Top 10 French Open moments MyZA

Monica Seles Canadian Open 2001 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As the world’s best tennis players take on the legendary red clay of Roland Garros, TIME turns back the clock and recollects the best French Open matches of the past thirty years.

Lendl/McEnroe — 1984
Nineteen eighty-four was John McEnroe‘s “annus mirabilis” — he went 82-3, a record not even Roger Federer has matched. But in his only appearance in a French Open final, a febrile McEnroe seemed to crave victory too much: after winning the first two sets easily, he became rattled by noise coming from the headset of a cameraman early in the third set and began to unravel. Ivan Lendl applied his characteristically unwavering ground strokes to win in a match that exposed the tragic flaw in McEnroe’s genius.

Evert/Navratilova — 1985
You’d struggle to find a more keenly contested rivalry in the history of women’s tennis than that between Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. By the time they met in the 1985 final, the head to head count was 33-31 in favor of Navratilova. They split the first two sets and the decider was almost impossible to call. But at 5-5, Evert was suddenly 0-40 down on her service, staring at defeat. Instead, she held serve and went on to break her great rival to take the title 7-5. Evert clearly had a liking for clay: she won at Roland Garros seven times and this victory gave her the World No. 1 ranking for the fifth and final time.

Chang/Lendl — 1989
It was a classic David versus Goliath match. Michael Chang, a spry, undersized 17-year-old took on the formidable Ivan Lendl, the Czech who glowered at opponents with the stony contempt of a Wild West gun-fighter. (Lendl kept saw-dust in his pockets to dry off his grip). In the fifth set, suffering severe cramps, Chang began lobbing the ball to Lendl, served underhand and even stood close to the service line to receive Lendl’s powerful serve. “I always play guys older than me. They see this little squirt across the net and they get a little nervous,” Chang explained of his tactics. Rattled, Lendl produced a host of unforced errors and lost. Chang went on to become the youngest ever French Open champ.

Clijsters/Capriati — 2001
Eleven years after first captivating the crowds at Roland Garros as a precocious teenager, the 25-year old Jennifer Capriati hoped to finally lift the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen. Standing in her way was Kim Clijsters, out to become the first Belgian to win a Slam. Capriati was given a tennis lesson early on, losing the opening set 1-6. But she took the second 6-4. The deciding third set went on and on — eventually racking up the most games in a female final in the Open era: 22.

Hingis/Graf — 1999
Tennis historians will note that this was the last of 22 Grand Slams Steffi Graf would win. But the final itself contained as much drama as any in Graf’s glorious career. Where to begin? The favoured Martina Hingis disputing a line call in the second set and venturing over to Graf’s side of the court to point where she felt the ball had landed? The 32 stroke rally won by Graf in the second set as Hingis tried to serve out for the match? Perhaps the lengthy bathroom break Hingis took during the third set? Or maybe Hingis leaving the court after losing 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 and having to be persuaded to return for the presentation ceremony by her mother? In the words of Graf: “It was one of the craziest matches ever. I don’t know what else could have happened.”

Kuerten/Norman — 2000
The protracted, multiple-stroke rallies of clay court tennis can ratchet up the tension during tight matches to almost unbearable levels. So it was in this three-hour 44-minute match in which Gustavo Kuerten, the gangly Brazilian, raced out to a two set lead before losing the third set to the relatively unheralded Swede Magnus Norman. In the forth set, Kuerten lost ten match points before eventually clinching victory in a match that one journalist later wrote was “as much an ordeal as a spectacle.”

Seles/Graf — 1992
Monica Seles won her third consecutive French Open by defeating Graf. That epic final set lasted 90 minutes and was notable for the typically resilient Graf saving five match points. But a shattered Seles would not be denied. “I think it was the most emotional match I’ve played ever, not just in a Grand Slam, but in any tournament”, she said. Less than a year later, a deranged fan of Graf’s would stab Seles during a match in Hamburg; Seles didn’t return to competitive tennis for more than two years.

Noah/Wilander — 1983
The only Frenchman to win the French Open since 1946 was actually discovered in Cameroon as an 11-year-old by the great African-American champion Arthur Ashe, who recommended him to the French Tennis Federation. Yannick Noah used his supreme athletic ability, a wildly partisan crowd and his own personal charisma to overcome his technically superior opponent, defending champ Mats Wilander. “He is an artist of life,” Wilander would say later of Noah. “Wherever he goes, there is sunshine. We love him for that.”

Roger Federer against Juan Martín del Potro in the 2009 French Open semifinals (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Federer/Nadal — 2005
On the day of his 19th birthday, Rafael Nadal inaugurated one of sport’s greatest rivalries when he beat Roger Federer in a gripping semi-final match. The elements of the rivalry appeared in incipient form: the supremacy of Nadal’s defensive play and Federer’s mental fragility in the face of his opponent’s imperviousness (during the match, Federer howled with frustration and even banged the side of his head with his racket strings). Nadal went on to win the championship — his first of four in a row; the next three all came with victories over Federer in the final.

Agassi/Courier — 1991
Two sun-kissed kids from the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida met in the first all-American final since 1954, a match that marked the beginning of a golden period for American tennis and the ascendancy of the manically focused, big-hitting Bollettieri style that still dominates the game today. Andre Agassi was the prodigiously talented but flaky star; Jim Courier the gritty understudy. But after 3 hours 19 minutes of excruciating play and a total of 123 unforced errors on the windswept day, it was Courier’s determination that won out, taking the match. Both would go on to win multiple grand slam tournaments. – TIME Lists