The 2021 French Open was a major level tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was held at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 30 May to 13 June 2021, comprising singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. The qualifiers took place from 24 May to 28 May. Junior and wheelchair tournaments also took place. Rafael Nadal was the four-time defending champion in men's singles, and Iga Świątek was the defending champion in women's singles.
It was the 120th edition of the French Open and the second Grand Slam event of 2021. The main singles draws included 16 qualifiers for men and 16 for women out of 128 players in each draw, the last Grand Slam to expand the 128 women qualifiers instead of 96 in line with the other three majors.
Novak Djokovic won the men's singles title over Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final, marking his 19th Grand Slam singles title and making him the first male player to win the double career Grand Slam in the Open Era. Barbora Krejčíková won the women's singles title over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the final, claiming her maiden Grand Slam singles title. This was the first time in French Open history that both singles victors were from Slavic-speaking nations, namely Serbia and the Czech Republic.
This was the first edition of the event to have formal night sessions in the schedule, joining a practice already established at the Australian Open and US Open, with one match having a 21:00 local time start time each day.
This was the final Grand Slam to use the advantage set in the final set at singles matches, where it was replaced by final set tiebreaker in future tournaments.
The mixed doubles event returned after a one-year absence, though the draw featured only 16 teams instead of the regular 32.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic The beginning of the tournament returned to its traditional late-May schedule after the previous edition being delayed to September 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 8 April, the originally-announced dates were postponed by one week by the French Tennis Federation due to a third national lockdown and curfew in France enacted the week prior, with the first day of qualifiers pushed back to 24 May, and first day of the tournament proper pushed back to 30 May. The postponement was made in the hope that restrictions would be eased in time for the tournament, including potentially allowing spectators.
At the start of the tournament, the main courts were capped at 1,000 spectators, and spectators were prohibited after 21:00 nightly due to the nationwide curfew. This caused night session matches to be held behind closed doors. Beginning 9 June, the curfew was moved to 23:00, and centre court was permitted to expand to 5,000 spectators. During the 11 June semi-final match between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, Prime Minister Jean Castex personally phoned the organizers after a 93-minute third-set tiebreak set to issue an exemption, allowing the match to be played to its conclusion with spectators.
Singles players Men's singles Men's singles players Champion Runner-up Novak Djokovic Stefanos Tsitsipas Semifinals out Rafael Nadal Alexander Zverev Quarterfinals out Matteo Berrettini Diego Schwartzman Alejandro Davidovich Fokina Daniil Medvedev 4th round out Lorenzo Musetti Roger Federer Jannik Sinner Jan-Lennard Struff Kei Nishikori Federico Delbonis Pablo Carreño Busta Cristian Garín 3rd round out Ričardas Berankis Marco Cecchinato Kwon Soon-woo Dominik Koepfer Cameron Norrie Mikael Ymer Philipp Kohlschreiber (PR) Carlos Alcaraz (Q) Laslo Đere Henri Laaksonen (Q) Casper Ruud Fabio Fognini John Isner Steve Johnson Marcos Giron Reilly Opelka 2nd round out Pablo Cuevas James Duckworth Alex de Minaur Yoshihito Nishioka Federico Coria Andreas Seppi Taylor Fritz Marin Čilić Richard Gasquet Lloyd Harris Gianluca Mager Gaël Monfils Aljaž Bedene Aslan Karatsev Nikoloz Basilashvili Facundo Bagnis Roman Safiullin (Q) Miomir Kecmanović Karen Khachanov Roberto Bautista Agut Kamil Majchrzak (PR) Botic van de Zandschulp (Q) Márton Fucsovics Pablo Andújar Pedro Martínez Filip Krajinović Thiago Monteiro Enzo Couacaud (WC) Guido Pella Mackenzie McDonald (Q) Jaume Munar Tommy Paul 1st round out Tennys Sandgren Lucas Pouille Salvatore Caruso Ugo Humbert Stefano Travaglia Yasutaka Uchiyama Jo-Wilfried Tsonga David Goffin Taro Daniel (Q) Feliciano López Kevin Anderson Félix Auger-Aliassime João Sousa Mathias Bourgue (WC) Arthur Rinderknech (WC) Denis Istomin (Q) Alexei Popyrin Hugo Gaston (WC) Bjorn Fratangelo (Q) Lorenzo Sonego Pierre-Hugues Herbert Peter Gojowczyk (LL) Roberto Carballés Baena Albert Ramos Viñolas Lu Yen-hsun (PR) Adrian Mannarino Fernando Verdasco Jenson Brooksby (Q) Dušan Lajović Bernabé Zapata Miralles (Q) Benjamin Bonzi (WC) Andrey Rublev Oscar Otte (Q) Carlos Taberner (Q) Corentin Moutet Dan Evans Jiří Veselý Alessandro Giannessi (Q) Yannick Hanfmann Mario Vilella Martínez (Q) Benoît Paire Arthur Cazaux (WC) Mikhail Kukushkin Hubert Hurkacz Grégoire Barrère (WC) Gilles Simon Radu Albot Dominic Thiem Jérémy Chardy Sebastian Korda Maximilian Marterer (Q) Sam Querrey Francisco Cerúndolo (LL) Frances Tiafoe Egor Gerasimov Norbert Gombos Grigor Dimitrov Daniel Elahi Galán (Q) Emil Ruusuvuori Juan Ignacio Londero Andrej Martin Jordan Thompson Christopher O'Connell (WC) Alexander Bublik
Women's singles Women's singles players Champion Runner-up Barbora Krejčíková Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Semifinals out Maria Sakkari Tamara Zidanšek Quarterfinals out Coco Gauff Iga Świątek Elena Rybakina Paula Badosa 4th round out Ons Jabeur Sloane Stephens Sofia Kenin Marta Kostyuk Serena Williams Victoria Azarenka Sorana Cîrstea Markéta Vondroušová 3rd round out Magda Linette Jennifer Brady Karolína Muchová Elina Svitolina Jessica Pegula Elise Mertens Varvara Gracheva Anett Kontaveit Danielle Collins Elena Vesnina (PR) Madison Keys Aryna Sabalenka Kateřina Siniaková Daria Kasatkina Polona Hercog Ana Bogdan 2nd round out Ashleigh Barty Astra Sharma (WC) Wang Qiang Fiona Ferro Karolína Plíšková Varvara Lepchenko (Q) Ekaterina Alexandrova Ann Li Hailey Baptiste (Q) Tereza Martincová Jasmine Paolini Zarina Diyas Zheng Saisai Camila Giorgi Kristina Mladenovic Rebecca Peterson Mihaela Buzărnescu (PR) Anhelina Kalinina (Q) Nao Hibino Petra Kvitová Clara Tauson Leylah Annie Fernandez Ajla Tomljanović Aliaksandra Sasnovich Madison Brengle Veronika Kudermetova Martina Trevisan Belinda Bencic Caroline Garcia Harmony Tan (WC) Danka Kovinić Naomi Osaka 1st round out Bernarda Pera Chloé Paquet (WC) Irina Bara (Q) Yulia Putintseva Aleksandra Krunić (Q) Hsieh Su-wei Liang En-shuo (Q) Anastasija Sevastova Donna Vekić Carla Suárez Navarro Zhang Shuai Andrea Petkovic (PR) Venus Williams Kristýna Plíšková Margarita Gasparyan Océane Babel (WC) Jeļena Ostapenko Anna Blinkova Ivana Jorović (PR) Zhu Lin Katarina Zavatska (Q) Stefanie Vögele (Q) Heather Watson Storm Sanders (Q) Garbiñe Muguruza Sara Sorribes Tormo Lara Arruabarrena (Q) Petra Martić Viktorija Golubic Anna Karolína Schmiedlová (Q) Shelby Rogers Kaja Juvan Irina-Camelia Begu Arantxa Rus Wang Xiyu (Q) Angelique Kerber Elsa Jacquemot (WC) Nina Stojanović Olga Govortsova (LL) Greet Minnen (Q) Svetlana Kuznetsova Ekaterine Gorgodze (Q) Anastasia Potapova Océane Dodin (WC) Christina McHale Kateryna Kozlova (PR) Diane Parry (WC) Ana Konjuh (Q) Bianca Andreescu Camila Osorio (Q) Marie Bouzková Amanda Anisimova Johanna Konta Alison Van Uytvanck Misaki Doi Nadia Podoroska Kiki Bertens Laura Siegemund Alizé Cornet Kaia Kanepi Lauren Davis Clara Burel (WC) Elisabetta Cocciaretto (LL) Patricia Maria Țig
Events
Men's singles
Novak Djokovic def. Stefanos Tsitsipas 6–7(6–8), 2–6, 6–3, 6–2, 6–4
Women's singles
Barbora Krejčíková def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6–1, 2–6, 6–4
Men's doubles
Pierre-Hugues Herbert / Nicolas Mahut def. Alexander Bublik / Andrey Golubev 4–6, 7–6(7–1), 6–4
Women's doubles
Barbora Krejčíková / Kateřina Siniaková def. Bethanie Mattek-Sands / Iga Świątek 6–4, 6–2
Mixed doubles
Desirae Krawczyk / Joe Salisbury def. Elena Vesnina / Aslan Karatsev, 2–6, 6–4, [10–5]
Wheelchair men's singles
Alfie Hewett def. Shingo Kunieda, 6–3, 6–4
Wheelchair women's singles
Diede de Groot def. Yui Kamiji, 6–4, 6–3
Wheelchair quad singles
Dylan Alcott def. Sam Schröder, 6–4, 6–2
Wheelchair men's doubles
Alfie Hewett / Gordon Reid def. Stéphane Houdet / Nicolas Peifer, 6–3, 6–0
Wheelchair women's doubles
Diede de Groot / Aniek van Koot def. Yui Kamiji / Jordanne Whiley, 6–3, 6–4
Wheelchair quad doubles
Andy Lapthorne / David Wagner def. Dylan Alcott / Sam Schröder, 7–6(7–1), 4–6, [10–7]
Boys' singles
Luca Van Assche def. Arthur Fils, 6–4, 6–2
Girls' singles
Linda Nosková def. Erika Andreeva, 7–6(7–3), 6–3
Boys' doubles
Arthur Fils / Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard def. Martin Katz / German Samofalov, 7–5, 6–2
Girls' doubles
Alex Eala / Oksana Selekhmeteva def. Maria Bondarenko / Amarissa Kiara Tóth, 6–0, 7–5
Point distribution and prize money
Point distribution
As a Grand Slam tournament, the points for the French Open are the highest of all ATP and WTA tournaments. These points determine the world ATP and WTA rankings for men's and women's competition, respectively. In both singles and doubles, women received slightly higher point totals compared to their male counterparts at each round of the tournament, except for the first and last. Points and rankings for the wheelchair events fall under the jurisdiction of the ITF Wheelchair Tennis Tour, which also places Grand Slams as the highest classification.
The ATP and WTA rankings were both altered in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both rankings were frozen on 16 March 2020 upon the suspension of both tours, and as a result the traditional 52-week ranking system was extended to cover the period from March 2019 to March 2021 with a player's best 18 results in that time period factoring into their point totals.
For the ATP, In March 2021, the ATP extended the "best of" logic to their rankings through to the week of 9 August 2021. Players who have played the same Tour-level event more than once, adopt a "best of" and can count their highest points total from the same tournament, Results from the rescheduled 2020 event will also be included for an additional 52 weeks at 50%.
Below is a series of tables for each of the competitions showing the ranking points on offer for each event.
Senior points Event W FSFQFRound of 16Round of 32Round of 64Round of 128QQ3Q2Q1Men's singles20001200720360180904510251680Men's doubles0 13007804302401307010403020210
Wheelchair points EventWFSF/3rdQF/4thSingles800500375100Doubles800500100Quad singles800500100800100
Junior points EventWFSFQFRound of 16Round of 32QQ31000600370200100453020Girls' singles75045027515075
Prize money About a month before the tournament began, the prize money pool was announced to be €34,367,215, a reduction of 10.53% compared to the prize pool for 2020 edition. EventSingles€1,400,000€750,000€375,000€255,000€170,000€113,000€84,000€60,000€25,600€16,000€10,000Doubles*€244,295€144,074€84,749€49,853€29,325€17,250€11,500Mixed doubles*€122,000€61,000€31,000€17,500€10,000Wheelchair singles€53,000€€€€16,000€€€20,000€€€4,000€ *per team
References
External links
Roland Garros