The master of clay, Rafael Nadal, won the 113th edition of the French Open at Roland-Garros last year. Nadal turned his four-year streak into a five-year streak by defeating Novak Djokovic in the finals. It was Nadal’s ninth French Open title and his 14th Grand Slam title. The French Open is the second Grand Slam event of the season.
Tickets to the French Open men’s final are starting from £410.06 according to international ticket reseller Ticketbis, while tickets for the women’s final are starting at £155.65.
On the women’s side, Serena Williams failed to defend her title as Maria Sharapova defeated Simona Halep in the final. It was Sharapova’s second French Open title and her fifth Grand Slam title.
Although Nadal is the arguably the greatest clay-court player of all-time, recently he has been struggling in a way that cannot be ignored. The Spaniard hasn’t won a tournament in the last 10 months, and has multiple losses to players ranked outside the top-20. Djokovic on the other hand, has been firing on all cylinders. The Serbian won the first Grand Slam event of the season, winning the 2015 Australian Open, and recently won at Indian Wells.
This year’s tournament begins on May 19th and will run until June 7th. Although the field has yet to be announced, all of tennis’ big names are scheduled to participate; Nadal, Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Kei Nishikori, Stan Wawrinka, David Ferrer, Serena and Venus Williams, Sharapova, Halep, Carolina Wozniacki and the rest of the top players on tour will be battling it out in France.
According to Ticketbis.com, Spain has had the highest percentage of international total sales. Spain, so far, has accounted for 21% of international sales, while Argentina and the United States trail with 8.7%. The men’s final is the largest draw to date, accounting for 59.4% of total sales.
The United States and Argentina have replaced Brazil and Germany for the second and third spots for total international sales. In 2014, Brazil was behind Spain with 14.6 percent of total sales and Germany was third with 4.5 percent of total sales. It is surprising to see Germany so high on the list for 2014 sales, as the player who went furthest in the tournament was Andrea Petkovic, who was eliminated in the women’s singles semifinals. The men’s player who went the furthest was Philipp Kohlschreiber, who exited in the third round.
Believe it or not, the tournament may be moved from Paris after its lease expires after the 2015 French Open. The tournament has been held at Roland-Garros since 1928. The popularity of the event has not suffered though, as international sales from 2013 to 2014 increased by 82.7%.
