French Open Tennis Tickets
The French Open is held at Roland Garros, Paris in May.
05/23 French Open Day 1
French Open Day 1 Tickets, Roland Garros, May 23 11:00AM
05/24 French Open Day 2
French Open Day 2 Tickets, Roland Garros, May 24 11:00AM
05/25 French Open Day 3
French Open Day 3 Tickets, Roland Garros, May 25 11:00AM
05/26 French Open Day 4
French Open Day 4 Tickets, Roland Garros, May 26 11:00AM
05/27 French Open Day 5
French Open Day 5 Tickets, Roland Garros, May 27 11:00AM
05/28 French Open Day 6
French Open Day 6 Tickets, Roland Garros, May 28 11:00AM
05/29 French Open Day 7
French Open Day 7 Tickets, Roland Garros, May 29 11:00AM
05/30 French Open Day 8
French Open Day 8 Tickets, Roland Garros, May 30 11:00AM
05/31 French Open Day 9
French Open Day 9 Tickets, Roland Garros, May 31 11:00AM
06/01 French Open Day 10
French Open Day 10 Tickets, Roland Garros, June 1 11:00AM
06/02 French Open Day 11
French Open Day 11 Tickets, Roland Garros, June 2 11:00AM
06/03 French Open Day 12
French Open Day 12 Tickets, Roland Garros, June 3 11:00AM
06/04 French Open Day 13
French Open Day 13 Tickets, Roland Garros, June 4 11:00AM
06/05 French Open Day 14
French Open Day 14 Tickets, Roland Garros, June 5 11:00AM
06/06 French Open Day 15
French Open Day 15 Tickets, Roland Garros, June 6 11:00AM
French Tennis Open
The French Tennis Open is the premier clay court tennis tournament in the world. It is one of the grand slam tennis tournaments and is held between mid May and early June in Paris, and is held at the Stade Roland Garros. The slow clay surface and the five set mens’ matches which do not have a tie break in the final set, is generally regarded to be the most demanding tennis tournament in the world.
The official title of the tournament is Les Internationaux de France de Roland Garros. Alternatively, it is referred to as the Tournoi de Roland Garros. Roland Garros refers to the French aviator who the stadium is named after. The tournament was originally known as the Championat de France International de Tennis when it was first played in 1891. Six years later, in 1897, the ladies’ competition was introduced.
At the time, all tennis was played on grass, however, in 1912; a new surface was introduced at the competition. Made from the crushed waste of red brick, the new surface was introduced as red clay and only tennis players licensed in France were allowed to play in the tournament. The following year, the tournament was opened up to international competitors. This time the surface was once again grass. France won the Davis Cup on American soil in 1928, and this inspired the French authorities to build a new stadium, which was to become the Stade de Roland Garros.
Between 1945 to 1947, the championship was held after Wimbledon, which at that time made it the third tournament on the Grand Slam calendar. The 1968 tournament saw the first Grand Slam tournament anywhere to open the competition to amateur and professional. The tournament added prizes for the Most Fair Play and Press Friendly Player of the tournament, and also the Prix Citron for the player with the strongest personality and character. A third prize for the Tennis Revelation of the Year was also introduced.
Compared to grass or hard courts, clay courts have a tendency to slow the ball down and also create a higher bounce. This has the effect of taking away some of the advantages that big hitting servers have on grass or hard court. For this reason, big servers, such as Roger Federer, and Pete Sampras, both world number ones in their time, never won the tournament. This applied equally well to some of the famous serve and volley players such as Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg and John McEnroe. Players who were more suited to the slower surface such as Bjorn Borg, Mats Wilander, Ivan Lendl, and more recently, Rafael Nadal have all been successful in the French Open. Since the beginning of Open tournaments, the only male players to have won on both the clay of The French Open and the grass of Wimbledon have been Rod Laver, Andre Agassi, Bjorn Bjorg and Rafael Nadal.
Over the course of the two weeks of the tournament, thousands of people are expected to descend on Paris in the hope of catching some of the best players in the world. Rafael Nadal is the tournament favourite following his fourth consecutive title win alongside the likes of Bjorn Borg. Like some of the best male players, some of the best in the ladies’ circuit have failed to make an impact in the French Open. Although some of the great names such as Chrissie Evert, Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf have been successful, Martina Hingis and Maris Sharapova were not.
Tickets for the French Open are in much demand. Ideally, you will have ordered your tickets months in advance of the tournament, which begins on May 24th 2009. Bookings are generally handled on a first come first served basis. If you are not successful and find that you have not been able to book the day you wanted, then you will usually receive a refund cheque. You can book your tickets at the Roland Garros Stadium directly. Approximately eight days before the tournament starts, unsold tickets are put on sale.
You can, if you wish, purchase your tickets from an on-line booking agency. When using a website to book tickets, the usual advice applies; make sure that the site is secure, and that the site should offer an office address and a telephone number. Ticket prices will vary between eighty to three hundred and fifty Francs, and will depend on which court and match you watch.
