This Sunday, June 11 marks the history of tennis. Novak Djokovic won this Roland-Garros 2023 and won a 23rd Grand Slam title after his final victory against Casper Ruud in three sets.
We thought that with the absence of Rafael Nadal, the men’s draw would be more open, but in the end, it’s still a record-breaking Novak Djokovic who triumphs. The Serb writes a little more the history of his sport by becoming the only player to lift 23 Grand Slam titles on Sunday June 11. He is also the oldest winner of the French Open and the only man to have won at least three times each Major. The Serb is undefeated in Grand Slams for 21 games now. With this victory at Roland-Garros, he also took over the world number 1 spot from Carlos Alcaraz, whom he beat in the semi-finals.
A bittersweet semi-final
The Spaniard and the native of Belgrade faced each other for the second time on the circuit. It was undoubtedly the most anticipated match of the fortnight. It was ultimately the most frustrating. The match actually lasted two sets. Carlos Alcaraz cramped at the start of the third set, reducing the suspense of the match to nothing. The other semi-final between Casper Ruud and Alexander Zverev went one-way. The Norwegian crushed the German who is one of the satisfactions of this Roland-Garros. A year after his dramatic ankle injury, he returned to the semi-finals at Porte d’Auteuil. For his part, the Norwegian lost again in the final.
The Etcheverry Surprise
In the men’s draw, we can remember the very fine career of Tomas Martin Etcheverry. The Argentinian reached the quarter-finals of the Paris tournament without losing a set. The Alexander Zverev step was too high, however. Stefanos Tsitsipas was swept away by Carlos Alcaraz at the same stadium. Karen Khacahnov again showed exemplary consistency by reaching the quarter-finals. All the favorites did not convince. Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner were knocked out in the 1st and 2nd round in two twists and turns against Thiago Seyboth Wild and Daniel Altmaier. Among the disappointments, there is especially the tricolor clan. There was no longer any French in the 3rd round of Roland-Garros. Lucas Pouille managed to give some emotions to the public coming out of qualifying and Gaël Monfils put on a show against Sebastian Baez in the 1st round.
Muchova, one step away from history
Among the women too, the Blues were disappointing. Caroline Garcia still carried all the French hopes, in vain. The Saint-Germanoise left the Philippe-Chatrier court in the second round. Diane Parry had made a good impression. She unfortunately fell against Mirra Andreeva who is a very promising and precocious player on the women’s circuit. Still in the women’s category, Aryna Sabalenka was fooled in the semi-final against Karolina Muchova who was dazzling. The Czech is the surprise of this Roland-Garros 2023. She even almost defeated Iga Swiatek in the final. The Polish managed to keep her trophy. This is the third time that she has won in Paris. During her journey, she stopped the resilient Beatriz Haddad Maia who chained marathon matches. The Pole could have challenged Elena Rybakina but the injured Kazakh had to give up playing the end of the tournament. In the quarter, the world number 1 dominated Coco Gauff who was her opponent in the final in 2022. She did not have a duel with Ons Jabeur who showed her limits against Haddad Maia in the quarter-finals.
Extra sports business
This Roland-Garros 2023 was also a geopolitical scene. Ukrainians such as Elina Svitolina or Marta Kostyuk refused to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian players because of the war in Ukraine. Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka avoided press conferences because journalists asked her about it. And the public sometimes whistled these athletes for no good reason…
The spectators are perhaps the least successful of this 2023 edition. Agitated, from time to time disrespectful, the visitors for example booed the American Taylor Fritz in the second round, certainly a bit provocative at the end of the meeting. This one was the target of the Suzanne-Lenglen public because he eliminated the last tricolor in the running. He responded with a “shh” sign. What was mostly criticized were the empty seats. During the men’s semi-final between Zverev and Ruud, there were empty seats in the stadium.
Learn more
Here are all the results of the 2023 French Open with the coronation of Novak Djokovic against Casper Ruud and Iga Swiatek against Muchova.
The overall prize pool for Roland-Garros 2023 has once again increased. This increase is estimated at 12.3%. The overall allocation is equivalent to 49.6 million euros according to the press release from Roland-Garros. For comparison, in 2022, it was 43.6 million euros. Those who will benefit from this new financial bonus are the players who will be eliminated in the first round. This season they will receive 69,000 euros, 7,000 more than in 2022.
Here is the list of winners of the French Open at Roland-Garros since the Open era
- 1968: Ken Rosewall
- 1969: Rod Laver
- 1970: Jan Kodes
- 1971: Jan Kodes
- 1972: Andres Gimeno
- 1973: Ilies Nastase
- 1974: Bjorn Borg
- 1975: Bjorn Borg
- 1976: Adriano Panatta
- 1977: Guillermo Villas
- 1978: Bjorn Borg
- 1979: Bjorn Borg
- 1980: Bjorn Borg
- 1981: Bjorn Borg
- 1982: Mats Wilander
- 1983: Yannick Noah
- 1984: Ivan Lendl
- 1985: Mats Wilander
- 1986: Ivan Lendl
- 1987: Ivan Lendl
- 1988: Mats Wilander
- 1989: Michael Chang
- 1990: Andres Gomez
- 1991: Jim Courier
- 1992: Jim Courier
- 1993: Sergi Bruguera
- 1994: Sergi Bruguera
- 1995: Thomas Muster
- 1996: Yevgeny Kafelnikov
- 1997: Gustavo Kuerten
- 1998: Carlos Moya
- 1999: Andre Agassi
- 2000: Gustavo Kuerten
- 2001: Gustavo Kuerten
- 2002: Albert Costa
- 2003: Juan Carlos Ferrero
- 2004: Gaston Gaudio
- 2005: Rafael Nadal
- 2006: Rafael Nadal
- 2007: Rafael Nadal
- 2008: Rafael Nadal
- 2009: Roger Federer
- 2010: Rafael Nadal
- 2011: Rafael Nadal
- 2012: Rafael Nadal
- 2013: Rafael Nadal
- 2014: Rafael Nadal
- 2015: Stan Wawrinka
- 2016: Novak Djokovic
- 2017: Rafael Nadal
- 2018: Rafael Nadal
- 2019: Rafael Nadal
- 2020: Rafael Nadal
- 2021: Novak Djokovic
- 2022: Rafael Nadal
- 2023: Novak Djokovic
- 1968: Nancy Richey
- 1969: Margaret Smith Court
- 1970: Margaret Smith Court
- 1971: Evonne Goolagong
- 1972: Billie Jean King
- 1973: Margaret Smith Court
- 1974: Chris Evert
- 1975: Chris Evert
- 1976: Sue Barker
- 1977: Mima Jausovec
- 1978: Virginia Ruzici
- 1979: Chris Evert
- 1980: Chris Evert
- 1981: Hana Mandlikova
- 1982: Martina Navratilova
- 1983: Chris Evert
- 1984: Martina Navratilova
- 1985: Chris Evert
- 1986: Chris Evert
- 1987: Steffi Graf
- 1988: Steffi Graf
- 1989: Arantxa Sanchez
- 1990: Monica Seles
- 1991: Monica Seles
- 1992: Monica Seles
- 1993: Steffi Graf
- 1994: Arantxa Sanchez
- 1995: Steffi Graf
- 1996: Steffi Graf
- 1997: Iva Majoli
- 1998: Arantxa Sanchez
- 1999: Steffi Graf
- 2000: Mary Pierce
- 2001: Jennifer Capriati
- 2002: Serena Williams
- 2003: Justine Henin
- 2004: Anastasia Myskina
- 2005: Justine Henin
- 2006: Justine Henin
- 2007: Justine Henin
- 2008: Ana Ivanovic
- 2009: Svetlana Kuznetsova
- 2010: Francesca Shiavone
- 2011: Li Na
- 2012: Maria Sharapova
- 2013: Serena Williams
- 2014: Maria Sharapova
- 2015: Serena Williams
- 2016: Garbine Muguruza
- 2017: Jelena Ostapenko
- 2018: Simona Halep
- 2019: Ashleigh Barty
- 2020: Iga Swiatek
- 2021: Barbora Krejcikova
- 2022: Iga Swiatek
- 2023: Iga Swiatek