Thursday, August 13, 2009

The French Open Championship

By Angela Jones

It is pretty unimaginable that people will not know of the French Open tennis championship, because it is a competition which is a regular topic of conversation. In French the name of the competition is 'Les Internationaux de France de Roland Garros' or 'Tournoi de Roland Garros'. This tournament, which lasts for roughly two weeks is held in Paris at the Roland Garros Stadium, from which it got its name.

The French Open is one of the most advertised and broadcast sports events in the whole world of sport and lots of VIP's go to it. The attendees of the game are fanatics who await with baited breath every stroke, especially when there is a tight battle between the two players, doing|trying| their best to win. TV viewers actually get a feeling of being there live too.

The French Open tennis championship comes in second on the annual round of the Grand Slam tournaments and its history stretches back to the year of 1891 when it was elevated to an international competition. In those days, it was named the 'International Championship of Tennis of France' or 'Championat de France International de Tennis' in French.

Initially, only players that were registered or licensed in France were permitted to participate in this competition, but things took a different turn in 1925, when the French open tennis tournament finally became accessible to foreign players. Until 1912, the ground the players used was made of crushed red brick dust. Actually the crushed brick was formed into a sort of red clay that was spread over the ground, which, until then, would have been a grass lawn.

The popularity of the French Open tennis tournament held at Roland Garros dates back to a competition between the Philadelphia Four (Rene Lacoste, Jean Borotra, Henri Cochet and Jacques Brugnon) who won the Davis Cup in 1927. It triggered the desire in the French to defend their cup in future competitions. This new tournament designed to bring back home the cup was held on a stadium named after the World War I pilot Roland Garros and since then the name has stuck.

The word 'open' became has been used since 1968, when the tournament allowed|was open to| both amateurs and professionals alike who wanted to test their skills at tennis. Since then the French Open tennis tournament has also brought in some novel prizes.

Beside the usual winners' prizes, they also award a 'Prix Orange' for the most correct and press friendly player, a 'Prix Citron' for the player with the strongest personality and a 'Prix Burgeon' for the one that turns out to be the revelation of the tennis year.

About the Author:

0 comments:

Post a Comment