Players
The most successful female player on clay in recent years has been Justine Henin, a four-time French Open singles champion who retired for the second (and presumably final) time in 2011. Her variety in the shots, speed, footwork and her slices have been her biggest weapons. Currently, the most successful male player on clay is Rafael Nadal, winner of seven French Open men's singles titles—he had never lost a match at the tournament until May 31, 2009, when he was beaten by Swedish player Robin Söderling. Nadal holds the record for the longest winning streak by any male player on a single surface: 81 clay court wins between April 2005 and May 2007. Other successful clay court players include Margaret Court, Chris Evert, Guillermo Vilas, Björn Borg, Ivan Lendl, Mats Wilander, Monica Seles, Steffi Graf, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, and Gustavo Kuerten.
Henin is tied with Helen Wills Moody among women for most consecutive sets won at Roland Garros, at 40 consecutive sets (from 2005–2010).
Justine Henin and Monica Seles both hold the record for the number of consecutive French Open titles won at 3 (1990-1992 for Seles and 2005-2007 for Henin), although Seles was prevented from participating in the 1993 French Open due to her stabbing incident and Henin did not participate in the 2008 French Open due to her sudden retirement mere weeks before the tournament.
Chris Evert holds the record for longest winning streak on clay for either gender: from August 1973 to May 12, 1979, she won 125 consecutive clay court matches.
Thomas Muster is also considered a successful clay court player. Although he only won the French Open once, 40 out of his 44 career singles titles were won on clay.
Guillermo Vilas holds the record for most titles won on clay in the Open era, with 46 trophies, only one French Open.
Read more about this topic: Clay Court
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