sem 1: french project

8/2/2019 Sem 1: French Project

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SNO: TI TLE: Page No:

1 I NTRODUCTI ON 1

2 SURFACE CHARACTERI STI CS 2

3 HI STORY 3

4 EXPANSI ON VS RELOCATI ON 5

5 B I BLI OGRAPHY 6

CONTENTS



11

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 late 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. Roland

Garros is the only Grand Slam still held on clay and ends the spring clay court

season.

It is one of the most prestigious events in tennis, and it has the widest worldwide

broadcasting and audience of all regular events in this sport. Because of the slow

playing surface and the five-set men's singles matches without a tiebreak in the

final set, the event is widely considered to be the most physically demanding

tennis tournament in the world.

The reigning current champions in singles are Rafael Nadal for the men

and Francesca Schiavone for the women at the 2010 French Open.

I NTRODUCTI ON



2

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 and serve-and-volleyers, which makes it hard for serve

based players to dominate on the surface. For example, Pete Sampras, a player

known for his huge serve, never won the French Open (nor even advanced to the

final) in his entire career.

Many players who have won multiple Grand Slam events have never won the

French Open, including John McEnroe, Venus Williams, Stefan Edberg, Boris

Becker, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, and Maria Sharapova. Andy

Roddick (who holds the record for fastest serve in the history of professional

tennis) never advanced past the fourth round.

On the other hand, players whose games are more suited to slower surfaces,

such as Björn Borg, Ivan Lendl, Rafael Nadal, and Mats Wilander, and on the

women's side, Justine Heninhave 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,Jan Kodeš, Björn

Borg, Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

SURFACE

CHARACTERI STI CS



3

Officially named in French 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 always as "Roland

Garros" in French.

A French national tournament began in 1891, that was open only to tennis

players who were members of French clubs. It was known as the Championnat de

France , which is commonly referred to in English as the French Closed

Championships. The first women's tournament was held in 1897. This 'French

club members only' tournament was played until 1924. This tournament had four

venues during those years:

The Racing Club de France (in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris), played on clay.

Tennis Club de Paris, at Auteuil, Paris, played on clay.

Île de Puteaux, in Paris, played on sand laid out on a bed of rubble.

For one year, 1909, it was played at the Société Athlétique de la Villa Primrose in

Bordeaux, on clay.

Another tournament, the World Hard Court Championships held on Clay court

at Stade Français in Saint Cloud, which was played from 1912 to 1923 (except

the war years), is often considered as the true precursor to the French Open as it

was open to international competitors.

H I STORY



4

In 1925, the French Championships became open to all amateurs Internationally.

This tournament was held at the Stade Francais (site of the previous World

Hardcourt Championships) in 1925 & 1927, on clay. In 1926 the Racing Club de

France hosted the event, again on clay (site of the previous French Club Members

only Championship). In 1928, the Roland Garros stadium was opened and the

event has been held there ever since.[7] 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.

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.

Since 1981, new prizes have been presented: the Prix Orange (for the player

demonstrating the best sportsmanship and cooperative attitude with the press),

the Prix Citron (for the player with the strongest character and personality) and

the Prix Bourgeon (for 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.

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. In 2010, it was

announced that the French Open was considering a move away from Roland

Garros as part of a continuing rejuvenation of the tournament.



5

In 2009 the Fédération Française de Tennis (FFT) announced that it had determined

that the French Open's venue had become inadequate, compared to other major tennis

tournament facilities. As a result, it had commissioned the French architect Marc

Mimram (designer of the Passerelle des Deux Rives footbridge across the Rhine

River in Strasbourg[10]) to design a significant expansion of Stade Roland Garros. On

the current property, the proposal calls for the addition of lights and a roof over Court

Philippe Chatrier. At the nearby Georges Hébert municipal recreation area, east of

Roland Garros at Porte d'Auteuil, a fourth stadium will be built, with a retractable

roof and 14,600 seating capacity, along with two smaller courts with seating for 1,500

and 750.

In 2010, faced with opposition to the proposed expansion from factions within the

Paris City Council, the FFT announced it is considering an alternate plan to move the

French Open to a completely new, 55-court venue outside of Paris city limits. Three

sites reportedly being considered are Marne-le-Vallée (site of the Euro Disney resort),

the northern Paris suburb of Gonesse, and a vacant army base near Versailles. Amid

charges of bluffing and brinkmanship, a spokesman explained that Roland Garros is

less than half the size of other Grand Slam venues, leaving the FFT with only two

viable options: expansion of the existing facility or relocation of the event.

EXPANSI ON VS.

RELOCATI ON



6

Onl ine Sources:

www.rench.open-tennis.com

www.rolandgarros.com

www.telegraph.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

www.frenchopen4u.com

BI BLI OGRAPHY

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