\n Heading into the 125th edition of the tournament, which kicked off on Sunday, fans suffered a big blow as two-time reigning champion Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> said he would not be competing<\/a> in the main draw for the first time since 2020 due to a wrist injury. Then a heat wave fell over Europe<\/a>, causing high temperatures at the tournament which have affected the players. Most notably, the conditions seemed to play in a part in world No. 1 Jannik Sinner\u2019s shock loss<\/a> to Juan Manuel Cer\u00fandolo.\n <\/p>\n \n The results have left the door open for other contenders. Will Casper Ruud<\/a> or Sasha Zverev lift the trophy for the first time? Or will Novak Djokovic<\/a> finally win his elusive 25th grand slam?\n <\/p>\n \n With still more than a week to go, here\u2019s everything you need to know about one of the world\u2019s oldest tennis tournaments:\n <\/p>\n \n Starting out as the \u201cFrench Clay-Court Championships\u201d in 1891 \u2013 allowing only players from France to compete \u2013 the French Open was officially created in 1925 when foreign players were first invited.\n <\/p>\n \n In 1927, a new arena was purpose built for France\u2019s defense of its 1927 Davis Cup title and named after Roland Garros \u2013 not a sportsman, but a pioneering French aviator who was killed in World War I.\n <\/p>\n \n The French Open is one of tennis\u2019 four grand slam tournaments along with Wimbledon, the US Open and the Australian Open \u2013 and the only one played on clay.\n <\/p>\n \n But are the courts really made of clay? The answer is not much.\n <\/p>\n \n Clay makes up just a small part of the tennis court, with 1-2 millimeters of crushed red bricks giving them their famous red hue.\n <\/p>\n \n Playing on clay is considerably different to playing on grass or hard courts.\n <\/p>\n \n Clay is more physically demanding as it is the slowest of the three surfaces, producing longer rallies, more running and more shots.\n <\/p>\n \n Grueling five-set matches on clay can push players close to their physical limits.\n <\/p>\n \n Matches on clay are also sometimes referred to as chess matches, where a well-placed shot can set up a winner two or three shots later.\n <\/p>\n Why is clay the most difficult surface to play tennis on?\n <\/p>\n Clay is widely considered to be the most difficult surface to play tennis on. But what makes the iconic Roland Garros surface so challenging compared to grass and hard courts? And why is Rafael Nadal the “King of Clay?” <\/p>\n Why is clay the most difficult surface to play tennis on?<\/p>\n 1:26<\/p>\n \n Clay also has considerably more friction than grass or hard courts, allowing the ball to grip to the dust and bounce much higher, in particular shots with heavy topspin.\n <\/p>\n \n Even for a player as accomplished as Novak Djokovic, one of the sport\u2019s all-time greats, clay continues to be a tricky surface to master.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt\u2019s a very demanding surface,\u201d Djokovic said after winning his first clay court match post completing the \u201cGolden Slam\u201d at the Paris Olympics<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe all know how tricky it is to play on clay; compared to the other surfaces, you always have to expect an extra one or two shots, balls coming back.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n While Roland Garros is considered the pinnacle of the clay season, there are many other ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) and WTA (Women\u2019s Tennis Association) tournaments played on the red dust.\n <\/p>\n \n This year, there are 19 tournaments scheduled to be played on clay in the ATP Tour, while the women will play 12 clay court tournaments in 2026.\n <\/p>\n \n But hard court is still the most popular surface on both tours this season. Hard court is also favored by US players as most of the American tournaments are played on that surface.\n <\/p>\n \n While some smaller tournaments pay the male winner more than female players, all four grand slams offer equal prize money. The US Open was the first to award both tournament winners equal money in 1973 \u2013 something championed by Billie Jean King.\n <\/p>\n \n The Australian Open followed suit 11 years later, offering men and women equal pay but reverted to paying men more in 1996. In 2001, they reversed course again and offered both men\u2019s and women\u2019s winners $440,000.\n <\/p>\n \n Roland Garros implemented equal pay in 2006, and one year later Wimbledon committed to equal pay. Today, the four slams offer equal pay for each round of the draw.\n <\/p>\n \n This year, Roland Garros is offering a record-breaking \u20ac61.7 million (about $71.8 million) total prize pot with the singles men and women winner taking home \u20ac2.8 million (roughly $3.3 million), the highest prize the French tournament has ever offered.\n <\/p>\n \n The last time Rafael Nadal<\/a> \u2013 the most accomplished tennis player in history on clay \u2013 won the tournament was in 2023.\n <\/p>\n \n In November 2024, the \u201cKing of Clay\u201d played his final match of professional tennis when Spain lost in the Davis Cup. With 22 grand slams in his pocket \u2013 including a record 14 French Opens \u2013 we look at the new generation of tennis players who perform well on the red stuff.\n <\/p>\n \n Will we ever see someone match Nadal\u2019s achievements on clay?\n <\/p>\n What makes the French Open different to other grand slams?<\/p>\n \n With Paris being the fashion capital of the world, players have debuted some eye-catching outfits at Roland Garros.\n <\/p>\n \n Ahead of her first-round win this year, Naomi Osaka wore an eye-catching black corset and matching pleated cascading skirt that skimmed over the red clay, before removing them to reveal a shimmering gold-sequinned dress that in the four-time grand slam champion\u2019s words looked a little like the \u201cEiffel Tower at night.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n However, the most famous of all the Roland Garros outfits has to be Serena Williams<\/a>\u2019 superhero-esque \u201ccatsuit<\/a>\u201d she wore in 2018 just months after giving birth to her first child.\n <\/p>\n \n The glitz and glamor of the tournament also draw celebrities from all walks of life, with singer\/producer\/composer Pharrell Williams, actors Eddie Redmayne, Natalie Portman and Dustin Hoffman, Formula One driver Geroge Russell and former NBA champion Tony Parker among those in attendance recently.\n <\/p>\n \n The French Open crowd is also known for being among the most boisterous on the tennis calendar.\n <\/p>\n \n The famous chant taken from the pasodoble \u201cEn Er Mundo\u201d can be heard across Roland Garros throughout the tournament\u2019s two weeks.\n <\/p>\n \n Somebody in the crowd will sing \u201cPopopopopopopo pololoooo!\u201d with the rest of the arena responding with an: \u201cOl\u00e9\u00e9\u00e9!\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Summary Roland Garros is the only grand slam played on clay courts, which creates slower and more physically…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":673860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":["post-673859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=673859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/673860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=673859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=673859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=673859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"119886_Clay](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/119886-clay-courts-clean-vrtc-thumb.jpg\")
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