Printable Version The French Open Tennis tournament – summer is here

The 2008 French Open tennis tournament at Roland-Garros begins on 25 May, with the final scheduled for 8 June.

10 interesting facts about the French Open:

1. The French Championships began as a national tournament in 1891 and was opened to international competitors in 1925. The Roland-Garros stadium was built in 1928 and the French Open is now known officially as Roland-Garros
2. The stadium was named after a former French tennis player who was also the first pilot to fly over the Mediterranean Sea
3. In 1968, the French Championships became the first Grand Slam tournament to go ‘open,’ allowing both amateurs and professionals to compete.
4. The French Open is the only one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments that is played on red clay, or terre battue.  The ball bounces much higher on clay than on grass and players often have to hit the ball at shoulder height
5. The records for the most singles victories at the French Open are held by Bjorn Borg (6) and Chris Evert (7)
6. The youngest winner was Monica Seles who was 16 years 6 months when she beat Steffi Graf in 1990
7. The last French players to win the French Open were Mary Pierce in 2000 and Yannick Noah in 1983
8. In 2006 and for the first time in the Open era, a Grand Slam tournament saw the same winner in the women's (Justine Henin) and the men's singles (Rafael Nadal) three years in a row
9. As of 2007, eight of the last 10 French Open men's singles championships were won by men who did not win any other Grand Slam tournament
10. Current world No. 1 Roger Federer has won every other Grand Slam several times but has never won the French Open.

For more information on the French Open, try the following websites: Roland Garros and FedEx and Roland Garros