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Roland-Garros Stadium

Plan of the Roland-Garros stadium in 2019.

Location and accessibility

The Roland-Garros stadium is located at Porte d'Auteuil in the southwest of Paris between the Auteuil racecourse; the Jean Bouin stadium and the Bois de Boulogne.

The stadium is accessible by different means:

  • Metro 10 - “Porte d'Auteuil” stop
  • Bus
  • Car

Short

During the competition weeks, twenty courts of the Roland-Garros stadium are used in competition. The French Tennis Federation is a tenant of the land on which the French Open is held. She pays the City of Paris rent for the Roland-Garros concession which ends in 2042.

The surface on which the tournament is played, the clay, slows down the ball and produces a very high rebound, which implies a style of play very different from that employed on the fast surfaces (grass, Decoturf, Rebound Ace ) used by the players. Three other Grand Slam tournaments. It is also possible to slide. This explains why some of the greatest players in history, such as Jimmy Connors, Boris Becker or Pete Sampras, who have repeatedly won each of the other three tournaments, have always failed to win Roland Garros, thus never managing to achieve the Grand Slam. Conversely, after the 2017 edition, five of the last ten winners on Parisian clay have never won in any other Grand Slam tournament.

The central court is the Philippe-Chatrier court. Built in 1927 to receive the Davis Cup revenge against the United States, inaugurated in 1928, the center court can accommodate 14,840 spectators. Renovated several times, it was named Philippe-Chatrier court in 2001 in tribute to Philippe Chatrier, former president of the international tennis federation. In 2008, on the occasion of the destruction and reconstruction of stand C, stands A, B, C and D were renamed respectively stands Jacques Brugnon, Jean Borotra, René Lacosteand Henri Cochet.

The Suzanne-Lenglen court, with a capacity of 9,959 seats, was built in 1994. First called Court A when it was first built, the court was renamed Suzanne-Lenglen court in 1997 to honor Suzanne Lenglen. In front of the East Stand stands a bronze high relief representing the player. The Suzanne-Lenglen court has the particularity of housing a water pit in the basement that allows the soil to maintain an optimal level of humidity.

The third main short is the short that can accommodate 3518 people. It was built in 1980 to reduce the craze around the central. The winners of the Roland-Garros championships are written in bronze letters on concrete. The other courts used for the competition are numbered from 2 to 18. Other hard courts are available for player training.

Extension projects are starting to emerge to cover a larger area, currently eight hectares for Roland Garros against twenty for the US Open. The extension project notably includes the construction of a new central court with a retractable roof of approximately 15,000 to 16,000 seats, as well as two other indoor courts. This extension project is necessary, in particular to face the new "Caja Mágica" of Madrid which is covered.

The president of the French Tennis Federation Jean Gachassin, who replaced Christian Bîmes on February 8, 2009, spoke at his first press conference about the Roland-Garros extension project and the construction of a second central court.

“My goal is to develop Roland-Garros from all points of view, and of course that involves the construction of this new Central at the Hébert stadium. I think this is essential. There is so much competition these days. The big tournaments have all created their cover and we don't have it. We were at the top a few years ago, because we were the best Grand Slam tournament in every way, and now we're a little bit behind. We consider that it is necessary to have a short cover at all costs.

In the event of new arrangements, these will be the responsibility of the French Tennis Federation and carried out under the technical and permanent control of the services of the city of Paris.

Place des Mousquetaires

Place des Mousquetaires was inaugurated on May 26, 1989 by Philippe Chatrier, and then president of the French tennis federation. It is dedicated to the four Musketeers who made the glory of French tennis by dominating world tennis in the 1920s. Jacques Brugnon, Jean Borotra, Henri Cochet and René Lacoste. Four statues by Italian sculptor Vito Tongiani represent each of the four players and honor their Davis Cup successes between 1927 and 1933, victories that allowed the construction of the Roland-Garros Stadium.and made it world famous. In the middle of the Place des Mousquetaires, a monument pays tribute to the victories in Davis Cup: to the six victories of the four Musketeers are added those of 1991, 1996 and 2001.

The Village

Created in 1979, the Village is a vast exhibition space and the public relations space of Roland-Garros. To enter, it is necessary to have an invitation or an accreditation. Set of 19 tents with for each space, a 50 m 2 lounge and a 25  m 2 terrace, it is in the center of attention because it is the place of celebrities, VIPs. Many VIP sites have been created since the 1980s to accommodate the 72,000 expected VIPs.

Companies can rent a space of one, between 300 and 2,000 euros excluding tax per person, for fifteen days, from 140,000 to 330,000 euros, the space excluding catering, to exhibit. In 2009, public relations represented, with the resulting ticketing, 34 million euros of the 118 million euros in turnover at Roland-Garros. In 2012, the turnover rose to 162.2 million euros which are broken down into derivatives (7.8 million euros), ticketing (28.6 million euros), partnerships (33.1 million euros, the "entry ticket" to be a partner amounting to 2 to 3 million), public relations (34.6 million euros), in media with mainly television channels (55 million euros), the profit generated being in the order of 50 million euros.

Museum 

The Tennis Museum also known under the names of Tenniseum and Roland-Garros Museum, is a museum created in 2003 by the French Tennis Federation is the first multimedia tennis museum. Inaugurated on May 25, 2003by Christian Bimes, president of the FFT from 1993 to 2009, it houses a permanent exhibition hall, two thematic exhibition rooms, a multimedia space and a media library. It is open every day except Monday. In 2008, René Lacoste, Arnulf Rainer and the evolution of the stadium since its creation were the exhibition themes. The posters of the French Open from 1980 to today are exhibited there. The poster of the 2009 edition, the 28 displays the Internationaux de France, signed Konrad Klapheck. Roland-Garros spectators can enter for free fromJune 10 at December 31stat the museum or visit the stadium by showing their ticket. The museum had a website 45 where you could see what exhibits were on display.

French Open the great works (2015 - 2020)

The FFT and the City of Paris decide that it is necessary to "modernize" the Roland-Garros stadium for two reasons:

  • Compete with other Grand Slam tournaments, including Wimbledon, and make Roland Garros the largest and most prestigious tennis tournament in the world.
  • In view of Paris' candidacy for the 2024 Olympic Games.

This work is spread over 5 years in order to guarantee the performance and quality of the tournament.

2015-2016 

  • Renovation and enhancement of the Auteuil greenhouses: renovation of the Allée des Serres and construction of a new court.
  • Renovation of the infrastructures of the Roland-Garros stadium with a renovation of the Place des Mousquetaires, the destruction of two short annexes which will be replaced by a vast grassy esplanade and construction of the Suzanne-Lenglen alley.
  • New Media Center
  • The Philippe-Chatrier court will be modified, renovated and will see the appearance of a retractable roof as well as the cladding of the structure.
  • Construction of night lighting on all courts.

These renovation projects should be ready for 2018, however, it will be necessary to wait until 2020 to see the new “central”.

This work will have an impact on the tournament with the closure of certain areas; it would even be possible that the destruction of certain courses increases the possibility of evening match. This modernization is not to everyone's taste: many people fear that Roland's spirit will be lost.

The stadium expansion projects have triggered numerous legal proceedings from the Auteuil greenhouses, several residents of the district and environmental protection associations. In March 2016, the Paris administrative court suspended the stadium extension project because it would change the appearance of a plot of Bois de Boulogne classified.

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