The French Open is one of the Grand Slam tournaments. It is held every year in Paris on the open clay courts of Roland Garros in late May - early June. The first competitions were held in 1891.
In 2018, the strongest tennis players on the planet will compete for the trophy from May 26 to June 10, the tournament will last two weeks. Qualification, accordingly, will begin a few days earlier.
Main course at Roland Garros
The central court of the tournament seats 15 thousand spectators and is named after the president of the tennis association, Philippe Chaterier.
Competitions are held among best tennis players top hundred ATP and WTA rankings. All singles matches in the men's bracket consist of 3 sets, and in the women's bracket - of 2. The main stage of the competition consists of 128 participants. The preliminary round lasts 3 laps. The tournament organizers provide wild cards to famous and distinguished athletes who, for various reasons, do not qualify for the main draw according to the rating. The same rules will apply this year 2018.
French Open record holders
The Paris tournament is the premier clay court tennis event. He is very popular among representatives of the Spanish school. A clear proof of this fact is the performances of the Spaniard Rafael Nadal. He has 10 victories in the final matches of Roland Garros. This is a phenomenal achievement. Moreover, Nadal has a good chance of winning in the next rounds.
The second place in the number of titles won on clay courts in the French Championship belongs to the Frenchman Max Decugis. But his achievements occurred in the pre-war years, when the tournament was not so popular. Of his contemporaries, Swede Bjorn Borg has won the most finals. Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten, Swede Mats Wilander and Czech Ivan Lendl have three titles each.
Register and get a bonusAmong women, American Chris Evert has the most victories (7). Behind her are Suzanne Lenglen and Steffi Graf (6 titles each).
Max Decugis has the most wins in doubles finals. In total, the Frenchman has 14 such victories and 7 in mixed pairs.
Of the women, Margaret Smith won the most in pairs. She has 4 wins each in doubles and mixed doubles tournaments.
The main feature of fights on clay surfaces are protracted rallies. Tennis players prefer to play on the back line, rarely going to the net. Technically well-equipped players sometimes perform shortened and sliced shots under the net, making it more difficult for the opponent to receive.
Representatives of the Spanish school have an advantage on clay. These tennis players traditionally play well on the back line and have good technique. Players who focus on the first serve do not have the same advantage here as on hard surfaces. The rebound on French courts is the slowest of all Grand Slam tournaments. Therefore, they largely depend on this fact.
For example, Roger Federer only recently managed to win the Rolland Garos, and Pete Sampras reached the semi-finals of this tournament once. This once again demonstrates that even the best representatives of the American school on clay achieve relatively modest success.
Betting on Roland Garros
Bookmakers provide good opportunities for their clients to bet on the biggest clay tournament of the season. In the paintings you can find up to 80 or more positions. Many bookmakers provide opportunities to bet on the winner and prize-winners of a tournament long before the start of the competition.
Traditionally, the tournament in France is covered by the Eurosport channel with the constant presenter in the studio, Mats Wilander.
One of the world's most important tennis tournaments and one of the Grand Slam tournaments, Roland Garros is incredibly popular both in France and around the world. This trend has led to the fact that the existing venues simply cannot accommodate everyone, so we are soon expecting a large-scale modernization of the arena and tennis facilities of the famous French Championship.
Basic information about the Roland Garros tournament
The first Championship tournament was held quite soon after the emergence of tennis as a sport - in 1891, and included only competitions for men in singles. Six years later, women's performances began to be practiced, and in 1925 Roland Garros accepted international status.
Almost always, competitions were held in the capital of France, and only once was an exception made - Roland Garros was held in Bordeaux in 1909.
History of the Championship
The very first tournament had a very prestigious status - only professional tennis players or club members could become participants. This secrecy led to rapid development international competitions in other countries where they were not so zealous about participating in the National Championship.
As a result, Roland Garros became international only in 1925, but the arena itself was opened only two years later, after the famous French victory at the Davis Cup. The tournament received its name from the famous French aviator - military pilot Roland Garros flew more than 700 kilometers without landing across the Mediterranean Sea.
During the Second World War, during the Nazi occupation, the arena served as a place for temporary housing of Jews before being sent to places of execution and torture. This sad era in history sports facility lasted about five years.
Upcoming modernization of Roland Garros |
In the late 60s of the last century, Roland Garros became one of the Grand Slam tournaments, which led to an incredible increase in its popularity. In order to accommodate the huge number of people wishing to attend the competition, the following modernization was carried out:
- Green areas have been reorganized
- The transition to electronic type of tickets has been carried out,
- Changes have been made to the markings and signage system.
It has become much more comfortable to move around the arena, but administrators are already concerned about expanding the playing tennis area, so literally in 2018, grandiose and significant changes are expected in the size of the courts, as well as other aspects.
When does the tournament start?
The French Open tennis championship traditionally takes place at the same time, namely in late May - early June. Last year's edition of the championship took place from May 28 to June 11, 2017. On at the moment The exact dates of the tournament and the schedule of upcoming matches are not known, but according to the organizers, this information will be available at the end of April 2018. As for the venue of the competition, it also remains unchanged - this is the territory of the legendary Parisian sports complex Roland Garros. Despite the fact that the SC has 24 tennis courts, tournament games are held on only three of them - Philippe Chatrier, Suzanne Langlenn and Court No. 1. The most spacious of them is the first. Its walls can freely accommodate 15,000 fans. The second and third arenas are less spacious: they are designed for 10,000 and 3,700 seats, respectively.
Roland Garros 2018 participants
As stated by the organizers of the championship, dozens of titled athletes from different countries world, who will perform in two main categories – adult and junior. Athletes from the first category will challenge the right to own the trophy in the following categories:
- women's singles;
- men's single;
- women's doubles;
- men's doubles;
- mixed (mixed).
Juniors will perform in the same categories as adult tennis players, with the exception of the latter.
Athletes occupying the top lines of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) rankings automatically become holders of a direct ticket to the championship. Other racquet masters who do not have a passing score will have to go through a series of qualifying games.
In last year's edition of Roland Garros, 63 athletes took part in the men's singles, 32 of whom qualified directly, 17 entered the tournament based on the results of preliminary competitions, and 14 received special invitations from the ATP. The list of seeded tennis players was as follows:
- Novak Djokovic (Serbia);
- Rafael Nadal (Spain);
- Marin Cilic (Croatia);
- Andy Murray (Great Britain);
- Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic);
- Stanislav Wawrinka (Switzerland);
- Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France).
There were slightly fewer representatives of the women's category at Roland Garros 2017. Among the 57 participants in the tournament, viewers could see such stars tennis, How:
- Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia);
- Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia);
- Venus Williams (USA);
- Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic);
- Gabriné Muguruza (Spain);
- Kristina Mladenovic (France);
- Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland).
Roland Garros 2018 favorites
As mentioned earlier, dozens of professional athletes from all over the world are vying for victory in the tournament and substantial prize money. Considering this factor, even experienced experts find it difficult to predict the future winner of Roland Garros. The only help in this matter is the statistics from last year's championship.
In 2017, Spaniard Rafael Nadal won the men's singles title. In a tense final match, he managed to beat the experienced Swiss Stanislav Wawrinka. As for the main favorite of Roland Garros 2017, Novak Djokovic, he dropped out of the tournament at the quarter-final stage, losing to the modest Austrian Dominic Thiem.
If in the men's singles Nadal's triumph did not surprise anyone, then in the women's singles there was a real sensation. The victory here was won by the young tennis player from Latvia, Elena Ostapenko. It is noteworthy that this athlete was not seeded and none of the professional experts considered her as a potential contender for the prize.
In the men's doubles, the strongest duo was Michael Venus and Ryan Harrison, who celebrated their victory over the American-Mexico team of Donald Young and Santiago Gonzalez.
In women's doubles luck favored the representative of the Czech Republic Lucia Safarova and the American Bethany Matek-Sands. Their victory was their third joint achievement in tournaments Grand Slam.
In the mixed doubles final, the duo of Martina Higgins and Leandra Pesa were opposed by the pair of Ivan Dodig and Sani Mirza. This time luck was on the side of the more experienced tennis players. Despite her age, Martina Higgins managed to show a brilliant performance and proved that she can still be a worthy competitor to young athletes.
Summing up
Last year's Roland Garros season not only delighted tennis fans with exciting matches, but also gave them plenty of food for thought. Once again it was proven that a high ATP ranking is not an absolute guarantee of winning the championship title. Thus, fans can fully hope that the upcoming tournament in France will be just as bright and unpredictable.
Information for fans:
- date: May 27 – June 10, 2018;
- Venue: Paris ( sports complex Roland Garros);
- French Open season: 117.
Video
As tennis fans well know, Roland Garros is one of four tournaments The Grand Slam Cup is a kind of crowning achievement of the clay part of the tennis season. Every year they come to France large number tennis fans to see with their own eyes the play of the best tennis players on the planet. Unfortunately, not everyone has this opportunity, but don’t be upset, the matches of the tournament can be watched through Internet resources. For such individuals, our portal livesports.ws, starting in 2019, begins publishing the schedule of Roland Garros tennis games, which will allow the viewer not to miss the most interesting matches of this tournament. Be with us! And you will be one of the first to receive the Roland Garros tennis calendar.
Roland Garros match results
And if you suddenly miss one or more battles of this clay tournament, then on the livesports.ws website you can always find the results of the last round of Roland Garros tennis. This site option will allow fans of this sport to always be aware of the events of the tournament. Users have already appreciated the convenience of this service and are strongly advised to find out the results of Roland Garros tennis matches here.Year of origin: 1891 (male one); 1897(female one); 1925 (international)
Host city: France, Paris; In 1909 - in Bordeaux
Coverage: Soil
National game
The French were very jealous of the above fact, and therefore in 1891 they held their first National Closed Championship. Only French tennis players, as well as members of French clubs, could take part in it. Along with a fair amount of patriotism, there was also a significant miscalculation: the game for a long time could not “gain momentum” and remained in the shadow of other international competitions, where athletes from all over the world were allowed.
Entering the international arena
Who is Roland Garros
Contrary to the obvious assumption, Roland Garros was not at all the tennis player who made the French famous throughout the world. He was indeed a member of the club, but did not become famous for his significant victories on the court. His element was the sky. Roland Garros was a wartime pilot and pioneer aviator who flew a 730-kilometer non-stop flight over the Mediterranean Sea.
A tragic fact of military history
The Second World War swept through France with a harsh tread, leaving its mark on the famous tennis arena. When the Nazis occupied French territories, Roland Garros was assigned the role of a kind of “waiting room” where Jews were temporarily placed and then sent to the east for subsequent torture and execution. The ringing of applause, the cheers of the fans and the booming sounds of the racket hitting the ball left the famous arena for five years.
Need for growth
Having received the status of a Grand Slam tournament in 1968, Roland Garros began to host professionals along with amateurs on its ground. Once upon a time, the French were upset by the “closedness” and “unpopularity” of one of their favorite national species sports Today they have a different problem - the incredible popularity of tennis in general and the French Open Tennis Championship (the second name of Roland Garros) forces the organizers to think not only and not so much about modernization, but about expanding the tennis arena. The modernization has already affected the comfort of movement around the stadium itself, as well as a number of other aspects:
- reorganization of green areas;
- transition to electronic tickets;
- changing the markings and signage system.
However, according to the organizers, the most significant and large-scale changes will affect, and in 2018 a completely new and modern Roland Garros will appear before an audience of millions.
