History Of The French Open

The history of the French Open introduces the tennis fan to famous names of yesteryear’s scoreboards. There was Max Decugis, who won eight men’s titles before 1925. Björn Borg came close with his six wins between 1974 and 1981.

Of course, there is so much more to the history of the French Open than merely stats and record holders. For example, did you know that the maker of much of the history of the French Open—the aforementioned Max Decugis—medaled at the Olympics? In addition to being a tennis legend at the tournament, he won three Olympic medals at the Paris summer Olympics in 1900.

Michael Chang has the distinction of being the youngest man to ever win the singles title at the French Open when he played a winning match in 1989 at the tender age of seventeen-years-old. Not surprisingly, he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. On the flipside, the history of the French Open is also full of head scratchers. Consider Boris Becker, who used to be Germany’s tennis sweetheart and youngest Wimbledon winner at the age of seventeen; he never once won the Open.

Tennis organization officials were allowed to use the Stade de France property only if naming the stadium after Roland Garros. Many sports fans know that Garros was a noted French aviator whose World War I exploits made him famous. Few, however, remember that the aviator’s name became clouded by his supposed failure to destroy his downed plane, which allegedly allowed then-secret technology to fall into the hands of the German army.

Naturally, the history of the French Open contains a plethora of other obscure facts and noteworthy firsts. Sadly, there is a chance that at least one history-making element of the tournament may go by the wayside: it is possible that the Roland Garros stadium may no longer host the event in the coming years. In fact, there is talk that the French Open may leave Paris altogether.