Roland Garros

Roland Garros, also called ‘The French Open’, is one of the four most famous tennis tournaments in the world. It is the second Grand Slam tournament of the year and takes place in Paris. The tournament is the only Grand Slam held on a clay court. The red clay court is a slow surface, which makes it difficult for players to hit a winner. The bounce of the balls is high and slow, which is why the points are long and intense. Roland Garros is also known as the most physically demanding tournament. The best ground strokes on clay court are with topspin: heavy topspin balls causes the opponent to get pushed far behind the baseline and at this point the dropshot becomes very effective to win the point. The trophy for the men’s is called ‘Coupe des Mousquetaires’ and ‘Coupe Suzanne Lenglen’ for the women. Only the best players in the world are able to compete in this tournament. The person with the most victories at the French Open in history is Bjorn Borg; he won this Grand Slam 6 times. The most successful player recently at Roland Garros is Rafael Nadal. Chris Evert is the woman who won the most titles on Roland Garros as many as 7 times. Currently, Justin Henin is the most successful female player of this Grand Slam.

I went to Roland Garros in 2009 with my best friend. We saw one of the first rounds of the tournament between Ljubicic and Ferero. The match lasted almost 4 hours--it was unbelievable to see how fantastic they can play tennis. I have never seen Nadal or Federer, but I can not imagine how well they will play!