4 greatest French Open finals of all-time

The French Open is probably the most physically demanding of all grand slams. Winning seven matches in a slow surface paired with high bounce can pose challenges to the best of athletes. Players from Latin American countries and Spain who are accustomed to playing on clay tend to find it easier to win at Roland Garros. It is no surprise then that athletes from countries like Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador and Spain have lifted the La Coupe des Mousquetaires (English: The Musketeers' Trophy) - named after the four famous Frenchmen who dominated tennis during the early part of the 20th century - Henri Cochet, Rene Lacoste, Jacques Brugnon and Jean Borotra.

Certain players like Rafael Nadal, Bjorn Borg, Gustavo Kuerten were expert clay court players winning numerous titles in Paris. Stade Roland Garros at Court Philippe Chatrier has witnessed many epic battles between legends. We jog down memory lane and look at few of the greatest Men's Singles finals matches played at this great venue.

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#1 Andre Agassi vs Andriy Medvedev (1999)

Going into the 1999 French Open, American Andre Agassi was seeded only 13th and few expected him to win the tournament considering that there were some world-class clay court specialists like Gustavo Kuerten, Carlos Moya, Alex Corretja and Marcelo Rios. But Agassi had other ideas as he took out defending champion Carlos Moya in the fourth round.

Unseeded Ukrainian Andriy Medvedev was flawless early on as he romped through the first two sets. Medvedev had put himself in a commanding position to take the match in straight sets, but Agassi tweaked his game a bit and started playing an aggressive brand of tennis to come from behind and remarkable win the next three sets. His won meant that he achieved the career Grand Slam matching his wife Steffi Graf's achievement. Agassi was only the 5th man at the time to achieve the historic feat.

#3 Gaston Gaudio vs Guillermo Coria (2004)

2004 French Open Winner Gaston Gaudio

Since 2005, Rafael Nadal has dominated the French Open and such has been the aura of invincibility of the great Spaniard that we have to go all the way back to 2005 for the last 5-setter at the French Open final.

The 2004 French Open final between two Argentine tennis players, Gaston Gaudio and Guillermo Coria was memorable in many ways. Guillermo Coria was the favourite on the Parisian dirt, because for a while, between Gustavo Kuerten’s hat-trick of French Open titles and Nadal’s Undecima, 11 French Open titles, he was the best clay court player in the world. He had demonstrated that in emphatic fashion in the semi-final, thrashing Britain’s Tim Henman in four sets, even bagelling him in the fourth set. Gaston Gaudio swept past fellow Argentine and Wimbledon runner-up David Nalbandian in straight sets in the other semi-final.

The final was a topsy-turvy affair with Coria thrashing Gaudio in the first two sets including notching up a bagel in the first set. Gaudio looked completely out of sorts and it looked like it would be a cakewalk for Coria. Spectators would have probably thought that it was a waste of their hard money seeing a lopsided French Open final between two first-time finalists. But they were proved wrong over the course of the next two and a half hours as Gaudio produced one of the greatest comebacks in a Grand Slam final in recent history, not losing his serve in the remaining three sets. The final scoreline read 0–6, 3–6, 6–4, 6–1, 8–6 in Gaudio's favour.

#2 Ivan Lendl vs John McEnroe (1984)

Ivan Lendl lift his first French Open Trophy in 1984

Coming into the 1984 French Open, Ivan Lendl had to endure the disappointment of finishing as runner-up on different occasions in Grand Slam finals. Critics were beginning to doubt if he can finally break his grand slam jinx. The poker-faced Czech who rarely shows any emotions on the court would eventually have the last laugh.

Lendl was the second seed and McEnroe was the top seed. McEnroe's record in that year was 82-3 and he ended up winning 13 Singles titles.

The two players with contrasting styles and attitude met in the final. McEnroe was up two sets to none against Ivan Lendl. Then, McEnroe had one of his typical outbursts when he yelled at a cameraman in the third set. That proved to be the turning point of the match as Lendl saw a silver lining. The French crowd weren't happy with McEnroe's behaviour and they started to cheer his opponent more vociferously. Riding on the support of a partisan French crowd, Lendl seized the initiative to win the match 3–6, 2–6, 6–4, 7–5, 7–5.

#1 Michael Chang vs Stefan Edberg (1989)

Michael Chang lift the 1989 French Open Tennis Championship

Going into the 1989 French Open, 17-year-old Michael Chang was not expected to go the distance. Much was talked of this prodigy earlier but apart from one or at most two surprise victories, few thought he would go any further.

Michal Chang gave American legend Pete Sampras a 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 thrashing in the second round. Although Sampras hadn't risen to greatness yet, he would not face a similar thrashing in his career again. Chang beat top-seed and three-time champion Ivan Lendl in five sets in the fourth round after coming back from two sets down.

Swede Stefan Edberg seeded third in the draw had to beat the likes of Goran Ivanisevic and Boris Becker in tight matches to make the final.

Chang won the first set of the final comfortably. The then three-time Grand Slam champion, Edberg, took the next two sets and looked to be in cruise control to capture his first French Open title. However, Chang was able to turn the momentum in his favour and became the first American in more than 30 years to win the French Open.