The French Open 2019 Guide

In this guide, you’ll find out everything about the French Open, including when it’s on and where you can watch it. As well as finding out about the tournament as a whole, we’ll also take a quick look at this year’s event and its schedule. Finally, this guide will cover tennis betting, so you’ll have all the information you need to look at betting on the French Open.

The first French Open took place in 1891 and saw British player, H. Briggs win what was then known as the Amateur French Championships. His win was especially interesting because at that time, the tournament was only open to French players or foreign players who were members of a French club. At the time of his win, Briggs was a member of Club Stade Français.

Looking to make some money at this year’s French Open? Find out more about how you could make a profit at the bookies, thanks to matched betting.

When is the French Open?

The French Open is set to take place from May 26th to June 9th. That’s the main tournament. Other important French Open dates are for the Qualifying Rounds (May 20th-24th), Kids’ Day (May 25th) and the Legends Trophy (June 4th-9th).

French Open schedule of play:

Tickets for the French Open went on sale in March, and are available to buy from the Roland Garros site. However, if you can’t get tickets, or you can’t get to France, then you can always catch it on television. But what time is the French Open on TV? In the UK, the French Open is shown on ITV Sport and Eurosport, who both hold broadcasting rights until 2021. The majority of the daily coverage will be shown on ITV4 with weekend matches and both singles finals shown on the main ITV channel.

Did you know?

Rafael “King of Clay” Nadal has the most wins and consecutive French Open wins in history.

Where is the French Open held? 

The French Open is held at Roland Garros Stadium, 2 Avenue Gordon Bennett, 75016 Paris, France. In French, it’s known as Stade Roland Garros. The stadium was built in 1928, after France’s victory in the Davis Cup the previous year increased interest in the tournament. Before that, the tournament was played in two different venues: the Racing Club and La Faisanderie. The first winner at this new stadium was Frenchman, Henri Cochet.

As well as being the smallest Grand Slam venue, the French Open is also the only Grand Slam tournament to be played on a clay court. Because of the way clay courts are created, it is also considered to be the most physically demanding Grand Slam event.

Did you know?

The youngest French Open champions are Monica Seles (who won aged 16 years and 6 months), and Michael Chang (17 years and 3 months).

Tennis Betting

If you’re familiar with betting on other sports, such as football, it’s worth noting that tennis betting can be a little different. In-play betting is very popular in tennis, which can make tennis betting tricky. Odds change VERY quickly, so you’ll need to make sure you place your bets at the right time. Usually, the best time would be during a pause in play, like between points or games.

So, if you’re interested in betting on the French Open, now seems like a good time to look at some of the things you should take into consideration and different markets you can bet on in tennis.

Things to think about when betting on tennis

Different players have different strengths and weaknesses. Even something as simple as how they perform against right- or left-handed players can be an important consideration. Research into previous matches will show you how certain players play, as well as things like kind of player they prefer to play against. 

You’ll also see that players have different styles of play. Some are baseline players, whereas others play at the net. Others choose to focus on their serves, whereas others; big-servers, baseline players, defensive players, all-rounders or players who prefer to play at the net. Using players’ head-to-head records and combined hold/break percentage stats on a particular court can be a great way to inform your tennis betting.

The surface of the court will have an impact on the way a player plays. There are four main types of surface: grass, clay, hard and carpet and the speed at which the ball and/or player can travel on these different surfaces can affect their level of performance. The French Open is played on clay, which is a relatively hard surface and doesn’t suit all players. For example, Nadal is extremely comfortable playing on clay, so much so that he is known as the “King of Clay”.

Did you know?

World No. 1, Simona Halep, won her first Grand Slam title at the 2018 French Open, defeating Sloane Stephens 3–6, 6–4, 6–1.

Tennis betting markets

Here are some of the markets you can bet on when it comes to tennis and the French Open:

• Match betting
  Not to be confused with matched betting, ‘match’ betting is where you bet on one player to win the match. (Singles: choose one out of two players. Doubles: choose one out of two teams).
  
• Correct score
  How about using your crystal ball and seeing if you can predict the score of the match i.e. the number of sets won by each player. With this type of bet, you can also choose to bet on the score within a particular set. Because this is a more difficult thing to predict, it often means a higher return if your bet wins.

• Tie break
  In this market, you bet on the possibility of a tie-break being played, either in a specific set or at sometime during the match. Again, the added caveat of when the tie break will take place can bring higher returns as it is very difficult to predict.

• Individual player totals
  Betting on individual player totals means deciding on the number of games or sets that will be won by an individual player during the course of a match.

Other markets include:

• Set winner
• In-play betting
• Outright betting
• Winning margin
• Correct score after a given number of games
• To not win a set

Did you know?

The oldest French Open champions are Andre Vacherot (40 years 9 months) and Zsuzsa Körmöczy (33 years 10 months).