List of French Open Men's Singles Champions

List Of French Open Men's Singles Champions

The French Open, known in France as the Internationaux de France, is an annual tennis tournament created in 1891 and now (since 1928) played on outdoor red clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. Until 1897, the men's singles event was the only one to be held at the French Open. The tournament is played during two weeks in late May and early June, and has been chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam tournaments of the year since 1987. The event was not held from 1915 to 1919 because of World War I and was held unofficially under German occupation from 1941 to 1944 during World War II. The national body that organizes this event is the Fédération Française de Tennis (FFT).

The courts of Île de Puteaux (on Sand) and the Racing Club de France (on Clay) alternated hosting the event until 1908. It went to Bordeaux for a year 1909 (on Clay) before returning solely to the Racing Club de France in 1910. It continued there until 1924 and for one last time in 1926. In 1925 and 1927 it was played at the Stade Français before the competition was moved in 1928 to the newly built Stade Roland Garros, where it has been played since. The tournament was reserved for members of French tennis clubs until the first edition open to international players took place in 1925. From 1941 to 1944, the Vichy regime requisitioned the site and held a Tournoi de France, for French players only, won twice by Bernard Destremau and three times by Yvon Petra. Those editions are not counted by the FFT in the tournament's history.

The men's singles rules have undergone several changes since the first edition. The event has always been contested in a knockout format. Records show matches were played as the best-of-three sets format until 1902 or 1903, and as the best-of-five sets afterwards, except from 1973 to 1975, when early rounds were played as the best-of-three sets. The tie-break was introduced in 1973 for the first four sets.

The men's champion receives a miniature replica of the silver-gilt Coupe des Mousquetaires, named after The Four Musketeers of French tennis: Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon, Henri Cochet, and René Lacoste. In 2012, the winner received prize money of €1,150,000.

In the French National Championships, Max Decugis (1903–1904, 1907–1909, 1912–1914) holds the record for most men's singles titles with eight victories; however, all his titles came when the tournament was reserved to members of French tennis clubs and French nationals. The record for most consecutive titles during the club-members-only era is four by Paul Aymé (1897–1900).

In the French International Championships, which was after the tournament was opened to international competitors but before the open era began, Cochet (1926, 1928, 1930, and 1932) holds the record for most titles, at four. The most consecutive titles during that period is two by four players: Frank Parker (1948–1949), Jaroslav Drobný (1951–1952), Tony Trabert (1954–1955), and Nicola Pietrangeli (1959–1960).

Since the inclusion of the professional tennis players, Rafael Nadal (2005–2008, 2010–2012) has won the most French Open titles, seven. Bjorn Borg (1978–1981) and Rafael Nadal (2005–2008) share the open era record for most consecutive titles with four.

The men's singles was won without losing a set during the open era in 1973 by Ilie Năstase, 1978 and 1980 by Borg, and 2008 and 2010 by Nadal.