The French Open

Each year at the end of May/beginning of June Roland-Garros, Paris' famous tennis stadium located in its largest park Bois de Boulogne, hosts the French Open.  Roland-Garros has a noteworthy history starting in 1928, continuing today as it produces one of the Grand Slams four major events of the year. (Find our more about the stadium at http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/about/history/index.html ) Visitors can pay to tour the place when its not in use which is quite interesting.

During the first rounds last week the weather was gorgeous and friends from the States wrote to say they could see how fabulous Paris was at the moment. That all changed this week as the players are getting fewer through play elimination; I am currently watching the quarter final rounds. As in the US, here TV coverage favors the men's matches over the women's. Just as a match with women gets going they switch to a larger, more populated court to show a match between two men. I enjoy seeing both but would like to see the women at least receive equal time so I can see a complete match through to the end.

Today the last American woman was defeated by a Russian player and there are no American men left in the tournament. I had gotten so used to seeing one or both of the Williams sisters in the final matches that I realized the passing of another generation of players, sort of like when Martina and Chris quit showing up. It is nice to see all the new players though and they seem to be much fitter and more skilled at earlier and earlier ages. I think we can credit Martina for that, at least as far as the women players are concerned.

The city has a giant screen set up outdoors at the Hotel de Ville (City Hall) in the heart of Paris where one can watch some of the major matches in a festive, fun atmosphere. Each year I say that I'll make it out to Roland-Garros to see the action in person, one day I will!