In 2010, the French Open has started on the 23rd of May and will end on the 6th of June. The French Open, or “Roland Garros� tournament, is a tennis tournament on clay court taking place in Paris, France. It was created in 1925 and is held every year in June since 1928. It succeeded to the “French Championship�, created in 1891. The French Tennis Federation (FTF) is the organizer of this major sport event, which is held over the last week of May and the first week of June. It is one of the four “Grand Slam’s� tournaments, second in time after the Australian Open of January. Then come Wimbledon and the US Open. The “Roland Garros� tournament was named “French Open� in 1968, the year that saw the birth of tennis as we know it today.

In 1891, only French licensed male players were allowed to play and six years later, the female competition was created. The competition was opened to the best foreign players in 1925, taking then its international tournament’s perspective.  In 1928, the tournament was held in the Roland Garros stadium, named after the French aviation pioneer, who had successfully crossed the Channel for the first time in history on the 23rd September 1913.  The tournament was held regularly until it was cancelled during the Second World War. The competition came back in 1968, the French Tournament becoming the first “Open� Grand Slam’s tournament. This sealed the beginning of the professional era.

It is truly at the end of the Seventies and the beginning of the Eighties that Roland Garros became a mythical place for international sport. Björn Borg’s successes – 6 titles, a record – contributed to the tournament’s fame and reputation. Ivan Lendl, Mats Wilander, and more recently Gustavo Kuerten would later perpetuate the French Open’s success. Women did play a decisive role as well: Chris Evert’s 7 titles, her unforgettable duals against Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf’s hegemony, or Monica Seles’ domination still remain in every tennis lover’s memory.

The French Open is the only and biggest tournament of the Grand Slam held on clay courts, as the US Open stopped using this type of court in 1978. It is considered to be the second most prestigious tennis tournament in the world, after Wimbledon. However, Roland Garros benefits from the best media coverage and has the largest audience.  Roland Garros is broadcasted in the 5 continents, by 102 television channels in 198 territories. Europe is the first broadcaster with 3911 hours of TV coverage in 2008, then come Pacific Asia with 1610 hours, America with 1020 hours, and Africa with 859 hours. Live represents more than 66% of overall broadcast, 4917 of the 7400 hours of broadcast are live, the rest being split up between pre-recording, reruns, and summaries.
Many players, coming from countries where tennis is still played mostly on clay courts, see Roland Garros as the most important competition of the year. Because of its slow surface and the match organisation in 5 sets, Roland Garros is unanimously considered as being the most physically-challenging tennis tournament in the world.

During this event, 20 courts of the Roland Garros stadium are used. The French Tennis Federation rents the field the French Open is played on. It pays the rent to the Paris’ city council. The surface used, clay courts, slows the ball down and produces a very high rebound, which explains the difference in styles with fast tennis courts surfaces – such as lawn – used in the Grand Slam’s three other competitions. This is why even great players such as Jimmy Connors, Boris Becker or Pete Sampras have always failed at winning the French Open. The other way round, 7 of the 10 last winners on the Parisian clay courts have never won any other Grand Slam tournaments. The Philippe Chatrier court, built in 1927 and inaugurated in 1928, is the central court. It can welcome up to 14 840 people. The Suzanne Lenglen Court, with a capacity of 9 959 was built in 1994. The third court is called “court #1� has a capacity of 3518.

Qualifying rounds are held during 4 days. In order to see their name appear on the final board, 128 male players and 96 female players play during a week before the 2 weeks of competition. Among them, only 12 women and 16 men will play against the world’s best players.  The qualifying rounds are played in 3 winning sets. One has to win 3 games to be allowed to be on the final board. Qualifiers are the competition general rehearsal for ball-pickers, referees, security and maintenance staff.

A few figures

•    The longest game in Roland Garros’ history was held in 2004. The game between French players Arnaud Clement and Fabrice Santoro lasted 393 minutes, that is to say 6 hours and 33 minutes. Santoro did eventually defeat his fellow-countryman 6-4, 6-3, 6-7, 3-6, 16-14.
For the Women’s single, the record was set the year after, between Virginie Buisson and                               Noelle Van Lottum during a 4-hour-and-7-minute game.
•    In 1955, Sturgress and Mc Gregor played 76-set game, setting the record of highest set number in a single game.
•    The longest final lasted 282 minutes – 4 hours and 42 minutes – and was played between Mats Wilander and Guillermo Villas in 1982.
•    60 000 Dunlop balls are used during the 3 weeks of competition.
•    1300 journalists are present at the competition.
•    An overall staff of 2000 people, including 250 ball pickers and 338 referees, is there each year for this event.

The French Open is the best paid Grand Slam’s tournament with a reward of:
-    15 000 € for the 1st round
-    24 500 € for the 2nd round
-    40 600 € for the 3rd round
-    68 400 € for the 4th round
-    132 500 € for quarter-finalists
-    265 000 € for semi-finalists
-    530 000 € for finalists
-    1 060 000 € for single’s champions

Trophies are made of pure silver with engraved decorations on their side, and every winner gets his or her name engraved on the plate holding the trophy. In 2007, the French Tennis Federation established remuneration parity between female and male players. In 2006, the French Open generated an overall income of 120 366 000 Euros, for an overall expenditure of 78 038 000 Euros. The organizers give sponsors important advertising supports.
The bank BNP Paribas is the only official sponsor. It has been supporting the tournament for 26 years. The bank spends 20 million Euros on the tournament each year. Perrier is “the French Open’s official bubble�. It first appeared on cool boxes in 1978 and can now been seen on the referee’s chair and sun umbrellas. Peugeot became one of the French Open’s three main partners in 1984. Five years later, it became the competition’s “official partner and transporter�.  Peugeot organizes the transport for players, VIPs and officials. In 2007, more than 200 vehicles were made available for the tournament. Adidas is the equipment provider for ball pickers and supervisory staff. It is an economic partner for the French Open, and sells its by-products. The manufacturer has been a partner since 1973. Its contract with Roland Garros will expire in 2012.

5 male top ranking players

Roger Federer
Born in 1981 in Bale, Switzerland, Roger Federer has won 62 events in his life, including 20 major competitions. Federer is the only player in history who managed to win 2 Grand Slam’s tournaments – Wimbledon and the US Open – 5 times in a row and to win 3 times 3 of the 4 Grand Slam’s tournaments. In 2009, he defeated the Swedish player Robin Söderling at Roland Garros. He is the current champion and is considered by most of the players and experts to be the best players of all times.
Rafael Nadal
Born in 1986 in Manacor, Balearic Islands, Spain, Rafael Nadal first played at the French Open in 2005. For his first participation, he won his first title by defeating the Argentine Mariano Puerta in the final. In 2006, 2007 and 2008, Nadal beat Federer, the world’s champion at that time. In 2009, he managed to win the only title of the Grand Slam he still didn’t have, by defeating Robin Söderling. He is considered to be one of the greatest players of all times on a clay court, by establishing major records on this surface. He also won Wimbledon in 2008, the 2008 Olympic Games and the Australia Open in 2009.  After having been the World’s second best player during 160 consecutive weeks, he remained the world’s champion from August 2008 to July 2009.
Novak Djoković
Born in 1987 in Belgrade, Serbia, Novak �oković has been the 2nd best player in the world according to the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) since the 1st of February 2010. In January 2008, �oković won his first Grand Slam title at the 2008 Australia Open at the age of 20, after having defeated Roger Federer in 3 sets. He became the first Serbian in history to win a Grand Slam title in the single category.  He also won the Masters Cup, a prestigious tournament between the 8 best players in the world.
Andy Murray
Born in 1987 in Dunblane, Scotland, Andy Murray has won 14 AFP titles, including 4 ATP World Tour Masters. He was a 2008 US Open and 2010 Australia Open finalist. His best ranking until now was World’s #2 in August 2009.  He is currently ranked World #4.  Murray is most proficient on hard courts although he is considered as a serious challenger on Roland Garros’ clay courts.
Robin Söderling
Born in Tibro, Sweden, Robin Söderling is currently ranked World #7. He was first and only so far to have defeated Rafael Nadal at the French Open.  He is known to have a very powerful serve, being able to strike balls at an average speed of 230 km/h. He is the only Swedish player in the AFP 100 Ranking. Although he lost again Roger Federer at the 2009 French Open, Söderling is a very serious competitor and has his chances at Roland Garros this year.

The 5 female top ranking players are:

Serena Williams
Born in 1981 in Saginaw, Michigan, USA, Serena Williams has won 12 Grand Slam tournaments in the single category, 11 in double, and 2 in mixed doubles. With a total of 25 titles, she is one of the greatest female players of all times.  Between 2002 and 2003, she remained at the world’s top position for 57 consecutive weeks. She is the most recent player, male or female, to have held all four Grand Slam singles titles at the same time and only the fifth woman in history achieve such a performance. She is currently ranked World #1.
Venus Williams
Born in 1980 in Lynwood, California, USA, Venus Williams is the older sister of Serena Williams. She is currently ranked World #2 and has won 20 Grand Slam titles: 7 in women’s singles, 11 in doubles and 2 mixed doubles. She has also won 3 Olympic gold medals. She now has the most Olympic medals of female tennis players of all times. She has won 10 matches with her sister Serena. She is known for her powerful serve and her court coverage.
Caroline Wozniacki
Born in 1990 in Odense, Danemark, Caroline Wozniacki is the 3rd best female player in the world. She is the only Danish woman to be on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) top 500 ranking. She is seeded at the 3rd position for this year’s French Open. Having played in 25 tournaments in 2009, she is considered to be one of the most active female tennis players. Caroline Wozniacki is known to let her opponents win very few points, as she has a very strong defence and wide court coverage. Her main assets are her intensity and the length of the balls she hits.
Jelena Jankovic
Born in 1985 in Belgrade, Serbia, Jelena Jankovic is currently ranked World #4. She was ranked #1 during a week in August 2008, and from October 2008 to February 2009. Her strength are her fluid and powerful two-handed backhand and her very efficient drive. Jelena Jankovic is a talented player on all surfaces. Although she surprisingly lost during the round of 16 against the Romanian player Sorana Cirstea, Jankovic is one of the best players to have entered Roland Garros’ lists.
Elena Dementieva
Born in 1981 in Moscow, Russia, Elena Dementieva has won to date 16 titles in women’s singles on the WTA Tour, and 6 titles in women’s doubles. She is one of the most rewarded female players since the beginning of Open Era. She has developed a game based on heavy strikes from the bottom of the court. She has a very sharp drive and an excellent physical condition. Elena Dementieva has the best success rate for 3-set-games in the WTA Tour. Since her first Grand Slam tournament in 1999, she has played them all, thus taking part in 45 Grand Slam tournaments in a row.

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