History Of The French Open

Believe it or not, the French Open, renowned for beingfirst tennis shirts -adorned with the insignia of a
played on slow red clay, was initially played on grass!crocodile on the left pocket;
The tournament was first played in Paris in 1891. InHenri Cochet, known as the "Ballboy of Lyons" so
1897, a women's singles was added as well. But itnamed because he grew up being a ballboy at local
wasn't until 1925 that non-French players were allowedtennis clubs in Lyons; and
to compete.Jacques "Toto" Brignon. a brilliant stylist and doubles
There were no official championships during the warspecialist.
years of 1939-45.Because of the excitement generated by the rivalry
The 1920's were glory days for French tennis. On thebetween the US Davis Cup team headed by the
Female side there was the legendary Suzannelegendary Bill Tilden and the Musketeers, the
Lenglen - known for both her daring fashion sense astournament was moved in 1928 to its current home
well as her tennis.Stade Roland Garros. The stadium was named after
And on the male side there were the famousRoland Garros , a famous French aviator, and former
Musketeers who defeated the US to win the Davistennis player, who was the first man to fly over the
Cup in 1927 and held on to the cup until 1933. These 4Mediterranean Sea.
Frenchmen ignited French passions:In 1928, the inaugural year at Stade Roland Garros ,
--Henri Cochet, Rene Lacoste, Jean Borotra, andthe men's championship was won by Henri Cochet.
Jacques Brugnon:Unfortunately for the French, the success of French
Borotra, known as the " Bounding Basque fromplayers has been limited since then. The last French
Biarritz" always wore a blue beret on and off theman to win the singles title was Yannick Noah in 1983
court;and the last female was Mary Pierce in 2000.
Lacoste, known as "the crocodile", later designed the