The
French Open is renowned for slow clay courts, high bouncing balls and epic rallies. It’s a battleground where only the best tennis players in the world fight it out for the titles, the cups and a share of the €39,197,000 prize pool.
But… how much do you know about the
French Open and why is it one of the most watched sports events on the planet? Here are a few facts and figures that’ll hopefully prompt you to turn on the TV to watch the 122
nd edition live in Paris:
Physically Demanding
Of the four annual grand slams of tennis, the
French Open is reputed to be the most physically demanding. It is defined by long arduous rallies and athletic slides into the ball. As the traditionally slow red clay court surface makes it more difficult to hit winning shots, matches are generally much longer and tougher than on any other court surface.
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There are no final set tiebreaks to cap the hours of play on-court and those who want to walk away with the kudos and a fistful of Euro have to endure seven rounds of high powered competitive tennis over a punishing 15-day period!
Throw in the wind that is always a factor in the unusually large Philippe Chatrier Centre Court and the fine dust particles that can partially blind players and the French Open is clearly one of the most grueling competitive sports events in the world.
You Can Bet on the Baseliners
Due to the slow surface and high bounce, the French Open is tailor-made for baseline players who have an excellent defensive game. Over the years the French has been dominated by the likes of Bjorn Borg, Gustavo Kuerten and more recently the king of Clay himself, the great Rafael Nadal. Chris Evert, Justine Henin and Steffi Graf are legendary ladies’ baseline players who snapped up the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen several times over their long and successful careers.
So… who should you bet your hard-earned cash on?
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The out and out favourite in the men’s competition is
Rafael Nadal who is gunning for a record 11
th title at Roland Garros. Other players who are in with a shout include Alexander Zverev, Novak Djokovic, Dominic Thiem, Juan Martin del Potro and Kevin Anderson of South Africa.
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As far as the ladies’ competition is concerned, players like Garbine Muguruza, Caroline Wozniacki, Maria Sharapova, Petra Kvitova and Angelique Kerber are amongst the favourites to triumph in Paris!
Fast French Open Facts
Now that you know who to wager on, here a few fast facts:
- The first-ever winner of the French Open was rather ironically a Brit called H Briggs. Things haven’t improved for the hosts over the years as the only Frenchman to lift the men’s singles title in the Open Era was Yannick Noah in 1983. Similarly, only Mary Pierce has gone on to win the women’s singles by beating Spain’s Conchita Martinez in straight sets in 2000.
- This year the winners in the singles competition will bank €2,2 million in prize money and one of two pure silver replica trophies handcrafted by a French jewelry house founded in 1613; Mellerio dits Meller - the Coupe des Mousquetaires and the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen.
- At 16 years and 6 months and 17 years and three months, Monica Seles and Michael Chang are the youngest-ever singles winners… but who has bagged the most singles titles at Roland Garros? That’s Rafael Nadal and Chris Evert Lloyd, with 10 and 7 titles respectively. Will Rafael Nadal record an historic 11th win in 2018?
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