ROLAND GARROS

TENNIS EVENT IN PARIS - one of the world's best-known and most prestigious tournaments.

In the world of tennis, the Tournoi de Roland-Garros (the informal name for "Les Internationaux de France de Roland Garros"), known worldwide as "The French Open," is one of the sport's most highly anticipated events.

This world-famous tennis tournament is held each year during a 2-week span between mid-May and early June. It gets its name for the stadium in which it's held, the Roland Garros Stadium (Stade).

The Roland Garros is one of the world's best-known and most prestigious tournaments. It has the largest broadcast audience in the world among tennis matches, and is also the most esteemed clay-court tournament in the tennis world. It also widely considered to be the most physically challenging tennis tournament in the world due to the slower playing surface, and the fact that the tournament ends with five-set singles matches without the possibility of a tiebreak.

The French Open is remarkable and unique in large part due to its playing surface of clay verses grass or harder material.

Clay courts are a more demanding surface compared to hard courts or even grass for several reasons. Clay physically slows the ball and has a higher bounce. This means big serves tend to be counteracted somewhat, making it more difficult for players who rely on strong serves to enjoy the advantage they normally would. An example of players who would be affected by this disadvantage would be players such as John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer, Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg. All of these players, known for their punchy serves and powerful serve-and-volley styles, have never won a French Open.

As a result, this unique tournament tends to favor players who have a more calculated approach and/or a slower playing style, such as Mats Wilander, Ivan Lendl, or Björn Borg.

Players who have fared best in both of tennis' major tournaments – i.e., Wimbledon and Roland Garros – have been those whose talents encompass both the strong and more subtle aspects of the game. The list here includes tennis masters Andre Agassi, Rod Laver, Rafael Nadal and again Bjorn Berg.

The Roland Garros originated in 1891 as the national tournament of France and was called the French Tennis Championship (in French, "Championat de France International de Tennis"). The first tournament for women was held six years later. Both of these were technically lawn tennis competitions. Red clay (or in French, "terre battue") was introduced in 1912. This original red clay was derived from crushed red bricks. Until the mid-1920s, the tournament was only available for players licensed in France itself.

By 1925, this tournament became open for international competition, and in 1928 the event was moved to the Roland Garros Stadium, built to commemorate the French fighter aircraft pilot Roland Garros, who during World War I became the first man to fly an airplane across the entire breadth of the Mediterranean Sea.

Winners of the tournament receive pure silver trophies with beautiful etched decoration and their name.

The Roland Garros Stadium is located in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. Staying near the tournament is as easy as contacting www.mykeystoParis.com for any apartment rentals in Paris.

The 16th is a beautiful, stately arrondissement located adjacent to the 8th, meaning sights such as the Arch of Triumph, Champs Elysees and Eiffel Tower across the Seine in the 7th are never far away. There is a dizzying assortment of restaurants and attractions within easy reach via a short metro ride.

The Trocadéro and Palais de Chaillot are also here in the 16th, as well as some of central Paris' most relaxing walks. And don't miss the Tennis Museum in the Roland Garros stadium (open weekdays, except Mondays), which boasts around 3,000-square feet of exhibition space, with photographs and multimedia displays, and around 100 racquets representing 60 years of tennis history.

Whether you're coming to Paris for the match, or simply want to see the Musée du Tennis / Tenniseum, you'll have the time of your life in the 16th.