The 2020 French Open was a major tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was held at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. Originally scheduled for 24 May to 7 June, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was first moved to 20 September to 4 October 2020, then later moved back a week further to 27 September to 11 October 2020. Qualifying matches, comprising singles and doubles play, began 21 September. Junior and wheelchair tournaments were also scheduled. Rafael Nadal was the twelve-time and three-time-defending champion in men's singles; Ashleigh Barty was the defending champion in women's singles but chose not to defend her title following concerns over the pandemic.

It was the 119th edition of the French Open and the last Grand Slam event of 2020. The main singles draws included 16 qualifiers for men and 12 for women out of 128 players in each draw.

It was also the only Grand Slam tournament to retain the advantage set in the final set of a match, as the Australian Open and Wimbledon recently switched to tiebreaks.

The men's singles title was won for the 13th time by Rafael Nadal, who won his 20th Grand Slam title, defeating Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the final. The women's singles title was won by Iga Świątek, who won her maiden WTA singles title, defeating Sofia Kenin in straight sets in the final. This was the first time in the Open Era that neither the men's nor women's singles champions dropped a set throughout the entire tournament. With his victory, Nadal equalled Roger Federer's all-time record of 20 Grand Slam titles. Świątek became the first player from Poland, male or female, and the first player born in the 21st century, male or female, to win a Grand Slam singles title.

Tournament

The 2020 French Open was the 124th edition of the French Open and was held at Stade Roland Garros in Paris. It was also the first year in which there was a retractable roof on the French tennis courts, after construction was completed on Court Philippe-Chatrier in late 2019, with plans in place to also have a roof on Court Suzanne-Lenglen by 2023. Additionally, it was also the first year in which evening tennis was possible, as floodlights were installed for the twelve courts. The sunset in Paris in September and October 2020 was at approximately before 8:00 pm CEST rather than the normal May to June schedule, which would be around after 9:30 pm CEST. Evening matches did not fully conduct until the 2021 tournament. Due to weather delays, Iga Świątek and Martina Trevisan played the first ever women's match to begin in the evening in French Open history during their quarterfinal match.https://www.rfi.fr/en/sports/20201006-swiatek-routs-trevisan-to-reach-first-grand-slam-semi-at-french-open-simony-halep . Retrieved 15 May 2023 A few hours later, Rafael Nadal and Jannik Sinner's quarterfinal became the first ever men's match to start in the evening in French Open history. Their match, which was played under very cold and windy conditions, started after 10:00 pm and finished at 1:26 am. This was the first ever French Open match to finish after midnight.https://www.eurosport.com/tennis/roland-garros/2020/french-open-2020-rafael-nadal-battles-past-plucky-jannik-sinner-in-near-1.30am-finish_sto7934927/story.shtml . Retrieved 15 May 2023https://olympics.nbcsports.com/2020/10/06/rafael-nadal-jannik-sinner-french-open/ . Retrieved 15 May 2023

The tournament was run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and was part of the 2020 ATP Tour and the 2020 WTA Tour calendars under the Grand Slam category. The tournament consisted of both men's and women's singles and doubles draws.

There was a singles and doubles events for both boys and girls (players under 18), which was part of the Grade A category of tournaments, and singles and doubles events for men's and women's wheelchair tennis players under the Grand Slam category. The tournament was played on clay courts and took place over a series of 23 courts, including the three main showcourts, Court Philippe Chatrier, Court Suzanne Lenglen and Court Simonne Mathieu.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

Normally, this event is held on the fourth Sunday of May and ending in early June and is the second Grand Slam of the year on the peak of the spring clay court season. Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, on 17 March, French Tennis Federation announced the tournament had been postponed and dates were moved first to 20 September to 4 October 2020 (the dates were initially scheduled for the annual Asian Hard Court swing which would be eventually cancelled on 24 July), and then moved a week further to 27 September to 11 October 2020, just two weeks after the 2020 US Open and the cancellation of the 2020 Wimbledon Championships. For the first time since the 1947 French Championships, this event was not held on the traditional May–June schedule and it was the first time since the introduction of the Open Era that a major tournament was postponed rather than cancelled. On 13 April 2020, the French Government extended a ban on mass gatherings until July 2020 in a bid to control the spread of the virus.

The Laver Cup was scheduled from 24 to 27 September, conflicting with the initial new date for the French Open (20 September to 4 October), before being postponed to 2021.

On 7 September, it was announced the three main courts would have a maximum capacity of 11,500 spectators during the 15-day tournament, with 5,000 each in Court Philippe Chatrier and Court Suzanne Lenglen, and 1,500 in Court Simonne Mathieu. Matches on other courts would take place without spectators including the qualifying events. These guidelines followed from official health and safety protocols including social distancing regulations from the regional government. According to the tournament director Guy Forget, players and personnel would have to be tested for the virus upon arrival in Paris to confirm a negative test result and a second test 72 hours later. Players would then have to stay at two hotels stipulated by organizers once they get tested. On 17 September, the spectator capacity for each match was reduced to 5,000 in all of the three main courts owing to an ongoing surge in the number of coronavirus cases in France, and couple of days later, the capacity was reduced once again to 1,000 starting on the eve of the main tournament.

The mixed doubles event did not take place this year and this was the second consecutive Grand Slam not holding the event after the US Open.

Singles players Men's singles Men's singles players Champion Runner-up Rafael Nadal Novak Djokovic Semifinals out Stefanos Tsitsipas Diego Schwartzman Quarterfinals out Pablo Carreño Busta Andrey Rublev Dominic Thiem Jannik Sinner 4th round out Karen Khachanov Daniel Altmaier [Q] Márton Fucsovics Grigor Dimitrov Lorenzo Sonego Hugo Gaston (WC) Alexander Zverev Sebastian Korda (Q) 3rd round out Daniel Elahi Galán [LL] Cristian Garín Roberto Bautista Agut Matteo Berrettini Thiago Monteiro Kevin Anderson (PR) Roberto Carballés Baena Aljaž Bedene Taylor Fritz Norbert Gombos Stan Wawrinka Casper Ruud Marco Cecchinato (Q) Federico Coria Pedro Martínez (Q) Stefano Travaglia 2nd round out Ričardas Berankis Tennys Sandgren Marc Polmans (LL) Jiří Veselý Attila Balázs Guido Pella Jan-Lennard Struff Lloyd Harris Albert Ramos Viñolas Marcos Giron Dušan Lajović Alejandro Davidovich Fokina Denis Shapovalov Andrej Martin Nikola Milojević (Q) Pablo Cuevas Alexander Bublik Radu Albot Jurij Rodionov (Q) Lorenzo Giustino (Q) Dominik Koepfer Yoshihito Nishioka Tommy Paul Jack Sock (Q) Pierre-Hugues Herbert Juan Ignacio Londero Benoît Paire Benjamin Bonzi (Q) Mikhail Kukushkin John Isner Kei Nishikori Mackenzie McDonald (PR) 1st round out Mikael Ymer Hugo Dellien Cameron Norrie Hubert Hurkacz Philipp Kohlschreiber Ugo Humbert Liam Broady (Q) Kamil Majchrzak (PR) Richard Gasquet Yasutaka Uchiyama Salvatore Caruso John Millman Frances Tiafoe Feliciano López Alexei Popyrin Vasek Pospisil Daniil Medvedev Adrian Mannarino Quentin Halys (WC) Nikoloz Basilashvili Gianluca Mager Laslo Đere Harold Mayot (WC) Sam Querrey Gilles Simon Steve Johnson João Sousa Grégoire Barrère Filip Krajinović Arthur Rinderknech (WC) Henri Laaksonen (Q) Jaume Munar Gaël Monfils Emilio Gómez (Q) Jordan Thompson Tomáš Macháč (Q) Borna Ćorić Jérémy Chardy Corentin Moutet Miomir Kecmanović Andy Murray (WC) Antoine Hoang (WC) Maxime Janvier (WC) Félix Auger-Aliassime Yūichi Sugita James Duckworth Reilly Opelka Marin Čilić Dennis Novak Michael Mmoh (Q) Federico Delbonis Alex de Minaur Kwon Soon-woo Jason Jung (LL) Emil Ruusuvuori David Goffin Fabio Fognini Aleksandar Vukic (Q) Andreas Seppi Elliot Benchetrit (WC) Dan Evans Pablo Andújar Steven Diez (Q) Egor Gerasimov

Women's singles Women's singles players Champion Runner-up Iga Świątek Sofia Kenin Semifinals out Nadia Podoroska (Q) Petra Kvitová Quarterfinals out Martina Trevisan [Q] Elina Svitolina Danielle Collins Laura Siegemund 4th round out Simona Halep Kiki Bertens Caroline Garcia Barbora Krejčíková Ons Jabeur Fiona Ferro Zhang Shuai Paula Badosa 3rd round out Amanda Anisimova Eugenie Bouchard (WC) Maria Sakkari Kateřina Siniaková Ekaterina Alexandrova Elise Mertens Anna Karolína Schmiedlová (PR) Tsvetana Pironkova (WC) Aryna Sabalenka Garbiñe Muguruza Patricia Maria Țig Irina Bara (Q) Leylah Annie Fernandez Clara Burel (WC) Petra Martić Jeļena Ostapenko 2nd round out Irina-Camelia Begu Bernarda Pera Daria Gavrilova (PR) Hsieh Su-wei Coco Gauff Kamilla Rakhimova (Q) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Sara Errani (Q) Renata Zarazúa (Q) Astra Sharma (LL) Aliaksandra Sasnovich Kaia Kanepi Victoria Azarenka Yulia Putintseva Barbora Strýcová Serena Williams Daria Kasatkina Nao Hibino Clara Tauson (Q) Kristýna Plíšková Elena Rybakina Christina McHale Alison Van Uytvanck Ana Bogdan Jasmine Paolini Polona Hercog Kaja Juvan Alizé Cornet Veronika Kudermetova Julia Görges Sloane Stephens Karolína Plíšková 1st round out Sara Sorribes Tormo Jil Teichmann Catherine Bellis (PR) Tamara Korpatsch Dayana Yastremska Anna Kalinskaya Barbara Haas (Q) Markéta Vondroušová Johanna Konta Camila Giorgi Shelby Rogers Ajla Tomljanović Svetlana Kuznetsova Lauren Davis Monica Puig Katarina Zavatska Varvara Gracheva Elsa Jacquemot (WC) Anna Blinkova Maddison Inglis Anett Kontaveit Anna-Lena Friedsam Marie Bouzková Margarita Gasparyan Danka Kovinić Venus Williams Greet Minnen Kirsten Flipkens Varvara Lepchenko (Q) Nina Stojanović Andrea Petkovic Kristie Ahn Jessica Pegula Harmony Tan (WC) Marta Kostyuk (Q) Zarina Diyas Jennifer Brady Monica Niculescu (Q) Viktória Kužmová Tamara Zidanšek Sorana Cîrstea Heather Watson Stefanie Vögele Karolína Muchová Donna Vekić Rebecca Peterson Tímea Babos Liudmila Samsonova Océane Dodin Aliona Bolsova Diane Parry (WC) Magda Linette Angelique Kerber Arantxa Rus Chloé Paquet (WC) Madison Keys Misaki Doi Pauline Parmentier (WC) Kristina Mladenovic Alison Riske Vitalia Diatchenko Kateryna Kozlova Madison Brengle Mayar Sherif (Q)

Events

Men's singles

Rafael Nadal def. Novak Djokovic, 6–0, 6–2, 7–5