Roland Garros is starting this weekend. The Tennis French Open is one of the most prestigious world tournaments. It is part of the major 4 grand slams:
- Australian Open
- Us Open
- Roland Garros
- Wimbledon
The 21-acre (8.5-hectare) complex contains twenty courts, including three large-capacity stadiums; Les Jardins de Roland-Garros, a large restaurant and bar complex; Le Village, the press and VIP area; France’s National Training Centre (CNE); and the Tenniseum, a bilingual, multimedia museum of the history of tennis. As each year, while we wonder who is going to win the French Open, hundreds of professionals start preparing every single detail to make the 126 year tournament as sharp as never before. In order to give you an idea on how important the French open is, please see here below some key numbers and facts that will blow your mind.
The Roland Garros Staff
- 250 Ball boys and girls between 12 and 16 years old.
- 270 line judges
- 145 people are dedicated to maintain the quality of each court
- 35 chair referees
Tennis at play in Roland Garros
- 55Km of strings to prepare all rackets to be ready for the games
- 67’900 balls were used last year, which makes 3’300 balls per day
- 880 official matches are played at Roland Garros
- 15 official tennis courts
- 11 additional courts for training purposes
- Roland Garros clay is only the visible aspect of a complex 80cm 5 layers structure
- USD 2’100’000 will be given to the tournament winner (+5% vs last year).
- USD36’000’000 will be the total prize money for this year.
Roland Garros visitors
- 455600+ tennis fans attended to the tournament last year.
- 1’300 journalists attend to the tournament
- 4’300m2 for the international and national press
- 400m2 for inSitue studios for journalists and TV channels
Roland Garros food & Drinks
- 113’000 sandwiches were eaten last year
- 60’000 sweet crepes consumed
Roland Garros, the new stadium
It has been several years that the new stadium is an outstanding project. Now, with the support of the City Council, the project will take place. Drawn up by the French Tennis Federation, with the support of Paris City Council, the project for the new stadium revolves around three main actions: modernising the stadium, extending it, and ensuring that it blends in better with its immediate environment, in particular the area adjoining the Jardin des Serres d’Auteuil botanical gardens. This new project will modernize the existing areas such as:
- Covering the Centre Court
- A new tournament organisation building
- Extend Place des Mousquetaires
- Rebuild a new Media Centre
Some reshaping will also take place around the Botanical gardens and the “Jardin de Serres”. Here is a video showcasing the ambition of this new project.
Roland Garros, the brand
This year is also the 30th anniversary of the Roland Garros brand. The aim is to promote the made in France but also to extend sales beyond the tournament period. Not an easy task, that’s why the tournament partners with incredible brands that should allow the tournament aura to shine very bright. Here are some of the key partners:
- JM Weston
- Sunglasses Lafont
- Umbrellas Guy de Jean
- Lacoste
- Nuxe
- Babolat
- Carré Blanc
- Adidas
During the tournament, the brand sells around 300’000 items and the aim of the management is to extend this across the year and also to level up the quality and the prestige. The brand partners develop specific products to be sold under the Roland Garros theme. Here is the example of JM Weston with Le Moc Roland Garros. A 100% Made in France project highlighting the elegance and the dynamism of Roland Garros with the know-how of JM Weston. A very interesting partnership.
Transposing the energy of a tennis match and the beauty of its movement into dance – this is the creative aim of Neels Castillon, director of ‘Paris sur Court’. The film features Le Moc’ Weston Roland-Garros, the result of a successful collaboration between the long-established shoemaker and the Parisian tournament. This year sees the Roland-Garros brand celebrate its thirtieth anniversary. From the banks of the Seine to the Philippe Chatrier Court at Roland-Garros, choreographer Marion Motin and dancer Léo Handtschoewercker highlight the elegance and lightness of Le Moc’ through a rhythmical performance in a capital city that has become their stage.
Roland Garros 2017 starts now and we all hope to see a great tournament. See more about Roland Garros by visiting the official website: http://www.rolandgarros.com
José Amorim
Info sourced at Roland Garros official communication, Europe1, L’Internaute, Le Parisien, Le Figaro and Wikipedia. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available. Images are for illustration purposes only.