When it comes to financial remuneration, the French Tennis Federation have ensured that the top players will continue to arrive in Paris to compete at Roland Garros - even if they do have feet of clay.

Some players love competing on the famous red clay at the French Open, others hate it, but with only a few exceptions they turn up to battle it out year on year for prize money which, in 2008, rose by two per cent from the previous year.

With there now being parity in terms of reward for players in the main draws of the two singles events, as is the case in the other three Grand Slams, the winners of the men's and women's champions at Roland Garros each pocketed a cool one million euros.

The runners-up at the French Open took home 530,000 euros with semi-finalists getting 265,000 euros and those who made the last eight 132,500 euros.

Whereas the doubles events tended to be viewed as very much a secondary event to the singles matches, that is certainly no longer the case for either players or fans at Grand Slam events.

Many leading singles players will double up at Grand Slams as the rewards have increased substantially in recent years.

The champions in the two main doubles events (men's and women's) at the 2008 French Open won 300,000 euros per pair, with the respective runners-up pairings getting exactly half that amount.