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French Open Tennis Tournament:In tennis, there are 4 Grand Slam events each year - the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Our personal favorite is the French Open tennis championship played in France. The French Open is the only Grand Slam tennis event played outdoors on red clay and it's truly the most grueling tournament of them all. Roland Garros is the name of the site where the tournament is played (just on the outskirts of Paris) and the tournament is held in late May and early June every year. Both men and women hold their tournaments during the same 2 week period with an eventually champion crowned in singles, doubles and mixed doubles. The great thing about an event like the French Open is that you can get tickets quite easily since there are roughly 14 days to choose from. They do not play night sessions at Roland Garros, so all tickets are for daytime hours. Once the sun sets, the matches are suspended for the day. The tournament is close enough to Paris, that it makes a great combination trip to see the sights of Paris and watch a few rounds out at Roland Garros.
French Open Tickets:Tickets to the French Open are available months in advance, so you can plan your trip to Paris and get your hotels and airfare with no problem. There are tennis tours and vacation packages you can join to get better seats, but they require bigger commitments and more money usually. The two main courts are Philippe Chatrier (Center Court) and Suzanne Lenglen court. Tickets are available for the main courts or just the outside courts if you wish. 2007 prices range from 8 Euros ($11) to 73 Euros ($) and you can download an order form online. The main site for the tournament is located at http://www.rolandgarros.com. There is a really nice map of Roland Garros HERE which shows the layout of the entire facility with courts, entrances, etc. If you want a tennis package to the French Open, we recommend using Tennistours.com. You can order individual tickets through them, but the better deals are for hotel and ticket packages with a wide range of prices for all budgets. Many include transportation to and from the tennis event and extra excursions in the city of Paris. You can order online or call the phone # listed on their site. There are chances at buying discount French Open tennis tickets the day of the event, but you will be risking a lot of the day happens to be a sell-out.
Location & Hotels:Getting to the location is not that hard. You can get on the Metro Line 9 or Line 10 or bus lines 22, 32 (last stop), 52, 62, 72, 123, or 241 (get off at Suzanne Lenglen stop). An overall map of the direction you need to travel is HERE. You will notice Roland Garros off on the far left of the map beyond the Eiffel Tower. There are 100's of hotels in Paris and all are within easy access to Metro stations where you can quickly jump on a subway and get out to the tennis tournament. For a detailed list of hotels with user reviews, go to Tripadvisor.com. You will find Paris hotels ranked by actual travelers with tips and hints at finding the best spot. If you plan on staying more than a week or so, perhaps an apartment or vacation rental would be more comfortable. The internet has made it very easy to rent apartments and condos style lodgings in foreign countries with sites like Apartment-paris.com or Vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/europe/france. Most hotels are well over $200/night with some at $300+. You can fly into Charles de Gaulle airport outside of Paris from almost any international location. The airports main site is at Paris-cdg.com.
TV Coverage:Planning a trip to Paris is fun, but not everyone can make it to the French Open so TV takes over for them. The coverage is pretty good every year on ESPN or other cable networks with one of the major networks like NBC covering most the final matches. Due to the time difference between Paris and the West Coast of the United States, matches are televised live starting at 6 or 7 AM in the morning hours. The Tennis Network is a newer channel offered on some cable providers and should start carrying more of the major events soon. Check your local listings in May/June for the tv schedules in your area.
French Open Tennis Champions:There have been several players who have dominated the French Open and deserve special recognition for doing so. In the modern era of tennis Bjorn Borg won 4 titles in a row, and Monica Seles dominated womens tennis on the red clay from 1990-1992. A list is below of some of the most popular champions over the last 40 years:
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