France Events: Roland Garros

Posted by David Whitley May 4, 2007

The French Open (officially known as Roland Garros) is the second of the major tennis tournaments to be played during the year, following the Australian Open and preceding Wimbledon and the US Open. It is held in Paris, France at the end of May and beginning of June every year – although tickets for 2007’s event went on sale long ago - and it is the only one of the majors to be played on a clay court.

From a personal point of view, this makes it my least favourite of the tennis Grand Slam events to watch. The ball is slowed down by the surface, and this benefits the type of player that prefers to slug it from the baseline.

This also means that certain players do far, far better in the French Open than in the other Grand Slam events. Clay court specialists such as Gustavo Kuerten, Albert Costa, Gaston Gaudio and Juan Carlos Ferrero have never really shone in the other big events, but all have won Roland Garros.

In the meantime, some genuinely great players have never won the French Open. These include Pete Sampras, John McEnroe, Andre Agassi, Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg. Astonishingly this era’s great player, Roger Federer from Switzerland, has never won Roland Garros either. In the last two years it has been Rafael Nadal from Spain who has outplayed him on clay to take the title. Will 2007 finally be the year in which Federer manages to take the only Grand Slam title in the sport to so far elude him?

France Events: Roland Garros (French Open Tennis Championships) 2007 Dates

The 2007 tournament will be played from May 27th to June 10th.