Rafael Nadal’s dominance, Simona Halep’s victory and the return of Serena Williams: Our French Open highlights

Picking our most memorable moments from a thrilling fortnight in Paris

The French Open has come to an end (Getty)

This year’s French Open ended in a familiar sight — with Rafael Nadal standing in the middle of Court Philippe-Chatrier holding aloft La Coupe des Mousquetaires.

Nadal's incredible record in Paris now reads 86 wins and two defeats. He has won every final he has reached, and in those 11 showpieces he has dropped just six sets.

But in the women’s singles there was a new Grand Slam winner. Simona Halep added major championship No. 1 to her No. 1 ranking by coming back to defeat Sloane Stephens in three sets.

It was another thrilling year at Roland-Garros and here our tennis correspondent Paul Newman takes us through his most memorable moments.

There was no stopping Rafa Nadal (Getty)

Most popular champion: Simona Halep’s victory over Sloane Stephens in the final was welcomed by fans and players around the world following her three previous defeats in Grand Slam finals. Petra Kvitova, Johanna Konta, Victoria Azarenka, Karolina Pliskova, Sabine Lisicki and Elina Svitolina were among the players who sent their congratulations to the 26-year-old Romanian.

Match of the tournament: Marco Cecchinato’s 6-3, 7-6, 1-6, 7-6 victory over Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals. The 25-year-old Italian, who had never won a match at a Grand Slam tournament before arriving in Paris, played the match of his life to beat the former champion.

Upset of the tournament: Jelena Ostapenko’s 7-5, 6-3 defeat by the Ukrainian Kateryna Kozlova in the first round. The Latvian was only the sixth female Grand Slam singles champion to lose in the first round in the defence of her title.

Shot of the tournament: Simona Halep’s athletic backhand smash that took her to 4-0 in the final set against Sloane Stephens. The world No 1 said it was that moment that made her believe she could win the title.

Simona Halep finally won a Grand Slam (Getty Images)

Performance of the tournament: Rafael Nadal’s 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Dominic Thiem in the men’s final was the perfect demonstration of the world No 1’s complete mastery of clay-court tennis. Thiem did little wrong but was on the back foot from start to finish.

Best British performances: Kyle Edmund reached the third round before losing to Fabio Fognini, while Cameron Norrie’s spirited display in his second-round defeat by Lucas Pouille demonstrated his potential.

Best French performance: Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert’s victory in the men’s doubles. In the semi-finals Mahut had had to leave the court in a daze after being hit on the side of the head by a mishit from his partner.

Comeback of the tournament: Diego Schwartzman won only three games in losing the first two sets to Kevin Anderson but went on to win their fourth-round match 1-6, 2-6, 7-5, 7-6, 6-2.

Diego Schwartzman celebrates knocking out Kevin Anderson (Getty Images)

Best newcomer: In a tournament short on significant breakthroughs by younger players, Maximilian Marterer made a big impression. The 22-year-old German, who made his Grand Slam debut at last year’s US Open, beat Denis Shapovalov in the first round and pushed Rafael Nadal hard in the fourth.

Biggest disappointment: Serena Williams’ withdrawal with injury before her eagerly-anticipated fourth-round meeting with Maria Sharapova. In beating two top 20 players (Ashleigh Barty and Julia Goerges) in her first Grand Slam tournament for 16 months, the 36-year-old American had started to look like her old self again.

Quote of the tournament (Serena Williams, talking about the multiple references to her in her rival Maria Sharapova’s autobiography): “I didn't know she looked up to me that much or was so involved in my career.”

Funniest moment: Alexander Zverev’s response to a Yorkshire radio reporter’s question at a post-match press conference: “If I ever make a tournament [in Yorkshire] I'm coming just because of that accent. Love it. I didn't understand a word you're saying, but it's not important.”

Luckiest losers: thanks to new rules which discourage injured players from going ahead with their first-round matches just to collect their prize money, eight men who lost in the final round of qualifying found themselves in the main draw as “lucky losers”. It was a record in the open era.

Longest journey: Marco Trungelliti, one of the eight lucky losers in the men’s draw, discovered that he would get his chance only the day before he played Bernard Tomic. Trungelliti was in Barcelona at the time, having left Paris after his defeat in qualifying, and drove 650 miles in day – accompanied by his mother, younger brother, and 88-year-old grandmother - to get back to Roland Garros in time. He beat Tomic in four sets.

The lucky loser enjoyed a tournament to remember (Getty)

Most pointless press conference: After his defeat by Marco Trungelliti, the monosyllabic Bernard Tomic was asked 10 questions. His answers amounted to a total of 63 words.

One for the future: Cori Gauff, a 14-year-old American, was the youngest player in the girls’ singles draw but dropped only one set in winning the title. Perhaps significantly, she trains at the French academy of Patrick Mouratoglou, Serena Williams’ coach.