The famous Parisian tournament bears the name of this illustrious character whom many French people do not know.
The month of May often rhymes with RG, aka Roland-Garros. The French Open tennis tournament is the event of the year on clay and even the event of the year for many tennis players who are betting heavily on the Parisian Grand Slam.
The Roland-Garros tournament has existed since 1925 in the format we currently know with a first edition on the grounds of Parc Saint-Cloud. But, if we go even further, the first real tournament took place in 1891, created under the name of the French tennis championship. A tournament that was originally on… grass! In 1912, a clay court world championship was organized to favor players who had difficulty with grass. This new surface is popular and the tournament overshadows the French tennis championship because foreign players are authorized to participate.
It was therefore only in 1925 that this “French championship disappeared” and therefore gave way to the “French Internationaux”. But why did this tournament take the name Roland-Garros? For those who don’t know, Roland Garros, the iconic name, is not that of a famous French tennis player or even a sportsman, but an aviator! Born in 1888, he died in an aerial combat on October 5, 1918 in the Ardennes. Before that, he achieved several exploits with an altitude record, on September 6, 1911, with 3,910 meters.
Even before the First World War, its fame continued to grow with numerous air shows. Always in search of thrills, Roland Garros sets itself the challenge of crossing the Mediterranean. On September 23, 1913, it will connect Saint-Raphaël to Bizerte in Tunisia. Despite two breakdowns during his journey, he managed to achieve this feat and became one of the darlings of Paris. He then surrounded himself with famous friends like Jean Cocteau who dedicated “The Cape of Good Hope” to him.
Roland Garros was also a true pioneer in armaments, developing the first single-seat fighter with a machine gun firing through the propeller. When he was captured in 1915, his technology would cross borders. He finally managed to escape, disguised as a German officer, before finally falling in combat, in 1918.
Ten years after his death, in 1928, the tennis stadium intended to serve as a showcase for the Mousquetaires with a view to defending their Davis Cup title was named in his name, at the request of Emile Lesueur, president of Stade Français , a former Garros classmate at HEC… And whose aviator had sponsored his entry into the Stade Français several decades earlier. Rugby being one of his sports, like football and cycling… The irony being that he never really played tennis.