Ranking the Top French Open Moments of All Time at Roland-Garros
For about a century, Roland-Garros has been the premier clay court in the world.
All of the tennis greats have sought French Open glory, but to reach the clay mountaintop, a different skill set is required than on grass or hard courts.
When a tennis ball hits the clay, it loses speed, which neutralizes the serve. That leads to longer rallies and more grueling matches. In that respect, a title at Roland-Garros is arguably the most difficult to obtain.
That theme is present in many of the top French Open moments listed below, where we considered historic achievements, iconic matches and shocking upsets.
As you'll see, the King of Clay—Rafael Nadal—was represented in all three categories. And (spoiler alert) the 2025 men's final places in the top two!
Honorable Mention
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Nadal Dominates Federer in 2008 Final
Heading into the 2008 final, Roger Federer had lost to Rafael Nadal in three consecutive French Opens, but those matches were competitive four-set affairs. This one was not.
Nadal dropped just four games en route to a 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 win.
To this day, only two men's Grand Slam singles finals in the Open Era have been more lopsided.
Horvath Stuns Navratilova (1983)
Martina Navratilova entered the French Open round of 16 with a 36-0 record in 1983. Kathy Horvath, 17, was undeterred by Navratilova's dominance, winning 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 in a shocking upset.
Navratilova finished the 1983 season 86-1, which remains the greatest single-season record in tennis history.
Lendl Comes Back from Two Sets Down to Beat McEnroe (1984)
John McEnroe was a much worse player on clay than on grass and hard courts, but that didn't stop him from making his first and only French Open final in 1984.
He even took a two-set lead on Ivan Lendl, but Lendl roared back to win 3-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, 7-5. The loss ended McEnroe's 42-match winning streak.
Henin (2007), Swiatek (2024) Three-Peat
Since 1946, the following players are the only ones who've won three French Opens in a row:
- Nadal (2005-08, 2010-14, 2017-2020)
- Björn Borg (1978-81)
- Monica Seles (1990-92)
- Justine Henin (2005-07)
- Iga Świątek (2022-24)
The first three are represented later, so let's highlight the last two here.
Henin beat Maria Sharapova and Mary Pierce in 2005; Martina Hingis, Kim Clijsters and Svetlana Kuznetsova in 2006; and Serena Williams and Ana Ivanovic in 2007. That's no walk in the park.
Switaek has lost only three sets in the last three French Opens combined. The Queen of Clay is looking for the first women's four-peat since Suzanne Lenglen in 1923.
11. Pierce (2000), Noah (1983) End French Droughts
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Entering the 1983 French Open, the last Frenchman to win the tournament was Marcel Bernard in 1946.
Yannick Noah ended the drought, beating Mats Wilander in the final four days after beating Ivan Lendl in the quarterfinals. It was Noah's only major title.
Entering the 2000 French Open, the last Frenchwoman to win the tournament was Françoise Dürr in 1967.
Mary Pierce ended the drought, beating Monica Seles in the quarterfinals, Martina Hingis in the semifinals and Conchita Martinez in the final. It was Pierce's second and final major title.
To this day, no man or woman from France has won a French Open singles title since Pierce.
10. Agassi (1999), Federer (2009), Djokovic (2016) Complete Career Grand Slams
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Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are three of the last four men to win the career Grand Slam. All three waited a painfully long time to secure the last leg at Roland Garros.
Agassi entered the 1999 French Open in a four-year major drought. In the final, he fell behind two-sets-to-none before rallying for a 1-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 win over Andrei Medvedev.
Federer had lost to Rafael Nadal four years in a row at Roland-Garros from 2005-2008, but Nadal suffered a shocking loss in 2009 (more on that later), opening the door for Federer to finally complete the career Slam. The Swiss came back from two deficits (2-0 vs. Haas and 2-1 vs. Del Potro) before securing the title in straight sets over Robin Söderling.
Heading into the 2016 French Open, Djokovic had lost in the semifinals four times and the finals three times at Roland-Garros. But he finally broke through in 2016, beating Andy Murray in four sets in the final after dropping the opening set. He became the first men's player to hold all four majors at once since Rod Laver in 1969.
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9. Borg Completes Most Dominant Men's Run in Major Tourney History (1978)
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Bjorn Borg had a Nadal-like run of dominance from 1974 to 1981, going 46-1 at the French Open with six titles. He was rarely challenged, with 1978 being the standard.
Borg lost only 32 games in his seven matches, setting a record for the fewest games lost in a men's major tournament that still stands today. Nadal lost just 35 in the 2017 French Open, and that's the closest anyone has come.
Borg's run included a 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 beatdown of 1977 winner Guillermo Vilas in the final.
After winning the 1981 French Open, Borg never played at the French Open again. He retired in January 1983 at the age of 26, though he played a handful of matches after retiring with almost no success.
One can only wonder how many more French Open titles he would've won if he had kept playing.
8. Graf Comes Back to Win 6th French (1999)
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Martina Hingis came into the 1999 French Open final as the No. 1 player in the world and the clear favorite. Her results in her last nine majors were win, finalist, win, win, win, semifinalist, semifinalist, finalist, win. Meanwhile, Steffi Graf had been stuck on 21 career majors since the 1996 U.S. Open.
When Hingis jumped out to a 6-4, 2-0 lead, it wasn't a surprise. That's when things got interesting, though.
With Graf serving the first point of the third game, Hingis thought she hit a winner, but it was called out. (It appears to have been in.) Hingis walked to the other side of the net to check the ball mark, which is a point penalty.
Graf was able to hold from there. Instead of running away with the second set, Hingis was suddenly in a dogfight with a boisterous crowd against her.
She still got to serve for the match up 5-4, but Graf pulled out a rare backhand pass (on the 32nd shot of the rally!) at 15-15, eventually breaking Hingis' serve.
Hingis never recovered.
Graf won nine of the last 11 games to secure a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory. She remains the only player to beat the top three seeds in a major in the Open Era, as she dispatched second-seeded Lindsey Davenport in the quarterfinals and third-seeded Monica Seles in the semifinals.
7. Soderling Shocks Nadal (2009)
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Entering the 2009 French Open round of 16, Rafael Nadal was 31-0 in his career at Roland-Garros. He had never been taken to a fifth set there.
His opponent that day was 23rd-seeded Robin Soderling, who had never gotten past the fourth round in a major.
Soderling was +4800 to win the match. Nadal had beaten him two weeks before on a clay court, 6-1, 6-0.
The 6'4" Swede went for it all match with huge groundstrokes. It was high-risk, high-reward tennis, as Nadal had trouble dictating rallies against such an aggressive player.
The result was a 6-2, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 upset for the ages.
Soderling went on to lose to Federer in the 2009 final. He then made the 2010 final, losing to Nadal.
Nadal finished his French Open career 112-4 with losses to Soderling, Djokovic (2015 and 2021) and Alexander Zverev (2024).
6. Chang Stuns Lendl (1989)
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From a betting perspective, Robin Soderling beating Rafael Nadal was a bigger upset than Michael Chang beating Ivan Lendl. But Chang's 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 stunner tops Soderling's here for a few reasons.
First, Chang was 17 years old with next to no big-match experience. He entered the tournament with one career title and had never made a major quarterfinal.
Second, Chang fell behind two-sets-to-none. Lendl was the No. 1 player in the world and had won every set he'd played at the 1989 French Open entering the round-of-16 match. One could argue that from the beginning of the third set onward, what Chang did was just as shocking as what Soderling did to Nadal.
Chang started cramping in the fifth set. Serving up 4-3 but down 15-30, he surprised everyone with an underarm serve, and after Lendl hit a decent return, Chang hit a great passing shot to give him the crucial point. On match point at 5-3, Chang stood so close to the service box that Lendl would've won the point with any decent serve, but he double-faulted. To say the least, Chang won the mental battle.
Lastly, Chang ended up winning the tournament, becoming the first person of Asian descent to win a Grand Slam singles event and the youngest male player (a record that still stands today) to win a major.
5. Nadal Outlasts Djokovic in 5-Set Thriller (2013)
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For my money, this was the greatest men's match in French Open history until 2025.
Nadal entered as the three-time defending champion, but Djokovic ended his eight-year run at Monte Carlo a month prior. There was a sense Djokovic could finally beat Nadal at Roland-Garros after suffering defeats in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2012.
Nadal was in control, serving for the match with a two-sets-to-one lead. But Djokovic broke serve to force a tiebreak, in which the Serb leveled the match.
Djokovic then broke Nadal in the first game of the fifth set and held serve three times to set up a dramatic eighth game at 4-3.
Serving at deuce, Djokovic put away an easy shot at the net for a would-be winner, but he touched the net, which gave Nadal the point. Djokovic fought off the ensuing break point, but he went on to drop serve that game.
Both players held until it was 8-7, which is when Nadal broke Djokovic to win 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-7, 9-7.
Nadal went on to win the French Open in 2013 and 2014 (beating Djokovic in the 2014 final) before losing to Djokovic in 2015, ending his bid to six-peat.
4. Evert Wins Instant Classic over Navratilova (1985)
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This edges the Djokovic-Nadal match for a few reasons.
First, it was a final.
Second, the match was even more dramatic than the 2013 semifinal that featured plenty of drama in its own right.
Evert won the first set 6-3 and served for the match in the second, only to be broken by Navratilova, who won the set in a tiebreak.
Evert served for the match again in the third set, only to broken again.
Then serving at 5-5 in third set, Evert fell behind 0-40. She saved the first two break points on a Navratilova error and a backhand winner before winning a thrilling exchange at the net to save the third.
Evert held from there before breaking Navratilova's serve with a stunning backhand pass down the line to win the match 6-3, 6-7, 7-5.
Navratilova had won 15 of the last 16 matches in this rivalry, which must have been haunting Evert as she squandered so many chances to win. But she showed mental toughness to outlast her rival and win her sixth French Open.
Fans of the Served with Andy Roddick podcast voted this match as the fourth-greatest of all time as well as the greatest at Roland-Garros.
3. Seles Edges Graf in Titanic Battle (1992)
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Monica Seles beat Steffi Graf in the 1990 French Open final to become the youngest major singles champion at 16 years and six months old. That could have been its own entry on this list, but we're instead highlighting it here while focusing on the best French Open match in history two years later.
Seles entered the 1992 final hoping to three-peat, but in her way again was Graf, a 10-time major winner at the time.
Seles came out hot, breaking Graf immediately before seizing the first set 6-2. From the second set on, both players were at their best. What ensued was the highest quality of tennis.
Graf won a titanic seventh game, breaking Seles' serve for a 4-3 lead. She closed the set out from there, setting up a dramatic final set.
Graf faced a break point down 2-4 that was a de facto match point. She saved it and eventually held for 3-4. Graf then faced four match points down 3-5, but she saved them all and held for 4-5.
Seles served for the match, but she got broken. At that point, she easily could have crumbled from missing so many chances.
Instead, Seles held in her next two service games, and she broke Graf to go up 8-7 and serve for the match once more.
Down 0-15, Graf won the point of the tournament with an outrageous backhand pass. She later broke for 8-8.
Seles somehow bounced back again, breaking Graf with a picture-perfect point. She then served out the match for a 6-2, 3-6, 10-8 win.
From a drama perspective, Evert-Navratilova and Seles-Graf are virtually equal. What gives Seles-Graf the edge is the quality of the rallies. With the improvements in racket technology between 1985 and 1992, Seles and Graf were able to hit the ball harder without losing much control. That led to a more physically demanding match.
2. Alcaraz Beats Sinner in Longest French Open Final Ever (2025)
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A comeback for the ages.
When Jannik Sinner won the first two sets and went up a break in the third, it felt like this match was over.
When Sinner had triple match point at 5-3 in the fourth set, it really felt like this match was over. In fact, if you bet on Carlos Alcaraz at that exact moment, you got his odds at +6500.
Alcaraz saved all three match points to hold serve, and then he broke Sinner's serve to level the set, and he eventually won the tiebreak to set up a breathtaking fifth set.
Alcaraz served for the match, but he was broken to level the fifth at 5-5. After Sinner held, Alcaraz needed a hold to force a tiebreak, and he came up with two unbelievable shots: a forehand get that prevented him from being a match point down followed by a crosscourt backhand pass.
It was one-way traffic in the tiebreak, but of course the match ended with one last highlight, a forehand pass to cap off the longest match in French Open final history (five hours and 29 minutes) 4-6, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2).
That these two produced arguably the best clay-court match is an achievement in itself, but the fact that they are just 23 and 22 has us all salivating about what's to come.
1. Nadal Wins 14th French Open (2022)
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This might be the most mind-boggling stat in tennis history.
Rafael Nadal won his 14th French Open title in 2022, defeating Casper Ruud 6-3, 6-3, 6-0.
To put that into perspective, Chris Evert has the second-most French Open singles titles with seven. Nadal has won twice as many as any player in the sport's history.
This gets the No. 1 spot because it is the most unbreakable record on this list, but it gets an extra push because of what he went through to win the 2022 event.
"The preparation was not ideal," he told Eurosport (h/t ESPN). "I had a stress fracture of the rib, then I have the foot [pain], which stays there all the time. I had my doctor here with me—I don't know how to say in English what we did. We played with no feeling on the foot, we played with an injection in the nerve so the foot was asleep—that's why I was able to play."
Despite entering the tournament without a 2022 clay-court title, Nadal survived thrillers against Felix Auger-Aliassime (five sets) and Novak Djokovic (four sets) before losing just six games in the final, tying for the second-fewest games Nadal has lost in a Grand Slam final.
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