The 125th French Open will get underway on Sunday with 128 players fighting it out to claim one of the biggest prizes in the sport.
Rafael Nadal remains the man to beat given his record at the tournament which features a historic 13 titles. Incredibly he is the only member of the Big Three to have won the event on multiple occasions. Novak Djokovic triumphed in 2016 and Roger Federer in 2009. Outside of the trio, players such as Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev will be chasing after their maiden title. Dominic Thiem will be hoping to make up for his recent lull in form and Daniel Medvedev is hoping to end his nightmare run of no wins at the tournament.
Ahead of the men’s draw starting, here is a numerical guide to this year’s event.
0 – the number of times the reigning French Open champion has lost in the first round the following year.
2 – Djokovic and Federer are both bidding to win the title for only the second time in their careers. Should either triumph in Paris they would become the first man in the Open Era to have won every Grand Slam at least twice and only the third in history. The other two men to have previously achieved the accolade were Roy Emerson and Rod Laver.
5 – There are five Grand Slam champions in the draw this year. They are Federer (20 titles), Nadal (20 titles), Djokovic (18 titles), Thiem (1 title) and Marin Cilic (1 title).
6 – Six additional players in the draw have also reached at least one Grand Slam final in their careers: Kevin Anderson, Daniil Medvedev, Kei Nishikori, Milos Raonic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Alexander Zverev.
14 – Nadal is bidding to become the first man in history to have won the same Grand Slam for the 14th time in his career. Furthermore, if he wins the title in 2021 he would also become the first in history to have won the same major title five times in a row twice.
15 – The number of years between Nadal winning his first and last Grand Slam titles which is an Open Era record in men’s tennis. The only player to have a longer gap is Serena Williams who won the 2017 Australian Open 17 years and five months after the 1999 US Open.
17– Spain’s Albert Ramos Vinolas has won more Tour-level matches (17) on the clay than any other player this season. He plays 14th seed Gael Monfils in his opening match.
21 – Should Nadal or Federer win the title they would become the first player in the history of men’s tennis to have won a 21st major title. Nadal won his last Grand Slam at the 2020 French Open and Federer last won his at the 2018 Australian Open.
21 – Feliciano Lopez will make history this year by making his 21st appearance in Roland Garros. He has played at the tournament every year since 2001.
33 – Stefanos Tsitsipas leads the way in 2021 with 33 Tour wins which is more than any other player. He has already won titles in Lyon and Monte Carlo.
38 – It has been 38 years since a Frenchman last triumphed at Roland Garros. 1983 champion Yannick Noah is the only player to have won his home Grand Slam in the Open Era.
50 – The Big Three are the only active players on the ATP Tour to have won at least 50 matches at every Grand Slam tournament. Their win-loss at the majors currently stands at:-
- Federer: 362-59 (85.9% win rate)
- Nadal: 303-45 (87.06 win rate)
- Djokovic: 286-40 (87.7% win rate)
62 – The number of ATP clay-court titles Nadal has won in his career so far which is more than any other player in history.
80 – This year’s draw will be the 80th time Federer has played in a Grand Slam main draw. He made his major debut at the French Open back in 1999.
100 – the number of French Open wins by Rafael Nadal which is a record. The only players to have beaten him is Robin Soderling in 2009 and Djokovic in 2015.
13,616,000 – The total prize money pool (in Euros) that will be available for the men’s singles tournament. This is a 6% reduction compared to 2020. However, the money on offer in both the first and second rounds remains unchanged.
