singles tournaments, and 64 doubles pairings in the men’s, women’s and mixed doubles competitions. Last year’s men’s final was the most watched with an average of 4.8 million viewers, peaking at 6.4 million.

Where and when?

The French Open begins on the 20th of May, lasting for three weeks until the Men’s final brings the curtain down on the 9th of June.

The competition all takes place on the 18 clay courts of the Roland-Garros Stadium complex in France’s capital city of Paris.

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Previous winners

Any Major winner will have their own place cemented in the history books and a French Open title is no different. With some of the most physically demanding action, winning the French Open is considered to be one of the greatest achievements in tennis.

As with any of the major tournaments in the tennis calendar, The French Open is a lucrative challenge, with both singles champions of 2023 (Novak Djokovic and Iga Swiatek) taking home an eye-watering €2.3 million.

Rafael Nadal, with a record 14 French Open titles to his name, is the most dominant player of a single tournament in the history of the sport, earning him the nickname ‘King of Clay’. He has played in 18 French Opens, winning 14 – including 115 matches along the way, of which Nadal has won 112 with a win rate of 97%. Nadal has also never lost a French Open final having been eliminated in prior rounds three times and withdrawing once.

Many other tennis greats have lifted the trophy on multiple occasions including Novak Djokovic, Björn Borg, Steffi Graf, and Serena Williams.

What are the odds for the French Open?

Despite withdrawing from the Barcelona Open with an injury, Spanish talent Carlos Alcaraz is the market leader at 2/1 to take the torch from fellow countryman Nadal and fly the flag for Spain. Naturally, one can’t leave out Novak Djokovic when talking about major tournaments such as Roland Garros. Djokovic is a three-time winner here and defending champion, and comes here with every chance as second favourite and a player who can perform on any surface, and is 11/4 to take home the trophy. Jannik Sinner sits third in the betting at 100/30 and, having won the Australian Open earlier this year along with two ATP Tour events in Rotterdam and Miami, he sits at a career-high number two in the ATP world rankings.

Iga Swiatek is the reigning Women’s champion and is the short-priced favourite ahead of this year’s French Open at 8/11 as she looks for three consecutive wins in this tournament. Swiatek is currently world number one, having won most recently at the Indian Wells Masters, beating the talented Greek Maria Sakkari in straight sets. Second in the market is Aryna Sabalenka at 5/1, who reached the semis last year. Sabalenka won the Australian Open earlier this year and will be looking to add another Grand Slam to her CV.

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