Roland Garros French Open Tennis 2019 – Stamps on Men’s Singles winners 1920- 2018.
There are four Grand Slam tennis tournaments held in a calendar year. The French Open or Roland Garros is the second of the four Grand Slam tournaments. The 2019 edition will be played from 26 May to 9 June 2019 (qualifying rounds have already started from 20th May 2019).
The Grand Slam schedule consists of the Australian Open in mid-January, the French Open in May-June, Wimbledon in June-July and the US Open in August-September.
The French Clay Court Championships played in 1891 can be termed as the First French Open tournament. It was only open to the members of the French Club and was played at Stade Francais. The venue of the French Open was shifted to Stade Roland Garros in 1928. This stadium was built and named in honour of Roland Garros, a French fighter pilot who was killed during the Great War.
Ivory Coast issued a sheetlet consisting of nine stamps on Mens’ Singles Champions on 24 May 1991 to mark the centenary of French Open Championships.
Henri Cochet (France) – Won Five titles (1922,26,28,30,32)
Rene Lacoste (France)- Won three titles (1925,27,29)
Jean-Borotra (France) -Won two titles in 1924 & 1931
Donald Budge (USA) – Won in 1938
Marcel Bernard (France) -Won in 1946.
Ken Rosewall (Australia) -Won two titles in 1953 & 1968
Rod Laver (Australia) -Won two titles in 1962 & 1969.
Bjorn Borg (Sweden)- One of the most difficult things in Tennis is to win the “Channel Slam” i.e winning the French Open on the clay court and Wimbledon on the grass in the same year. In the Open era, Nadal, Federer and Bjorn Borg have achieved this feat. Bjorn Borg’s record stands apart as he won the Channel Slam thrice in 1978, 1979 and 1980. He won six titles ( 1974,75,78,79,80 & 81).
Yannick Noah (France) – Won the title in 1983.
Gustavo Kuerten -Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil has won the French Open Singles title three times in 1997, 2000 and 2001. Brazil issued a miniature sheet in 2001 featuring Gustavo Kuerten.
Rafael Nadal has won 11 French Open titles in men’s singles category and is known as the “King of Clay”. He first played at Roland Garros in 2005 and won his first French Open title. He has won these 11 titles in just 14 appearances making it a remarkable achievement. He is the current French Open Champion. His 11 titles is a record for the highest number of men’s singles titles
Roger Federer has won the French Open only once in 2009.
Novak Djokovic of Serbia has also won the French Open only once in 2016. He has won 15 Grand Slam titles in his career till now. Serbia issued a stamp in his honour on 4 April 2008.
Watch out for Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Theim, Federer fighting it out for2019 French Open Title at Roland Garros starting today 26 May 2019. Happy Viewing.
Stamp Digest 