French Open Betting Guide
| Updated: November 10, 2025
Of the four Grand Slam tournaments, the only one played on clay is the French Open, conducted each year at the end of May. The atmosphere surrounding this exciting sporting event is warmed up by several other tournaments such as those in Monte Carlo, Barcelona, and Madrid. In addition to pleasing avid tennis fans, they are an excellent source of information for online betting enthusiasts who put the finishing touches on their Roland-Garros betting strategy. Almost without exception, online bookmakers feature a wide range of bet types and specific promotions specifically designed for this Grand Slam.
The winners in the singles and doubles categories receive 2,000 points for the world rankings. As regards prize money in the prestigious event, it currently starts at €10,000 for Singles Qualifying Round 1 and reaches €1,400,000 for the champions. Due to the characteristics of the court surface and the relatively long duration of matches, the French Open is considered the most exhausting event in the tennis calendar.
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French Open History and Features
It was in 1891 that the Championnat de France began, initially open only to male French club tennis players. Six years later, women became part of the event, but foreign players were still not allowed to participate. The tournament’s popularity gradually grew, and in 1925 the International Lawn Tennis Federation designated it a major international championship. Like other tournaments with a similarly long history, the French Open was held at several venues over the years before it finally settled at Stade Roland-Garros. The venue, which now comprises 24 clay courts, was built in 1928 on the condition that it be named after Roland Garros, a First World War hero and aviation trailblazer.
The distinguishing feature of the French Open, the first thing that comes to mind even for people who are not that interested in sports, is the type of court surface, namely clay. Unlike Wimbledon’s grass courts or the hard courts used by a growing number of tournaments worldwide, playing on clay requires a completely different approach, one that sometimes proves inapplicable even for the greatest champions. Martina Hingis, Venus Williams, Pete Sampras, John McEnroe, and Boris Becker are just some of the talented and otherwise successful tennis stars who never managed to win the title in Paris. Despite his tremendous career, the crowd favorite Andre Agassi lifted the Coupe des Mousquetaires only once, in 1999, thereby completing a Career Slam, the first in the Open era.
The red dirt slows down the speed of the ball, reducing the strength and power of the players’ shots to some extent. Instead, they need to show more patience and ingenuity than usual if they want to achieve victory. The bounce of the ball is also different; although it moves relatively slowly, it sometimes reaches greater heights, so more time is needed to produce the final result. The clay court surface is related to another interesting fact: the absence of the Hawk-Eye system at the French Open. The organizers persistently refuse to introduce it despite the calls of many players and tennis specialists. The main reason they point out is that when the ball bounces off the ground it leaves a mark, so there is no need for an electronic line-calling system. This tradition has been maintained since the very beginning of the French Open, and technological advancements do not seem likely to displace it any time soon.
Rafael Nadal and All the Others
We could name this paragraph “The Most Successful Players in Roland-Garros History,” but Nadal’s supremacy is so overwhelming that we had to bring him to the fore. The Spaniard’s dominance began in 2005, when he won his first title just two days after turning 19. Currently, Nadal leads the ranking with 13 French Open titles, more than twice as many as the player in second place, the great Björn Borg. We will hardly ever see another tennis player come close to the Matador’s achievement, especially considering that more than 15 years after his first title in Paris he is still in top form and remains the bookmakers’ undisputed favorite to win Roland-Garros. We allow ourselves to quote John McEnroe, who once stated, “Some say beating Rafa over five sets on clay is the toughest thing in sport, not just tennis. I would agree with that.”
It is an unwritten rule that nowadays men’s Grand Slam titles are conquered by players who already have at least one such achievement under their belts. As you will see from the table below, the situation for women is quite different.
| French Open Winners in the Last 5 Years | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Men | Women | ||
| 2017 | Rafael Nadal | 2017 | Jelena Ostapenko |
| 2018 | Rafael Nadal | 2018 | Simona Halep |
| 2019 | Rafael Nadal | 2019 | Ashleigh Barty |
| 2020 | Rafael Nadal | 2020 | Iga Świątek |
| 2021 | Novak Djokovic | 2021 | Barbora Krejčíková |
Each of the last five women’s singles titles has been the first for the respective player. We delved deeper into the statistics and found that, except for Simona Halep, none of the other champions has even reached another Roland-Garros final during that period. All this serves to show that it is much harder for online punters to predict the outright winner in the women’s draw. If, however, you insist on placing a wager on that particular tennis betting market, our advice is to wait until the last possible moment so you can properly assess the current form of the players, as it has already become clear that history and statistics will not help you.
Betting on Roland-Garros Matches
Despite the challenge of outright betting, many tennis punters prefer the variety that individual match betting markets bring. Given its usual Grand Slam format, Roland-Garros provides a large number of events for this type of wagering, and this of course results in many money-making opportunities. Here are the key tennis betting tips that will help you improve your chances of making accurate predictions.
Do not underestimate the stage of the tournament
You should always consider the stage of the French Open in which the match you are betting on will be played. The event is long, and during the first week the favorites usually try to save their energy and win the matches as quickly as possible. The structure of the tournament allows them to take more risks, as in the opening rounds they face weaker opponents. It is worth keeping this in mind, especially if you prefer handicap or spread bets. Logically, things become quite different by the middle of the tournament, as opponents tend to be more evenly matched. Fatigue also plays a role, so it is a good idea to follow how the matches in Paris have gone so far, that is, how many sets each player has needed to reach the current stage.
Check H2H statistics, but do it properly
Head-to-head statistics are an inevitable part of every punter’s betting strategy, including when it comes to wagering on tennis matches at the French Open. However, they must be used wisely, taking into account the specifics of this Grand Slam tournament. First of all, you can safely ignore matches that happened a long time ago. Too many important factors change over time, so it is not worth spending hours searching for outdated information. Two main aspects of head-to-head meetings deserve attention: surface and tournament level. We have discussed the first one enough, and you already know why matches played on grass are not particularly relevant when deciding on bets for clay events. As for tournament level, it is believed that the bigger the stage, the more indicative the results achieved.
Style of play is important
You need to understand both the serve and the return of each player to make accurate betting predictions about the French Open. Because the ball moves more slowly on clay, powerful servers do not enjoy as much of an advantage at Roland-Garros as they do at Wimbledon, for example. That is why, in our betting guides, we always advise you to stay focused: the fact that a betting strategy works great for one tournament does not necessarily mean it will be beneficial for another. One more thing, do not forget that this is a Grand Slam tournament, which means that the men’s singles format is best of five sets. The players’ physical endurance will be put to a great test. If you learn that athletes have recently suffered injuries, you must inevitably take that into account when making your predictions.
Conclusion
The French Open is significantly different from other major tennis tournaments around the world, which is why it is a real challenge for both top players and online betting enthusiasts. There is no other tennis competition in which the men’s draw is dominated so thoroughly by a single player (Nadal) while the women’s draw features intense rivalry and a new champion almost every year. This article from our tennis betting guide aimed to introduce you to the highlights of Roland-Garros history and to draw your attention to specific aspects of the tournament that can increase your chances of placing successful bets. Once you have the information you need, all you have to do is find an online sports betting platform that offers a diverse set of betting markets, competitive odds, and genuine promotional offers.