The Roland Garros logo captures the prestige and DNA of the most recent of the 4 Grand Slam tournaments….
The Parisian stage of the Grand Slam is characterized by tamped earth! Through these grounds giving free rein to the most impressive performances in tennis, the Roland Garros tournament has contributed to writing the most beautiful pages in its history.
And the logo that represents its spirit is also a matter of style and effect.
The Roland Garros Logo: The Year 1987 …
If the Roland Garros tournament was officially born in 1925, when the French Tennis Federation decided to open the tournament to the best foreign players – it was not until 1987 that the French Grand Slam stage received a recognizable symbol.
Becoming Roland Garros …
Between these two dates, the Roland Garros tournament had to impose and find its identity. Because before being called Roland Garros, this tennis tournament has been known as the “French Open. “
How was the Roland Garros tournament born? To tell you the story, it is important to note the involvement of a great champion of the time … A certain René Lacoste!
René Lacoste was then one of the best tennis players in the world. And in 1928, with Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon and Henri Cochet, René Lacoste took part in the final of the Davis Cup, against the United States. In Paris !
To welcome the United States, the French tennis team had to provide an arena to match. The Stade Français de Rugby has decided to cede a three-hectare site to the French Tennis Federation, on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne, near the Porte d´Auteuil. An exemplary stadium was then built there – a garden-arena which, according to the wishes of the Stade Français, would bear the name of one of its members, who died ten years earlier, in 1918.
A regular member, and a tennis enthusiast – aviation pioneer and war hero, pilot Roland Garros!
The very hotly contested first match took place in the heart of the Roland Garros stadium. In 1928, this meeting resulted in France’s first victory in the Davis Cup. Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon, Henri Cochet and René Lacoste. Nicknamed the Four Musketeers, they have initiated a revival for the “French Open. “
This tournament that has taken place since 1891 and is open to international players since 1925, would very soon take the name of Roland Garros!
1987: The Roland Garros Logo
Over time, Roland Garros became the official name of this great tennis tournament organized in Paris. And at the dawn of the 1990s, the most chic tournament in the world gets a logo that lives up to this spirit …
The Roland Garros logo is initially round. Round like a tennis ball. It then adopts a chromatic combination of white, green and ocher brown. White for the outline; green for the trees and greenery surrounding the stadium, and an ocher tint like that of clay.
At the heart of this logo, we find the combination of the letters R and G – initials completed with the full name of the tournament, in a very distinguished calligraphy. The typography of the Roland Garros logo is known as “Le Monde Livre” – and it is the work of Jean-François Porsche.
The Roland Garros logo thus conveys a lot of the panache that is played out in this garden-arena.
Phenomenal athletes have set unthinkable records there. From René Lacoste to Pete Sampras and Björn Borg. Rafael Nadal to Roger Federer via Novak Djokovic… From Suzanne Lenglen to Serena Williams via Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova… A number of iconic matches have taken place at Roland Garros!
