Tennis French Open

Despite American players not always having much success on clay, that wasn’t the case for Chris Evert, who won seven times in the 70s and 80s. French Open odds typically have the Americans lower down the list but Evert stands alone as the best women’s player to play the French Open.

Suzanne Lenglen, who has a court named after her at Roland Garros, owns six wins in the amateur era. She won four consecutive titles and deserves to be recognized as one of the best.

Australian Margaret Court won five titles, including three in the open era. She had great success in all majors, including the French Open.

We have to mention Justine Henin and Helen Wills. They had four wins respectively, with Henin’s coming more recently from 2003 to 2007.

It wasn’t her most popular event, but Serena Williams added three French Open titles to her expansive grand slam record.

There should be only one player on this list but we have found four more. Nadal is light years ahead of the competition with 14 wins.

He dominated from 2005 to 2022 and despite getting older, it doesn’t seem to affect his ability to win. Roland Garros’ odds always have him at short odds to win and it’s not surprising.

Max Decugis won eight titles in the amateur era but second on the list is Bjorn Borg. The Swedish star won six times in the ’70s and ’80s, and before Nadal came along, was considered the best to play on clay.

A group of French players dominated near the turn of the 20th century, including Andre Vacherot and Paul Ayme. Rene Lacoste and Henri Cochet came a little later and had excellent success.

Mats Wilander and Ivan Lendl had success in the 80s and there were only four years during the decade when they didn’t win. Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten had three French Open wins and his on-court demeanor added to the excitement.