Celebrating Roland Garros

By Gino Pilato
Love of Sports Correspondent

Nestled in Southwest Paris, France the Stade de Roland Garros opens its gates annually to those awaiting the international Grand Slam tournament that takes place every late May through early June.

The stadium is named after an early French aviator who, on September 23, 1913, had become the first man to fly a plane over the Meditarranean Sea. Nowadays, the it’s famous for hosting the French Open, the second Grand Slam on the professional tennis calendar each year. It’s also the official end to the clay court season every year. Of the four majors, the French Open has the widest worldwide broadcasting and audience in the sport of tennis.

What makes Roland Garros and the French Open unique is the obvious clay surface that demands the most grueling and fatigue-inducing matches the professionals are forced to endure, testing the strength and fortitude of every champion who’s been fortunate enough to hoist the Coupe des Mousquetaires for the men or the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen for the women.

For the men, the five-set singles matches without a tie-break in the final set surely favors those athletes in top physical form in which the champions always deserve a chilled glass of the famed Blanc de Blanc Champagne from the Northern region of France.

Its clay court surface favors the dirt ball players that grew up on the surface from countries such as Spain, Argentina, France and Brazil to name a few. The court slows down play and provides a greater bounce to the ball, favoring all around players with a liking for long rallies.

Top spin specialists such as Rafael Nadal, the current King of Clay, take advantage of the added ball spin to frusturate their opponents. Nadal’s made the surface his throne and is becoming quite the regular at Court Philippe Chartier, the French Open’s mainstage. He isn’t alone in the field of specialists that prefer the surface.

On both the men’s and women’s side, rather unknown players seemingly always rise through the sport’s elite to win this event. Gustavo Kuerten was one of those men in the 1997 Open. “Guga” showed the world that winning the title can define your entire career. This year at Roland Garros was his last, however. He bowed out with the grace of a champion and ultimately paid his respects to not only the French fans, but to the entire tennis world who witnessed his three French Open titles.

Roland Garros will continue to bring out the best in the tennis elite and is always an important piece of the Grand Slam puzzle every season.