French Open previous men's winners

The French Open is the only one of the four Grand Slams to be played on clay and is, therefore, a specialist tournament which tends to be dominated by a small pool of players.

Although having been staged since 1891, it took until 1968 for the tournament to become an Open and that was when professional players were first introduced to the competition. 

There have been many multiple male winners in the French capital down the years with Bjorn Borg winning the event six times between 1974 and 1981, although his achievements have since been overshadowed by the superiority of 14-time champion Rafael Nadal. 

Nadal's dominance meant there were only four different winners of the French Open for nearly two decades from 2004 with the Spaniard last lifting the trophy in 2022.

His Spanish compatriot Carlos Alcaraz has now started to dominate - winning back-to-back titles on the red clay in Paris.

French Open men's winners (Open Era)

Year	Champion	Runner-up
1968	Ken Rosewall	Rod Laver
1969	Rod Laver	Ken Rosewall
1970	Jan Kodeš	Željko Franulović
1971	Jan Kodeš	Ilie Năstase
1972	Andrés Gimeno	Patrick Proisy
1973	Ilie Năstase	Nikola Pilić
1974	Björn Borg	Manuel Orantes
1975	Björn Borg	Guillermo Vilas
1976	Adriano Panatta	Harold Solomon
1977	Guillermo Vilas	Brian Gottfried
1978	Björn Borg	Guillermo Vilas
1979	Björn Borg	Víctor Pecci
1980	Björn Borg	Vitas Gerulaitis
1981	Björn Borg	Ivan Lendl
1982	Mats Wilander	Guillermo Vilas
1983	Yannick Noah	Mats Wilander
1984	Ivan Lendl	John McEnroe
1985	Mats Wilander	Ivan Lendl
1986	Ivan Lendl	Mikael Pernfors
1987	Ivan Lendl	Mats Wilander
1988	Mats Wilander	Henri Leconte
1989	Michael Chang	Stefan Edberg
1990	Andrés Gómez	Andre Agassi
1991	Jim Courier	Andre Agassi
1992	Jim Courier	Petr Korda
1993	Sergi Bruguera	Jim Courier
1994	Sergi Bruguera	Alberto Berasategui
1995	Thomas Muster	Michael Chang
1996	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	Michael Stich
1997	Gustavo Kuerten	Sergi Bruguera
1998	Carlos Moyá	Àlex Corretja
1999	Andre Agassi	Andrei Medvedev
2000	Gustavo Kuerten	Magnus Norman
2001	Gustavo Kuerten	Àlex Corretja
2002	Albert Costa	Juan Carlos Ferrero
2003	Juan Carlos Ferrero	Martin Verkerk
2004	Gastón Gaudio	Guillermo Coria
2005	Rafael Nadal	Mariano Puerta
2006	Rafael Nadal	Roger Federer
2007	Rafael Nadal	Roger Federer
2008	Rafael Nadal	Roger Federer
2009	Roger Federer	Robin Söderling
2010	Rafael Nadal	Robin Söderling
2011	Rafael Nadal	Roger Federer
2012	Rafael Nadal	Novak Djokovic
2013	Rafael Nadal	David Ferrer
2014	Rafael Nadal	Novak Djokovic
2015	Stan Wawrinka	Novak Djokovic
2016	Novak Djokovic	Andy Murray
2017	Rafael Nadal	Stan Wawrinka
2018	Rafael Nadal	Dominic Thiem
2019	Rafael Nadal	Dominic Thiem
2020	Rafael Nadal	Novak Djokovic
2021	Novak Djokovic	Stefanos Tsitsipas
2022	Rafael Nadal	Casper Ruud
2023	Novak Djokovic	Casper Ruud
2024	Carlos Alcaraz	Alexander Zverev
2025	Carlos Alcaraz	Jannik Sinner

Who won the 2025 French Open

The 2025 French Open saw Alcaraz claim the title in one of the most dramatic Grand Slam matches of the Open Era.

Tennis fans were treated to the latest instalment of the Alcaraz v Sinner rivalry and the showpiece certainly delivered.

Defending champion Alcaraz recovered from two sets down and saved three championship points to somehow claim victory after five hours and 29 minutes - the longest final in French Open history.

Rafael Nadal's unprecedented dominance in Paris

Rafael Nadal is widely considered the King of Clay and he is generally regarded as the best player to ever grace the surface, claiming an unprecedented 14 French Open titles at Roland Garros. 

The Spaniard grew up playing on the red dirt as a youngster and carved out a style of play that allowed him to dominate on the slower terrain. 

Nadal first rose to prominence in Paris in 2005 when he defeated Mariano Puerta to take his first French Open title as a 19-year-old. 

The Mallorcan went on to win eight of the next nine French Open titles, only failing to oblige in 2009 when exiting in the fourth round, and it was Roger Federer that capitalised to win his only ever title in Paris. 

Nadal failed to go beyond the quarter-finals in both 2015 and 2016, but he quickly recovered to take four more titles between 2017 and 2020. 

The Spaniard looked on course for more French success in 2021 but suffered a surprise four-set defeat to Djokovic in the semi-final. 

However, you couldn't keep Nadal down for long, particularly in Paris, and he regained his crown the following year, beating Casper Ruud in the 2022 final to lift his 14th and final trophy at Roland Garros.