French Open

The French Open (French: Internationaux de France de tennis), officially branded Roland-Garros (French: [ʁɔlɑ̃ ɡaʁos]), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam tennis events every year, held after the Australian Open and before Wimbledon and the US Open. It was established in 1891 but it did not become a Grand Slam event until 1925.

The French Open begins in late May and continues for two weeks. The tournament and venue are named after the French aviator Roland Garros.

The French Open is the premier clay court tournament in the world and the only Grand Slam currently held on this surface. Until 1975, the French Open was the only major tournament not played on grass. Due to the clay surface characteristics favoring long rallies and high physical demand, and the men's seven rounds of best-of-five sets needed for a championship, the French Open is widely regarded as the toughest Grand Slam to conquer.

History

Officially named in French Internationaux de France de Tennis, the tournament uses the name Roland-Garros in all languages, and it is usually called the French Open in English.

The French Open began in 1891 as the Championnat de France, first called the "French Championships" in English. It was only open to members of French tennis clubs at first. The first winner was H. Briggs, a Briton living in Paris. The women’s singles tournament started in 1897. The tournament was not held between 1915 and 1919 because of World War I. In 1925, the French Championships opened to international players and became a major championship. The tournament moved to its current home, Stade Roland Garros, in 1928. During World War II, the tournament was not held in 1940 and from 1941 to 1945, but these events are not recognized by the French Tennis Federation. In 1968, the French Open became the first Grand Slam tournament to allow both amateur and professional players to compete.

Surface

The French Open is special because it is the only major tennis tournament played on clay courts. Since 1978, when the US Open switched to hard courts, the French Open has kept its slow clay surface. This type of court makes the ball bounce higher and slower, which changes the game and gives an advantage to certain players.

Many famous players have won the French Open, showing they can play well on clay. The clay courts also use human line judges instead of fully automated calls, unlike Wimbledon, which changed to automated calls in 2025. Players can still ask the chair umpire to check close calls by looking at the marks left in the clay. The clay courts are made from red clay dust, crushed limestone, coal aggregate, crushed gravel, and drain rock fragments.

Trophies

The winners of the French Open receive special trophies made of pure silver, crafted by the Parisian jewelry house Mellerio dits Meller. Each winner’s name is added to the base of their trophy, and they also get a smaller replica to keep.

The men’s singles winner receives the Coupe des Mousquetaires, named after the "Four Musketeers". The women’s singles winner gets the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen (Suzanne Lenglen Cup), named after a famous tennis player. Both trophies are kept by the French Tennis Federation after the winners receive their replicas.

Prize money and ranking points

For the 2025 French Open, the prize money pool was €56.352 million, which is a bit more than the 2024 edition.

Players can earn points that help decide their rankings, and these points depend on how well they do in the tournament. Both men and women have their own rules for getting these points.

Champions

The French Open, also known as Roland-Garros, has many champions throughout its history. Some of the titles given to winners include the Coupe des Mousquetaires for men's singles, the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen for women's singles, the Coupe Jacques Brugnon for men's doubles, the Coupe Simone Mathieu for women's doubles, and the Coupe Marcel Bernard for mixed doubles. You can find out more about all the champions here.

2025 French Open

Carlos Alcaraz, the 2025 men's singles champion Coco Gauff, the 2025 women's singles champion Marcel Granollers was part of the winning men's doubles team in 2025. Horacio Zeballos was part of the winning men's doubles team in 2025. Sara Errani was part of the winning women's and mixed doubles team in 2025. Jasmine Paolini was part of the winning women's doubles team in 2025. Andrea Vavassori was part of the winning mixed doubles team in 2025.

2025 event	Champion	Runner-up	Score
Men's singles	Carlos Alcaraz	Jannik Sinner	4–6, 6–7(4–7), 6–4, 7–6(7–3), 7–6(10–2)
Women's singles	Coco Gauff	Aryna Sabalenka	6–7(5–7), 6–2, 6–4
Men's doubles	Marcel Granollers Horacio Zeballos	Joe Salisbury Neal Skupski	6–0, 6–7(5–7), 7–5
Women's doubles	Sara Errani Jasmine Paolini	Anna Danilina Aleksandra Krunić	6–4, 2–6, 6–1
Mixed doubles	Sara Errani Andrea Vavassori	Taylor Townsend Evan King	6–4, 6–2

Records

The French Championships began in 1891 but was only open to members of French clubs until 1925. In 1925, it opened to international players and later became known as the French Open in 1968 when it allowed professional players to compete. For more details, see WHCC.

Record	Era	Player(s)	Count	Years
Men since 1891
Most singles titles	Open Era	Rafael Nadal	14	2005–2008, 2010–2014, 2017–2020, 2022
	Amateur Era	Henri Cochet	4	1926, 1928, 1930, 1932 ● World Hard Court Championships: 1922
	French Championships*	Max Decugis	8	1903–1904, 1907–1909, 1912–1914
Most consecutive singles titles	Open Era	Rafael Nadal	5	2010–2014
	Amateur Era	Frank Parker Jaroslav Drobný Tony Trabert Nicola Pietrangeli	2	1948–1949 1951–1952 1954–1955 1959–1960
	French Championships*	Paul Aymé	4	1897–1900
Most doubles titles	Open Era	Daniel Nestor Max Mirnyi	4	2007 with Mark Knowles, 2010 with Nenad Zimonjić, 2011, 2012 with Max Mirnyi. 2005, 2006 with Jonas Björkman, 2011, 2012 with Daniel Nestor.
	Amateur Era	Roy Emerson	6	1960, 1962 with Neale Fraser, 1961 with Rod Laver, 1963 with Manuel Santana, 1964 with Ken Fletcher, 1965 with Fred Stolle.
	French Championships*	Max Decugis	13	1902–1909, 1911–1914, 1920
Most consecutive doubles titles	Open Era	Daniel Nestor	3	2010–2012
	Amateur Era	Roy Emerson	6	1960–1965
	French Championships*	Maurice Germot	10	1906–1914, 1920
Most mixed doubles titles	Open Era	Jean-Claude Barclay	3	1968, 1971, 1973 with Françoise Dürr.
	Amateur Era	Ken Fletcher	3	1963–1965 with Margaret Court.
	French Championships*	Max Decugis	7	1904–1906, 1908–1909, 1914 and 1920 with Suzanne Lenglen.
Most Championships (singles, doubles & mixed doubles)	Open Era	Rafael Nadal	14	2005–2008, 2010–2014, 2017–2020, 2022 (14 singles)
	French Championships*	Max Decugis	28	1902–1920 (8 singles, 13 doubles, 7 mixed)
Women since 1897
Most singles titles	Open Era	Chris Evert	7	1974–1975, 1979–1980, 1983, 1985–1986
	French Championships*	Suzanne Lenglen	6	1920–1923, 1925–1926 ● World Hard Court Championships: 1914, 1921–23
Most consecutive singles titles	Open Era	Monica Seles Justine Henin Iga Świątek	3	1990–1992 2005–2007 2022–2024
	French Championships*	Jeanne Matthey Suzanne Lenglen	4	1909–1912 1920–1923
Most doubles titles	Open Era	/ Martina Navratilova	7	1975 with Chris Evert, 1982 with Anne Smith, 1984–1985, 1987, 1988 with Pam Shriver, 1986 with Andrea Temesvári.
	French Championships*	Simonne Mathieu	6	1933, 1934 with Elizabeth Ryan, 1936–1937, 1938 with Billie Yorke, 1939 with Jadwiga Jędrzejowska.
Most consecutive doubles titles	Open Era	Martina Navratilova Gigi Fernández	5	1984–1985, 1987–1988 with Pam Shriver, 1986 with Andrea Temesvári. 1991 with Jana Novotná, 1992–95 with Natasha Zvereva.
	French Championships*	Françoise Dürr	5	1967–1971
Most mixed doubles titles	Open Era	Françoise Dürr	3	1968, 1971, 1973 with Jean-Claude Barclay.
	French Championships*	Suzanne Lenglen	7	1914, 1920 with Max Decugis, 1921–1923, 1925, 1926 with Jacques Brugnon.
Most Championships (singles, doubles & mixed doubles)	Open Era	/ Martina Navratilova	11	1974–1988 (2 singles, 7 doubles, 2 mixed)
	French Championships*	Suzanne Lenglen	15	1919–1926 (6 singles, 2 doubles, 7 mixed)
Wheelchair: singles and doubles since 2007, quads since 2019
Most singles titles	Men	Shingo Kunieda	8	2007–2010, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2022
	Women	Esther Vergeer	6	2007–2012
	Quads	Dylan Alcott	3	2019–2021
Most consecutive singles titles	Men	Shingo Kunieda	4	2007–2010
	Women	Esther Vergeer	6	2006–2009
	Quads	Dylan Alcott	3	2019–2021
Most doubles titles	Men	Shingo Kunieda	8	2007–2011, 2013–2015
	Women	Aniek van Koot	9	2010, 2013, 2015, 2018–2022, 2024
	Quads	David Wagner	3	2019–2022
Most consecutive doubles titles	Men	Alfie Hewett Gordon Reid	5	2020–2024 2020–2024
	Women	Diede de Groot Aniek van Koot	5	2018–2022 2018–2022
	Quads	David Wagner	3	2019–2022
Miscellaneous
Unseeded champions	Men	Mats Wilander Gustavo Kuerten Gastón Gaudio	1982 1997 2004
	Women	Margaret Scriven Jeļena Ostapenko Iga Świątek Barbora Krejčíková	1933 2017 2020 2021
Youngest singles champion	Men	Michael Chang	17 years and 3 months (1989)
	Women	Monica Seles	16 years and 6 months (1990)
Oldest singles champion	Men	Novak Djokovic	36 years and 20 days (2023)
	Women	Zsuzsa Körmöczy	33 years and 10 months (1958)

Media coverage and broadcasting

France Télévisions and Amazon Prime Video have the rights to show the French Open until 2027. All night sessions are shown only on Prime Video. In the United States, NBC first showed the tournament, and later Tennis Channel took over. Now, TNT Sports will show the matches starting in 2025. In the United Kingdom, the BBC used to show the finals, but now Eurosport has the rights. In India, Star Sports used to have the rights, but now Sony Pictures Sports Network shows the matches. Across Europe (except France), Eurosport broadcasts the tournament until 2030.

Brand identity

The logo of Roland-Garros features an “RG” monogram together with the tournament’s name, and it uses a special typeface for all its visuals.

Since 1980, a different artist has made a poster for the tournament each year. The poster for 2026 was created by the artist JR. In 2014, Roland-Garros also added a sonic identity, made by the agency Sixième Son, which plays during player entrances, trophy ceremonies, and result announcements.

Ball boys and ball girls

Every year, 280 ball boys and ball girls are chosen to help at the French Open. They are between 11 and 16 years old and wear special Lacoste shirts and shorts. To become a ball boy or girl, children must apply through the French Tennis Federation, which had around 4,000 applicants in 2023. After being selected, they receive training in the weeks before the tournament.