Rolex Paris Masters 1000: 4 lesser-known facts about the event
The Rolex Paris Masters 1000 is usually the last of the 9 ATP Masters 1000 tournaments to be played before the ATP Finals. It is the only ATP Masters 1000 event to be held indoors and it is for this reason that the tournament is sometimes referred to as the 'Paris Indoors'.
Apart from the French Open, the Paris Masters is the other big ticket event in the tennis calendar held in the glorious city of Paris. The 2017 edition of the tournament saw American Jack Sock emerge victorious, taking home his first ATP Masters 1000 trophy.
This helped him to qualify for the ATP Finals for the very first time. As the 2018 edition of the tournament is set to take place later this month, we take a look at 4 lesser-known facts about the Rolex Paris Masters:
#4 Three Frenchmen have won the Paris Masters
Two-time Davis Cup winner Guy Forget was the first Frenchman to win this tournament in 1991. The tournament was then called Open de Paris. In an epic marathon final against American Pete Sampras, Forget won in 5 sets and it is to this date considered one of the best matches to have been witnessed in this tournament.
10 years later, Sebastien Grosjean beat former World Number 1 Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov in 4 sets. The last Frenchman to win the title was Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who beat Argentine David Nalbandian in the finals in the year 2008. Tsonga also finished runner-up to Roger Federer in 2011.
Guy Forget, who was earlier the non-playing captain of the French Davis Cup team, now serves as the Director of the Rolex Paris Masters. Frenchman Gael Monfils has been a runner-up twice in 2009 and 2010.