French Open

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This article is about the tennis tournament. For the French aviator for whom it is named, see Roland Garros (aviator).

For the golf tournament, see Open de France.

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Tournoi de Roland-Garros (French Open)

Official web
Location	Paris (XVI^e) France
Venue	Stade Roland Garros
Surface	Clay / Outdoors
Men's draw	128S / 128Q / 64D
Women's draw	128S / 96Q / 64D
Prize money	€15,264,500
Grand Slam
Australian Open French Open (Roland Garros) Wimbledon US Open

The French Open (French: Les Internationaux de France de Roland Garros or Tournoi de Roland-Garros) is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks between mid-May and early June in Paris, France, at the Stade Roland Garros. It is the second of the Grand Slam tournaments on the annual tennis calendar and the premier clay court tennis tournament in the world. It is one of the most prestigious events in tennis,^[1] and it has the widest worldwide broadcasting and audience of all events in this sport.^[2] ^[3] Because of the slow playing surface and the five-set men's singles matches without a tiebreak in the final set, some say that the event is considered to be the most physically demanding tennis tournament in the world.^[4] ^[5]

1 History
2 Surface characteristics
3 Champions
4 Records
5 See also
6 Notes and references
7 External links

[edit] History

Officially named in French the Les Internationaux de France de Roland Garros or Tournoi de Roland-Garros (the "French Internationals of Roland Garros" or "Roland Garros Tournament" in English), the tournament is often referred to as the "French Open" and sometimes simply as "Roland Garros".

The event began as a national tournament in 1891 as the Championat de France International de Tennis. The first women's tournament was held in 1897. In 1912, the French tournament was held with a different surface (at the time all tennis played was lawn tennis), a red clay ("terre battue"), made up from the crushed wastes of red brick. The tournament was open only to tennis players who were licensed in France through 1924.

In 1925, the French Championships opened itself to international competitors with the event held on a grass surface alternately between the Racing Club de France and the Stade Francais.^[6] After the Mousquetaires or Philadelphia Four (René Lacoste, Jean Borotra, Henri Cochet, and Jacques Brugnon) won the Davis Cup on American soil in 1927, the French decided to defend the cup in 1928 at a new tennis stadium at Porte d’Auteuil. The Stade de France had offered the tennis authorities three hectares of land with the condition that the new stadium must be named after the World War I pilot, Roland Garros. The new Stade de Roland Garros, and its Center Court, which was named Court Philippe Chatrier in 1988, hosted that Davis Cup challenge.

Suzanne Lenglen Court at Roland Garros.

From 1945 through 1947, the French Championships were held after Wimbledon, making it the third Grand Slam event of the year.

In 1968, the French Championships became the first Grand Slam tournament to go open, allowing both amateurs and professionals to compete.^[6]

Since 1981, new prizes have been presented Prix Orange (the most fair-play and the most press friendly player), Prix Citron (the player with the strongest character, personality) and Prix Bourgeon (the tennis player revelation of the year).

Another novelty, since 2006 the tournament has begun on a Sunday, featuring 12 singles matches played on the three main courts.

Additionally, on the eve of the tournament's opening, the traditional Benny Berthet exhibition day takes place, where the profits go to different charity associations.

In March 2007, it was announced that the event will provide equal prize money for both men and women in all rounds for the first time ever.^[7]

[edit] Surface characteristics

Clay courts slow down the ball and produce a high bounce when compared to grass courts or hard courts. For this reason, clay courts take away some of the advantages of big serves, which makes it hard for serve based players to dominate on the surface. For example, Pete Sampras, a player known for his huge serve, and Roger Federer, the current World No. 2, have never won the French Open. Similarly, John McEnroe and Boris Becker, two classic serve-and-volley players, never won this tournament.

On the other hand, players whose games are more suited to slower surfaces, such as Björn Borg, Ivan Lendl, Rafael Nadal, and Mats Wilander, have found great success at this tournament. In the open era, the only male players who have won both the French Open and Wimbledon, played on faster grass courts, are Rod Laver, Borg, Andre Agassi, and Rafael Nadal.

[edit] Champions

Men's Singles, winner of the Coupe des Mousquetaires
Women's Singles, winner of the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen
Men's Doubles, winners of the Coupe Jacques Brugnon
Women's Doubles, winners of the Coupe Simone Mathieu
Mixed Doubles, winners of the Coupe Marcel Bernard

The trophies are all made of pure silver with finely etched decorations on their side, each new singles winner gets his or her name written on the plate holding the trophy.

Winners receive a replica of the won trophy. Pure silver replicas of the trophies are fabricated and engraved for each winner by the Maison Mellerio, located in the Rue de la Paix, Paris.

[edit] Records

Record	Era	Player(s)	Nos.	Years
Men since 1891
Winner of most men's singles titles	Before 1925:	Max Decugis	8	1903, 1904, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1912, 1913, 1914
	1925-1967:	Henri Cochet	4	1926, 1928, 1930, 1932
	After 1967:	Björn Borg	6	1974-75, 1978-81
Winner of most consecutive men's singles titles	Before 1968:	Max Decugis	3	1907-1909, 1912-14
	Before 1968:	Frank Parker Jaroslav Drobny Tony Trabert Nicola Pietrangeli	2	1948-49 1951-52 1954-55 1959-60
	After 1967:	Björn Borg Rafael Nadal	4	1978-81 2005-08
Winner of most men's doubles titles	Before 1968:	Max Decugis	14	1902, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1920
	Before 1968:	Roy Emerson	6	1960, 1962 with Neale Fraser, 1961 with Rod Laver, 1963 with Manuel Santana, 1964 with Ken Fletcher, 1965 with Fred Stolle
	After 1967:	Paul Haarhuis Yevgeny Kafelnikov	3	1995, 1998 with Jacco Eltingh, 2002 with Yevgeny Kafelnikov 1996-97 with Daniel Vacek, 2002 with Paul Haarhuis
Winner of most consecutive men's doubles titles	Before 1968:	Max Decugis	13	1902-14
	Before 1968:	Roy Emerson	6	1960-65
	After 1967:	Gene Mayer Yevgeny Kafelnikov & Daniel Vacek Jonas Bjorkman & Max Mirnyi	2	1978 with Hank Pfister, 1979 with Sandy Mayer 1996-97 2005-06
Winner of most mixed doubles titles - Men	Before 1968:	Max Decugis	7	1904, 1905, 1906, 1908, 1909, 1914 and 1920 with Suzanne Lenglen
Winner of most mixed doubles titles - Men	After 1967:	Jean-Claude Barclay	4	1968, 1971, 1973 with Francoise Durr
Winner of most titles (total: singles, doubles, mixed) - men	Before 1968:	Max Decugis	29	1902-1920 (8 singles, 14 doubles, 7 mixed)
	After 1967:	Bjorn Borg	6	1974-81 (6 singles)
Women since 1897
Winner of most women's singles titles	Before 1968:	Suzanne Lenglen	6	1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1925, 1926
Winner of most women's singles titles	After 1967:	Chris Evert	7	1974-75, 1979-80, 1983, 1985-86
Winner of most consecutive women's singles titles	Before 1968:	Suzanne Lenglen	4	1920-23
Winner of most consecutive women's singles titles	After 1967:	Monica Seles Justine Henin	3	1990-92 2005-07
Winner of most women's doubles titles	Before 1968:	Simone Mathieu	6	1933-34 with Elizabeth Ryan, 1936-38 with Billie Yorke, 1939 with Jadwiga Jedrzejowska
Winner of most women's doubles titles	After 1967:	/ Martina Navratilova	7	1975 (with Chris Evert), 1982 with Anne Smith, 1984-85, 1987-88 with Pam Shriver, 1986 with Andrea Temesvari
Winner of most consecutive women's doubles titles	Before 1968:	Francoise Durr	5	1967-71
Winner of most consecutive women's doubles titles	After 1967:	/ Martina Navratilova Gigi Fernandez	5	1984-85, 1987-88 with Pam Shriver; 1986 with Andrea Temesvari 1991 with Jana Novotna, 1992-95 with Natasha Zvereva
Winner of most mixed doubles titles - women	Before 1968:	Suzanne Lenglen	7	1914, 1920 with Max Decugis 1921, 1922, 1923, 1925, 1926 with Jacques Brugnon
Winner of most mixed doubles titles - women	After 1967:	Francoise Durr	3	1968, 1971, 1973 with Jean-Claude Barclay
Winner of most titles (total: singles, doubles, mixed) - women	Before 1968:	Suzanne Lenglen	15	1919-1926 (6 singles, 2 doubles, 7 mixed)
	After 1967:	/ Martina Navratilova	11	1974-88 (2 singles, 7 doubles, 2 mixed)
Miscellaneous
Youngest winner	Men:	Michael Chang	17 years and 3 months
Youngest winner	Women:	/ Monica Seles	16 years and 6 months
Unseeded Winners	Men:	Marcel Bernard Mats Wilander Gustavo Kuerten Gaston Gaudio	1946 1982 1997 2004
Unseeded Winners	Women:	Margaret Scriven	1933

[edit] See also

Tennis portal

List of French Open Men's Singles champions and finalists

[edit] Notes and references

^ Clarey, Christopher (2001-06-30). "Change Seems Essential to Escape Extinction : Wimbledon: World's Most-Loved Dinosaur". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved on 2007-07-20.
^ "Day 15 - Press conference with tournament's management". rolandgarros.com (2007-06-10). Retrieved on 2007-08-10.
^ "Roland Garros: a venue open all year long. Television Coverage". ftt.fr. Retrieved on 2007-08-09.
^ Clarey, Christopher (2006-05-26). "In a year of change at Roland Garros, the winners may stay the same". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved on 2007-08-08.
^ "French Open - Countdown: Borg's view on RG". Eurosport (2008-05-22). Retrieved on 2008-05-22.
^ ^a ^b "Roland Garros: a venue open all year long. Past Winners and Draws". ftt.fr. Retrieved on 2007-08-07.
^ "Roland Garros Awards Equal Pay". WTA Tour (2007-03-16). Retrieved on 2007-07-20.

[edit] External links

French Championships (Amateur Era)

					1925	1926	1927	1928	1929

1930	1931	1932	1933	1934	1935	1936	1937	1938	1939

WWII	WWII	WWII	WWII	WWII	WWII	1946	1947	1948	1949

1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959

1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967

French Open tournaments

								1968	1969

1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979

1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989

1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999

2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008

Coordinates: 48°50′49.79″N 2°14′57.18″E / 48.8471639, 2.2492167

Preceded by Australian Open	Grand Slam Tournament May-June	Succeeded by Wimbledon

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Open"

Hidden category: Portal:Tennis/Total