French Open Tennis Champions

The French Open is said to be the most physically challenging of all the grand slam events and it is the only one contested on the original surfaces of the tennis courts of old, red clay. Player's who are successful at Roland Garros are generally experts on the surface - clay court technicians, for a better word, but there are some players who are a cut above the rest, the true greats of the game, those that can triumph on any surface, and two of the greatest are Bjorn Borg and Chris Evert.

Bjorn Borg

Bjorn Borg is arguably one of the finest tennis players the world has ever seen, he reached the peak of his career in the late 1970's, early 1980's and what makes him such a revered tennis champion is that he has won convincingly on both clay and grass - two very different surfaces.

He won a total of 61 ATP singles titles and 11 grand slams - remarkably these eleven 'majors' were only collected at Roland Garros and the All England club. He has lifted the Coupe des Mousquetaires in Paris a total of six times, four of which were consecutive, and he claimed the men's singles crown at Wimbledon an incredible five times in consecutive years - a record which was recently equalled by the current world number one, Roger Federer.

Bjorn Borg will go down in the annals of French open history as one of the greatest players of clay the world has ever known - a remarkable feat from a remarkable athlete.

Chris Evert

Chris Evert is considered to be the female counterpart of Bjorn Borg and she was at her peak at virtually the same time as the conquering Swede. She holds the record for the longest winning streak on clay (male and female), having won 125 consecutive clay court matches from 1973 to 1979!

Evert claimed 18 grand slam singles titles in her career and set a record in Paris which still stands today, 22 years on. She claimed the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen a total of seven times, only the legendary Steffi Graf has ever got close, with 6 victories in Paris.

Evert could possibly be considered to be an even more versatile player than Borg. Over the years she won all four of the grand slams and set a record at the US Open for the most wins, with six. Her grand slam results are:

• Australian Open - (2) 1982, 1984
• French Open - (7) 1974, 1975, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1985, 1986
• Wimbledon - (3) 1974, 1976, 1981
• US Open - (6) 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982

We honour these two champions of the French Open Tennis Tournament, and await the arrival of their modern counterparts with baited breath!