25 May - 8 June: Roland Garros

FRENCH OPEN – Men
This is the only Grand Slam tournament played on clay, the only exception being when the US Open was played on the green clay of Forrest Hills between 1975 and 1977. Roland Garros started in 1925 and was interrupted only between 1940-1945 because of World War II. The tournament became Open in 1968. The championship record belongs to Borg who has won here 6 titles out of 8 participations (Panatta the only player to upset him). The French legend Henri Cochet follows the Swedish with 4 victories obtained in the odd years between 1926 and 1932; he was also the player who has won the most with 4 titles in the singles, 3 in the doubles and two in the mixed doubles. Lacoste, Mats Wilander, Ivan Lendl, Gustavo Kuerten and Rafael Nadal have all won three titles. In the doubles Roy Emerson was the player who won the most, with 6 victories obtained between 1960 and 1965 with four different partners. Jean Borotra and Toto Brugnon follow with 5 victories in the doubles each.
The youngest winner was Michael Chang, who was only 17 years and three months old when he won the title in 1989. Chang stole the record from Wilander who was only 6 months older when he won his first title in 1982. The oldest player was instead Andres Gimeno, who was 34 years and 10 months old when he won the trophy in 1972. Ilie Nastase (1973) and Biorn Borg (1979-1980) are the only two players that have won the title without losing a set. Amongst the players who had to save match-points before winning the trophy are Lacoste (two saved in the 1927 final), Von Cramm (one saved in the 1934 final), Laver (one saved in the quarterfinals, 1962), Panatta (one in the first round of 1976), Kuerten (one in the eight in 2001) and Gaudio (two in the 2004 final). Four unseeded players have won the final: Bernard (1946), Wilander (1982), Kuerten (1997) and Gaudio (2004). Five players have won both the junior and senior titles: Rosewall (1952 as junior, 1953 and 1968 as senior), Emerson (1954 as junior, 1963 and 1967 as senior), Gimeno (1955 as junior and 1972 as senior), Lendl (1978 as junior and then 84, ’86 and ’87 as senior) and Wilander (junior in 1981, senior in 1982, 1985 and 1988). The final with the highest number of games was the one between Lendl and McEnroe in 1984 (51 games overall). Lacoste and Tilden in 1929 played ten more games when the tie-break was not yet introduced in tennis. The longest final was the one between Wilander and Vilas in 1982 that lasted 4 hours and 42 minutes. The longest match since the introduction of the tie-break was the 2004 first round match between Clement and Santoro that Fabrice won in 6 hours and 33 minutes for a total of 71 games. Vilas was the player that played (73) and won (56) the highest number of matches in the singles.

FRENCH OPEN – Women
Chris Evert won the title seven times (1974/75, 1979/80, 1983 and 1985/86), one more than Steffi Graf (1987/88, 1993, 1995/96 and 1999) and two more than Margaret Smith-Court (1962, 1964, 1969/70 and 1973). The Australian was the player who has won the most, with 13 titles subdivided into 5 victories in the singles, 4 in the doubles and 4 in the mixed doubles. Three players have won in consecutive years: Helen Wills Moody, Monica Seles and Justine Henin. Hadn’t she retired, this year the Belgian could have won the title for the fourth time in a row. The record woman in the doubles was Martina Navratilova who has won 7 times between 1975 and 1988 (one in team with Evert, Ann Smith and Temesvari, and four with Pam Shriver).
Monica Seles was the youngest player to win the title in 1990 when she was 16 years and a half. The previous year Arantxa Sanchez won the title and she was 17 years and 5 months. The oldest player who won was the Hungarian Zsuzsa Kormoczy in 1958 when she was 33 years and 9 months. Thirteen players won the title without losing a set, but only Helen Wills Moody (in 1928, 1929, 1930 and 1932) and Justine Henin (in 2006 and 2007) were able to achieve this more than once. The only unseeded player who won the trophy was the British Margaret Scriven in 1933. Five players have won both the junior and senior tournaments during their career: Durr (1960 and 1967), Jausovec (1973 and 1977), Mandlikova (1978 and 1981), Capriati (1989 and 2001) and Henin (1997 and 2003, 2005/07). In 1996 Graf and Sanchez played the longest final that lasted 3 hours and 4 minutes with 40 games played. The longest match was played by Jordan and Minter in their first round match in 1984 for a total of 46 games, while Buisson and Van Lottum played a 4 hours 7 minutes long first round match in 1995. Before the tie-break, the longest match was played by Melville and Teeguarden in the third round of 1972 with a total of 56 games played. Steffi Graf was the player who played (94 matches) and won (84 matches) the most.
 

CHALLENGER - Week 26/05/2008-1/06/08
There will be challenger events played in Karlsruhe, Germany (clay, 30.000 €), Carson, USA, (Hard, 50.000 $), Izmir, Turkey (hard, 64.000 €) and Alessandria, Italy (clay, 30.000 €).
CHALLENGER – Week 02/06/2008-8/06/08
There will be 5 challenger tournaments played this week: in Furth, Germany (clay, 42.500 €), Prostejov, Czech Republic (clay, 127.500 €), Sassuolo, Italy (clay, 30.000 €), and Yuba City, USA (hard, 50.000 $). The English challenger in Surbiton (42.500 €) will open the 2008 grass season. Here are the winners:
1998 Pozzi-Ullyett 64 63
1999 Sargsian-Damm 76 75
2000 Arthurs-Tieleman 46 76 64
2001 Dent-Godwin 46 76 62
2002 Morrison-Moodie 76 57 76
2003 Moodie-Bogdanovic 64 67 61
2004 Beck-Moodie 64 64
2005 Bracciali-Karlovic 67 76 76
2006 Fish-Moodie 62 76
2007 Tsonga-Karlovic 63 76
 

Remo Borgatti

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