1972 French Open – Men's singles

Andrés Gimeno defeated Patrick Proisy in the final, 4–6, 6–3, 6–1, 6–1 to win the men's singles tennis title at the 1972 French Open. It was his first and only major title and, at the age of 34, he became the oldest first-time major champion in the Open Era.

Jan Kodeš was the two-time defending champion, but lost in the quarterfinals to Proisy.

The French Lawn Tennis Federation halved the size of the draw from 128 to 64 players in an attempt to attract the top players on tour to the tournament; this change was reverted the following year as results were mixed.

Seeds
The seeded players are listed below. Andrés Gimeno is the champion; others show the round in which they were eliminated.


 * 1)  Jan Kodeš (quarterfinals)
 * 2) 🇷🇴 Ilie Năstase (first round)
 * 3) 🇺🇸 Stan Smith (quarterfinals)
 * 4) 🇪🇸 Manuel Orantes (semifinals)
 * 5) 🇿🇦 Bob Hewitt (first round)
 * 6) 🇪🇸 Andrés Gimeno (champion)
 * 7) 🇫🇷 Pierre Barthès (third round)
 * 8)  Željko Franulović (first round)
 * 9) 🇫🇷 Patrick Proisy (final)
 * 10)  Alex Metreveli (semifinals)
 * 11) 🇺🇸 Clark Graebner (third round)
 * 12) 🇺🇸 Jimmy Connors (second round)
 * 13) 🇨🇱 Jaime Fillol Sr. (second round)
 * 14)  František Pála (third round)
 * 15) 🇦🇺 Barry Phillips-Moore (third round)
 * 1) 🇦🇺 Barry Phillips-Moore (third round)