Canadians at the French Open: Players, odds and history

Canada has never struggled to unveil fresh tennis talent but Bianca Andreescu remains the only player hailing from the country to have lifted a Grand Slam singles title following her 2019 US Open triumph.

Others have come close, with Milos Raonic finishing runner-up to Andy Murray at Wimbledon in 2016 and Leylah Fernandez playing second fiddle to another Brit in Emma Raducanu at the 2021 US Open.

And there will be a number of Canadian players hoping that they can make their presence felt at the upcoming French Open, with Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov leading the charge in the men’s draw and Andreescu and Fernandez spearheading the challenge for the women.

Gabriel Diallo and Marina Stakusic reached the final round of qualifying and will be hoping that they can do enough to join their fellow Canucks in the main draw.

Rebecca Marino was bidding to reach the main draw in Paris for the third year in a row but she was eliminated from the second round of qualifying with a 6-2 6-3 defeat to Croatian Lucija Ciric Bagaric.

We have assessed the chances of the Canadians that have made the main draw and analysed their past performances in Paris.

Felix Auger-Aliassime (+6600)

At world number 21, Auger-Aliassime is the highest-ranked Canadian player in the world and with that comes great responsibility to go deep in Grand Slam events.

Auger-Aliassime has made the semifinals of the US Open before but his French Open exploits have been largely disappointing.

The 23-year-old did make the fourth round in 2022, when he took the King of Clay himself Rafael Nadal to a fifth and deciding set, although his other three visits to Paris have resulted in first-round exits.

Last season was underwhelming for Auger-Aliassime, who lost in the opening round in three of his four Grand Slam starts, but this year has started more positively.

FAA finished runner-up to Andrey Rublev at the recent Madrid Open, suggesting that his clay-court game was improving, and he is a five-time champion on the ATP Tour so knows exactly what it takes to cross the winning line.

The Montreal man is +6600 to make his Grand Slam breakthrough at this season’s French Open.

Denis Shapovalov (+20000)

Shapovalov’s current world ranking may be 126 but he reached a career-high number 10 in 2020 before injuries and setbacks stalled his progress.

The positive for Shapovalov supporters is that the pressure is now off and, at 25 years of age, he still has plenty of time on his side to rediscover his peak performance.

The Israeli-born Canadian was a Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2021 and he has made two further Grand Slam quarter-finals appearances.

However, his only career title came in Stockholm in 2019 and that is not good enough for a player of his ability. He is aggressive, with a high-risk ground game, and has some of the strongest groundstrokes on the ATP Tour.

At some point Shapovalov is sure to enjoy a resurgence but clay appears to be his weakest surface and his five trips to the French Open have yielded a total of only four wins.

Last season’s run to the third round, where he lost in straight sets to top seed Carlos Alcaraz, is his best effort in Paris to date. 

However, he was 26th seed last year and this time will be unseeded, so it is easy to see why he is available at long odds of +20000.

Leylah Fernandez (+10000)

Fernandez emerged from pretty much nowhere when she made the US Open final in 2021, only to bump into British qualifier Raducanu.

That was only Fernandez’s seventh-ever appearance in a Grand Slam and she had never gone beyond the third round previously.

Adjusting to that has proven difficult, although the Canadian youngster did make the quarter-final of the French Open the following season, highlighting her versatility regarding the surface.

It has been stop-start since but the current world number 33 is a three-time winner on the WTA Tour and is still open to plenty of progress at 21 years of age.

The issue for her is that she has lost nine of her last 13 matches and is heading to Paris short of belief, which is why she is available at +10000.

In her four visits to Paris, she has never suffered defeat in the opening round, with that quarter-final run in 2022 the personal highlight.

Bianca Andreescu (+12500)

Nobody can take Andreescu’s US Open triumph away from her, although since that success in 2019 she has struggled in the showpiece events, failing to make a single Grand Slam quarter-final.

The Canadian, who was once world number four but is now ranked at 220th, has failed to go beyond the third round in her four main-draw appearances at the French Open.

Last season, Andreescu did finish runner-up in the French Open mixed doubles with Australian Michael Venus, which offers some hope about a resurgence.

The 23-year-old should still have her best playing days ahead of her, but she hasn’t played a competitive singles match since her homeland event in Montreal in August and is sure to be a little rusty.

Andreescu has finally healed from that back injury that has kept her sidelined and she is set to be given a wildcard for the French Open - she is +12500 to go all the way.

Odds mentioned in this article were correct at the time of writing and are subject to change.