Before this year, the tournament was won by a home favorite on several occasions: Guy Forget in 1996, Fabrice Santoro in 1999, Arnaud Clément in 2006, and Gilles Simon in 2007.

It is also one of the few ATP tournaments to have been won only by European players, with France with five (Forget, Santoro, Clément, Simon, and this year's winner Jo-Wilfried Tsonga), Sweden with 4 (Enqvist, Joachim Johansson), Switzerland with four (Rosset, Roger Federer), Germany with one (Boris Becker), Russia with one (Yevgeny Kafelnikov), Slovakia with one (Dominik Hrbatý), and Great Britain with one (Andy Murray).

Seeded players suffered mixed fortunes with Marat Safin, Tomáš Berdych and Gaël Monfils all losing in the first round.

The semifinals consisted of top duo Julian Knowle & Andy Ram, the Czech pairing of Tomáš Berdych & Jan Hernych, Stephen Huss & Ross Hutchins, and the home favorites Clément & Llodra.

Clément & Llodra defeated Huss & Hutchins 6–2 7–6, while Knowle & Ram advanced into their expected final with a 7–6 6–2 victory over the Czechs.