Theme: Sports Watching
If you are a tennis player or fan then a visit to Roland Garros in southwest Paris is very rewarding. My reward on the day of my spring visit was seeing Mary Pierce stretch her legs and watching Amelie Mauresmo play a warm-up match.
It all started with the English grounds tour which began at 11:00. There are two other tours conducted in French. You are introduced to the bronze statues of the 4 French Musketeers who defeated the Americans and won the Davis Cup six consecutive times. (Photo #2 is the stylish René Lacoste.) Then you are led to the outer courts, where you might glimpse a top player practicing on the red clay. I went three weeks before the French Open, so both Mary Pierce and Amelie Mauresmo were present during my tour.
Next you are led around to the players entrance area and the press rooms. There are separate interview rooms for the champion and loser; one big and the other is much smaller. In the players entrance area is one of the few signs that is in English without a French translation: "No dogs allowed" Evidentally it was Arantxa Sanchez who always brought her 2 dogs to Paris, aptly named "Roland" and "Garros" but the new rule was not established until some time after Serena Williams brought her pitbull terrier, which she named "Bambi".
The highlight of the tour is when you get to go inside the ladies dressing room. You'll hear an anecdote about the guy who hid naked inside a locker. Speaking of lockers, Steffi Graf always insisted on using locker #19 and after retirement she actually took the auspicious number with her. Now you can see locker 18-B where Steffi wanna-be's currently undress. (Photo #3)
The guide also mentioned that at the beginning of the French Open tournament in 2005 there were nearly 25,000 towels but by the end of the tournament only about 6000 remained. Professional tennis players stealing towels? "Zut alors!"
Equipment: Afterwards you are taken to the Court Philippe Chatrier, where the French Open championship is played. (You are also welcome to visit the Suzanne Lenglen court after the tour.) The tour guide's narration was very good and the 90 minute stroll was over too soon for me. I highly recommend the grounds tour of Roland Garros but get there early because there is only one English tour per day and it begins at 11:00.
The Tenniseum is the multi-media tennis museum at Roland Garros with many video exhibits. Aside from videos, there are only a few tangible items of historical interest and they really aren't that interesting. (As I write this tip I can't even recall what they were.) I suppose I'm just not a multimedia man as the multitude of monitors just didn't do much for me. A small library features tennis books from around the world including older Japanese animation. You can pick up free brochures at the library desk featuring detailed introductions of famous French tennis stars including Yannick Noah and Francois Durr.
I highly recommend the grounds tour of Roland Garros but found the new Wimbledon tennis museum in England much better in comparison. (See my Wimbledon page.) My advice: skip the Tenniseum and gift shop (overrated) and spend more time walking the grounds on your own.
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Phone: 01 47 43 48 48
Address: 2, Avenue Gordon Bennett - 75016 Paris
Directions: Southwest Paris near Porte D'Auteuil
Website: http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/about/museum/index.html
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on May 22, 2006
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