MINISTÈRE DES AFFAIRES ÉTRANGÈRES ET EUROPEENNES
No 16 – June 2010
The French Open at Roland Garros:
the historic tournament faces match point for its future
Could the French Open, the famous tennis
tournament played at the Roland Garros stadium, be
leaving Paris? That was the idea being batted about
recently, as this year's competition came to an end.
The historic stadium at Porte d'Auteuil, in the city’s
16th arrondissement, has become a victim of its own
success and is now too small to keep spectators and
players happy.
A shower beats down on the clay surface, causing
immense frustration. Play has to be interrupted right in
the middle of a set. The spectators grumble and the
players feel their adrenaline levels fall as their frustration
mounts. Roland Garros, named after the pioneering
aviator, is not yet equipped with a retractable roof, which
would make light work of bad weather, allowing the
excitement of the game to continue uninterrupted.
Forced to take a break, thousands of spectators
make their way with some difficulty to the complex’s
refreshment areas and restaurants, unless they queue patiently for the toilets. The players, meanwhile,
find themselves elbow-to-elbow with the technical teams, official followers and coaches, all of whom
have to negotiate the lack of privacy for competitors with care.
It is time to face up to the facts: the stadium, at Porte d'Auteuil since 1920, no longer meets the
needs of one of the flagship events in world tennis, which attracts around 35,000 spectators every day,
a figure that is increasing steadily. This is a total crowd of around 424,000 over the entire fortnight of
the competition.
The story began in 1927 on the other side of the Atlantic, when the "musketeers" of French
tennis, Jacques Brugnon, Henri Cochet, Jean Borotra and René Lacoste, won the Davis Cup. The
players returned to Paris as heroes but, after the return match, the time came to prepare for the decider,
which was to be played on French soil. The French Tennis Federation, which had opened the
competition to foreign players two years earlier, had been given a three-hectare plot of land by the
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Stade français. The tennis stadium was built and named after one of the club's late members, a
pioneering aviator.
Today, the event at Roland Garros has earned its place as one of the four major competitions
held by the International Tennis Federation. Together they are known as the Grand Slam events – a
reference to bridge – and they put a glint in the eye of tennis players whose ambition is to win all four
trophies: the US, Australian and French Opens, and Wimbledon.
Winning the French event is no mean feat. The only Grand Slam tournament still played on
clay, it remains a prestigious event with a reputation for difficulty. The slow surface and five-set
matches with no tie-break are a real challenge for players. Tackling the French Open means preparing
for some tricky moments where a player's physical condition will be put to the test in every way. And
that is precisely what stirs the passions of the event's aficionados, who pay tribute to the courage and
sheer tenacity of the players. In Latin America and southern Europe in particular, where tennis is
traditionally played on clay courts, people praise the French Open for its difference and for the
challenge it represents.
And it is precisely so that it can continue to inspire dreams and enthusiasm that the French
Tennis Federation is considering a number of solutions to ensure that the French Open can welcome
players and spectators in a way that reflects the prestigious nature of the event.
The first option would be to remain in the historic stadium, which covers an area of 8.5
hectares rented by the City of Paris, but install a retractable roof on the main court as soon as possible
and house the tournament village temporarily in the nearby Bois de Boulogne. For its detractors, this
solution is like putting a poultice on a wooden leg, and it would not be enough to bring the tournament
up to the standards of other Grand Slam events in terms of size or comfort: these all offer 15 to 20
hectares of amenities.
The second, much more radical solution, would be to consider moving to a location outside the
capital as part of the Greater Paris project. At the moment four possible locations are being looked at.
First, an area in the northern suburbs of Paris, already home to the Stade de France. The new site
would be close to Roissy Charles de Gaulle and Le Bourget airports, and would also be served by a
major motorway. Further from the capital, but still with a good level of infrastructure in terms of
hotels and transport services, is Marne-La-Vallée, home to Eurodisney, where there is a 35-hectare
site. The racecourse at Evry to the south of Paris could provide a 100-hectare site. Finally, the site of a
former military barracks alongside the extraordinary Palace of Versailles could see tennis balls rather
than bullets being fired at high speed. Whichever location is chosen, developing a complex of this kind
would come at a price: 600 million euros according to the French Tennis Federation, or three times
more than refurbishing the existing stadium. It could, however, generate a profit outside the two weeks
of the tournament as a venue for other sporting events or for concerts.
Leaving the historic site would be regretted by many spectators and players who have
experienced such depths of emotion there, but a move away from Roland Garros would ensure that
both the public and the athletes could be given a proper welcome for a long time to come, in the pure
spirit of the French Open, based on the enjoyment of tennis. Whether it opts for nostalgia or looks to
the future, the French Tennis Federation is due to make its decision by February 2011 at the latest.
Whatever happens, the spirit of the “musketeers” will not be leaving the tournament anytime soon.
Pascale Bernard
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