Birth of a world event

In September 1927, four French musketeers (Jacques Brugnon, Jean Borotra, Henri Cochet and René Lacoste) won the Davis Cup, beating the Americans on their own turf... It was a feat that created an incentive!

French tennis did not have a suitable facility to host the great tournament itself. There remained only nine months in which to build a stadium worthy of champions. Plans were drawn up and construction quickly got under way. Less than a year later, near the Porte d'Auteuil entrance to Paris, Parisians could admire a large art-deco building sporting red clay tennis courts: the stadium was named after First World War air force hero Roland Garros, himself a great tennis fan.

The first match, held in May 1928, was between France and Great Britain, followed one month later by the French Internationals. These championships in turn gave birth to the prestigious competition better known today as the Roland Garros TournaMent.

What came next? Over the years, the Roland Garros TournaMent became known as one of the great French sporting events on the international scene. It is one of the four Grand Slam tournaments and plays host each year to the great names in tennis, who share a single dream: seeing their name engraved on the cup awarded to the winner of the world's most prestigious clay-court competition.