History of the French Open

The first French National Championships were held in 1891 for men and in 1897 for women. This was only a one-day championship.
It became international in 1925.
In 1928, the tournament was moved to its current home, Roland Garros.
Roland Garros was a French war hero.
Today the French Open is one of the four grand slams.

After the First World War, French tennis was very successful, with Suzanne Lenglen winning six times between 1920 and 1926.The male stars were Jean Borotra, René Lacoste, Henri Cochet, and Jacques Brugnon.
From 1912 to 1927, the tennis championships were hosted alternately at the Racing Club de France and at the Stade Français, based in La Faisanderie in the park Saint-Cloud.
When France  had to hold the Davis Cup after winning it in 1927 the French built a new stadium at Porte D'Auteuil, in Paris, called Roland Garros.

After the Second World War, France's domination decreased and the Americans and Australians started to dominate, with new young stars such as Ken Rosewall of Australia and America's Maureen Connolly. In 1956 Althea Gibson, the first African-American was the French Grand Slam winner.

The Open era

The Open era started when professionals were  permitted to enter. The now established Ken Rosewall claimed the men's prize money, 15 years after his first title. Nancy Richey won the women's prize. The French Open was the first to offer prize money to the competitors.

Stars of the sport took trophy after trophy in the 70's and 80's, with Bjorn Borg winning six titles and Chris Evert winning seven. The 80's also saw the return of French success, with Yannick Noah winning France's first title for 37 years.

In the late 80's and early 90's we also saw the rise of the teenage stars. Michael Chang won the 1989 Championships at the age of 17 years and 3 months. Monica Seles brought her unique style to the tournament in 1990 and won the title when still only 16.

The French woman Mary Pierce won it in 2000.

The French Open is unique in terms of its surface, that of clay (terre battue). This surface favours long points and rallies from the baseline. Some rallies extend up to fifty strokes.
There have been many great tennis players who have won all the other Grand Slams but never the French.