KEY FRENCH OPEN TRENDS SPANNING TWO DECADES

Serbia's Ana Ivanović won her first and only Grand Slam title at the 2008 French Open. (Getty/Julian Finney)

As the 2025 French Open draws nearer, The First Serve reflects on the trends of the last two decades, a period owned largely by Rafael Nadal.

2005 was the ultimate vehicle that launched the career of the teenage sensation, whereas the women's side at Roland-Garros has served as its own low-key star maker.

Recent views on women's tennis has been that in the post Serena Williams era, the role of dominant force has yet to be truly grasped by one individual, and whilst that may be the case, the French Open has seen the likes of Ash Barty, Iga Świątek, Simona Halep and Barbora Krejčíková launch what would be multiple Grand Slam winning careers.

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Here is the breakdown of what the last 20 years have given us in Paris, across both the men's and women's sections.

The men's draw at Roland-Garros has been dominated by one man over the last two decades, with the undercard also filled by the usual suspects.

Between 2005 and 2020, Nadal won 13 of the 16 French Open's contested, with Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka winning the other three.

The four years since 2020 have seen Djokovic, Nadal, Djokovic and Alcaraz claim the trophy.

So, over the past 20 years, five different players have won the men's French Open crown.

In total, 13 men have reached the final of the French in the last two decades, with the 40 spots filled by Nadal (14), Djokovic (7), Federer (5), Robin Söderling (2), Wawrinka (2), Ruud (2), Dominic Thiem (2), Alcaraz, Andy Murray, David Ferrer, Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Mariano Puerta.

From 2002 to 2005, the winner of the Parisian Slam secured the first major win of their career. It hasn't happened in the 20 years since, with Nadal the last to break the Grand Slam maiden in Paris. (Costa, Ferrero and Gaudio won the three years prior).

Five of the last eight men's finals have been decided in straight sets, with only three finals going to five sets this century, compared to seven at the Australian Open, eight at Wimbledon and four at the US Open, indicating a tendency for more lopsided finals.

The winner of the Madrid Masters has reached the final of the French Open in 11 of those 20 years. This augurs well for Ruud, who got the job done recently over Britain's Jack Draper.

It is a different story for the women, for obvious reasons. Świątek has built recent dominance in Paris, and before that, Serena Williams and Justine Henin had strong records in the clay slam, but the Nadal/Federer/Djokovic dominance is unique to this era of tennis.

In the last 20 years, 25 different women have competed in the French Open final, compared to 13 men in the same time.

13 women have won the title in that time, compared to five men.

Eight women have won the first major of their career at the French Open over the past 20 years, compared to zero men.

Ana Ivanović, Francesca Schiavone, Garbiñe Muguruza, Barty, Halep, Jeļena Ostapenko, Swiatek and Krejčiková all broke through for the first time at Roland-Garros.

Interestingly, unlike events such as the US and Wimbledon, which have produced many one-time Slam winners, six of the players listed above went on to win additional Slam titles, with five of them doing so on different surfaces.

It is also worth noting that beaten finalists Coco Gauff and Sam Stosur both went on to claim major titles elsewhere, as did Li Na.

The most successful lead-up event for women has been the Italian Open, with six winners since 2012 coming through the final of that event. That bodes well for Jasmine Paolini, who claimed the title in Rome last week.

Breaking down how each Slam event compares over the past 20 years is an interesting point of reference.

Players to win each slam in the past 20 years are outlined below.

	MEN IN FINAL	MEN WIN	MEN 1ST CAREER SLAM	WOMEN IN FINAL	WOMEN WIN	WOMEN FIRST CAREER SLAM
AUS	16	6	3	27	13	8
FRENCH	13	5	0	25	13	8
WIMBLEDON	12	5	0	23	12	4
US	18	11	6	26	14	8

The above table indicates that the French Open produces the second-fewest number of finalists and the second-fewest winners.

Reflecting on Barty’s meteoric rise to the title in 2019, the French Open has served as a star-maker over the years.

Will it be the champs who deliver again? Or will a new one be born?

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