WANT TO ENJOY A WALK THROUGH THE ORIGIN, EVOLUTION AND LEGENDS OF ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT TOURNAMENTS IN THE WORLD OF TENNIS?
The French Open, known as Roland Garros, is one of the four Grand Slams: the four most prestigious tennis tournaments in the world. It is characterized by being held on clay courts. In these pages you will relive the origin and evolution of this wonderful and magical tournament, focusing on the men's singles category due to its impact.
With tennis becoming more popular, in 1925, the French Championships decided to open up to tennis players beyond the Racing Club and even beyond the country, giving birth to the French Open, known as Roland Garros. The victory in the Davis Cup of the so-called four musketeers: René Lacoste, Henri Cochet, Jean Borotra and Jacques Brugnon, gave a spectacular recognition to French tennis, which undoubtedly helped the Roland Garros to increase its international fame.
That led to an internationalization of the tournament with the Germans Gottfried von Cramm and Henner Henkel seeking to reign just before World War II, or the Americans Frank Parker, Budge Patty or Tony Trabert dominating in the late 40s, before the Australians began to take over the French championship with names like Ken Rosewall, Lew Hoad, Mervyn Rose, Roy Emerson or Rod Laver....
With Björn Borg as the leading exponent of the media explosion of world tennis and Roland Garros, the 1970s saw the Swedish tennis player become the first great star of the new French Open reconfigured for professionalization.
This new stage would leave us with the legendary competition between Ivan Lendl and Mats Wilander, before seeing the rise of Spanish tennis players in the 90s with legends such as Sergi Bruguera, Albert Costa, Carlos Moya or Juan Carlos Ferrero, while tennis players of recognized success in fast court tournaments such as the US Open or Wimbledon suffered to try to win the French title, as was the case of McEnroe, Sampras, Agassi or Becker...
But if there is one name associated with Roland Garros, it is Rafael Nadal. Absolute dominator since 2005, he is undoubtedly the greatest legend of the renowned French tournament on clay.
In this book you will find:
- The origin of the championship and its discreet first years.
- The four musketeers and the first years of national success through Lacoste and Cochet.
- The end of the French domination and the absolute internationalization of the French Open.
- Fred Perry, from table tennis to Roland Garros champion
- Gottfried Von Cramm and his difficulties with Hitler's regime
- The American-Australian rivalry in the 1950s and 1960s
- Ken Rosewall: how to be champion of the tough Roland Garros with a fragile game
- Manolo Santana, the representative of Real Madrid Football Club
- Roy Emerson and the record number of Grand Slam victories
- Rod Laver: champion of the four Grand Slams in the same year
- Tennis professionalism, competition against private promoters and the creation of the ATP and the Grand Prix.
- The 1970s and the massification of tennis through Björn Borg
- Andrés Gimeno and his championship at over 34 years of age
- The great rivalry between Ivan Lendl and Mats Wilander in the 1980s
- Michael Chang, the teenage champion
- Exceptional tennis players who suffered on Paris clay: McEnroe, Sampras, Agassi, Becker, Federer...
- Gustavo Kuerten, the tournament's most successful Latin American representative
- The 90s and the rise of Spanish tennis, with Rafael Nadal as the greatest exponent of the competition.
All this and much more in a journey through the time of one of the most wonderful tennis competitions in the world!
