Vive Le Tennis! Take a Tour of Stade Roland Garros

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Vive Le Tennis! Take a Tour of Stade Roland Garros
Vive le tennis! For two weeks around the beginning of June each year, tennis is the talk of Paris as the Grand Slam tournament plays out at Roland Garros in the 16th arrondissement. This year, for the first time, there will also be a fan zone on the Place de la Concorde, where up to 5000 spectators can enjoy live matches on giant screens in a festive atmosphere created by a DJ and a Master of Ceremonies. Maybe you won’t be in Paris this summer, or perhaps you don’t have tickets for a match, but did you know that throughout most of the year you can take a guided tour of the Roland Garros stadium on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne? I went along recently to find out more.  Roland Garros facade. Photo: Marian Jones “Welcome,” said Lionel, our guide, “to Roland Garros, where fans gather around the famous red clay courts to watch world-class tennis.” We began in the Place des Mousquetaires, a little square named after the “Four Musketeers” of French tennis whose global dominance in the sport in the 1920s and 30s ensured their legendary status. It’s flanked by statues of each: René Lacoste, Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon and Henri Cochet. Between them they won 31 Grand Slam titles and it was France’s victory in the Davis Cup in 1927 which led to the building of this stadium. It was decided that a venue worthy of hosting the tournament the following year should be built and this proved an auspicious decision because France won the title in each of the next five years! 
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Lead photo credit : Gaël Monfils at Roland-Garros in 2011. Photo: Yann Caradec/ Flickr

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After a career teaching Modern Languages (French and German), Marian turned to freelance writing and is now a member of the British Guild of Travel Writers, specializing in all things French and – especially! – Parisian. She’s in Paris as often as possible, visiting places old and new, finding out their stories and writing it all up as soon as she gets home. She also runs the podcast series City Breaks, offering in-depth coverage of popular city break destinations, with lots of background history and cultural information. The Paris series currently has 22 episodes, but more will surely follow when time allows!