A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
| 2008 French Open | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Date | 25 May – 8 June 2008 |
| Edition | 107 |
| Category | 78th Grand Slam (ITF) |
| Surface | Clay / outdoor |
| Location | Paris (XVIe), France |
| Venue | Stade Roland Garros |
| Champions | |
| Men's singles | |
 Rafael Nadal | |
| Women's singles | |
 Ana Ivanovic | |
| Men's doubles | |
 Pablo Cuevas /  Luis Horna | |
| Women's doubles | |
| Anabel Medina Garrigues / Virginia Ruano Pascual | |
| Mixed doubles | |
 Victoria Azarenka /  Bob Bryan | |
| Wheelchair men's singles | |
 Shingo Kunieda | |
| Wheelchair women's singles | |
 Esther Vergeer | |
| Wheelchair men's doubles | |
| Shingo Kunieda / Maikel Scheffers | |
| Wheelchair women's doubles | |
| Jiske Griffioen / Esther Vergeer | |
| Boys' singles | |
 Yang Tsung-hua | |
| Girls' singles | |
 Simona Halep | |
| Boys' doubles | |
 Henri Kontinen /  Christopher Rungkat | |
| Girls' doubles | |
 Polona Hercog /  Jessica Moore | |
| Legends under 45 doubles | |
 Goran Ivanišević /  Michael Stich | |
| Legends over 45 doubles | |
 Anders Järryd / John McEnroe | |
The 2008 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 112th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 25 May until 8 June 2008.
Justine Henin did not defend her trophy due to her retirement from the sport on May 14. Ana Ivanovic, the runner-up to Henin in 2007, won the Women's Singles. On the men's side, Rafael Nadal won the Men's Singles, and equalled Björn Borg's record of four consecutive French Open titles in the Open Era. Other competitions included men and women's doubles, junior singles and doubles as well as wheelchair and 'veteran' competitions.
The 2008 edition marked the first time in the Open Era no American man or woman reached the singles' quarterfinals at Roland Garros.
Notable stories
Justine Henin's retirement
On May 14, 2008, less than two weeks before the start of the 2008 French Open, defending champion and world No. 1 Justine Henin, announced in a press conference her immediate retirement from the sport. Four-time winner in Roland-Garros, where she defeated Kim Clijsters in 2003, Mary Pierce in 2005, Svetlana Kuznetsova in 2006 and Ana Ivanovic in 2007, Henin became the first player, at 25, to stop her career while holding the number one rank. Despite undergoing a poor run in the 2008 season, Henin was still considered to be a strong favourite for the French Open crown. Her retirement left Serena Williams, the 2002 champion and the tournament favourite this year, as the only former French Open champion remaining in the women's draw, and allowed WTA world No. 2 Maria Sharapova to be installed as the new world No. 1, and become the top seed for the tournament.[1][2] Henin's last match was against Dinara Safina, who went on to have a successful French Open, reaching the final, where she was beaten by Ana Ivanovic. Henin returned at the end of the women's tournament, and presented new champion Ana Ivanovic with the trophy.[3]
The Williams' sisters performance
This tournament saw the worst performance by any of the Williams sisters at a Grand Slam tournament since the 2006 Australian Open.[4]
Serena Williams, the only former French Open champion left in the draw, was stunned in the third round by Katarina Srebotnik, ensuring that there would be a new champion this year.[5] Williams had never previously lost to Srebotnik in four previous attempts, and had defeated her in the second round of the 2001 French Open and as recently as in the third round of the 2008 Family Circle Cup, where she won the title as part of a seventeen-match winning streak compiled between February and May. Her third round exit was her worst performance at the tournament since 1999, when she also fell in the third round. Two ESPN experts had touted Serena Williams as the pre-tournament favourite; those same two experts also predicted that Ana Ivanovic, the 2007 runner-up whom Serena Williams would have met in the quarter-finals, would make an early exit,[6][7] when, in fact, the exact opposite occurred and Ivanovic won the championship amidst a form slump which saw her suffer early defeats in Miami and Rome.[8] Williams had said prior to the French Open that she had "enjoyed her best preparation since winning the event in 2002"; entering the tournament, she had won 23 matches and lost just two (to Jelena Janković at the Australian Open and Dinara Safina in Berlin) for the season.
On the same day as Serena Williams' defeat, older sister Venus Williams was upset by world No. 26 Flavia Pennetta, who had never previously advanced past the fourth round of the French Open, in the third round,[9] adding to her recent history of early exits at the French Open. This marked the first time since the 2004 French Open that both the Williams sisters were defeated within 24 hours of each other;[4] on that occasion, both were defeated in the quarter-finals by Jennifer Capriati and Anastasia Myskina, who then went on to contest a semi-final between each other.[10]
Guga's goodbye
The 2008 French Open saw the last appearance on the ATP Tour of former world No. 1 Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten.[11] The 31-year-old Brazilian champion, had been awarded a wild card to play his final tournament in Roland-Garros, where he won his three Grand Slam titles in 1997, 2000 and 2001. Kuerten played his first round, and final singles match on Court Philippe Chatrier against eighteenth-seeded Paul-Henri Mathieu. Kuerten conceded the victory in straight sets after a little less than two hours on the court. A ceremony followed, where Kuerten was awarded a trophy encasing the multiple layers of the French Open's clay courts. Kuerten played his last match in the men's doubles with Sébastien Grosjean. The pair was defeated after three sets by Florin Mergea & Horia Tecău on the score of 5–7, 6–3, 6–1, ending the very final appearance of Gustavo Kuerten on the tour.
Prix Orange, Citron & Bourgeon
As each year since 1981, three trophies are awarded during the tournament to the players of Roland-Garros: the Prix Orange (Orange Prize), awarded by the public to the player with the most sportsmanship, the Prix Citron (Lemon Prize), awarded by both the public and a journalists' association to the player with the strongest nature, and the Prix Bourgeon (Bud Prize), given by the journalists only to the most improved player of the year. In 2008, the Prix Orange was received, for the fourth year in a row, by Roger Federer, who came first of a tally with five choices, followed by Rafael Nadal, Gustavo Kuerten, James Blake and Carlos Moyá. The Prix Citron was obtained by Fabrice Santoro, who preceded Novak Djokovic, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams and Juan Carlos Ferrero in the votes. The Prix Bourgeon was given by the press to Alizé Cornet, ahead of Janko Tipsarević and Ernests Gulbis. Gustavo Kuerten, already the recipient of three Prix Orange in 1998, 2002, and 2004, was presented a special ten-year prize for fair-play, in honor of his career and his successes at the French Open.[12]
Point distribution
Below are the tables with the point distribution for each discipline of the tournament.