Tennis

How Roland-Garros’ Clay Court Epitomizes French Elegance

Published

5 months ago

June 9, 2024

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How Roland-Garros’ Clay Court Epitomizes French Elegance

Highlights

The French Open’s clay courts, a symbol of elegance, require athletes to adapt playing styles on the challenging surface.
TopSpin 2K25 aims to attract new fans to tennis through realistic gameplay, fostering interest in the sport beyond the video game.
Rafael Nadal’s legacy as the ‘King of Clay’ shines at Roland-Garros, leaving a lasting impact on the tournament’s history and culture.

Roland-Garros, or the French Open, is most known for being the only Grand Slam tennis tournament on the calendar that uses a clay surface, which is arguably one of the most physically demanding surfaces of all, yet brings so much excitement among tennis fans around the world.

Speaking exclusively to GIVEMESPORT in a suite at Roland-Garros that was decorated with all things 2K Games, French Tennis Federation Director-General, Stephane Morel discusses what makes the clay courts of the French Open so special, and how the newest iteration of the TopSpin series, TopSpin 2K25, can help attract new fans to tennis.

Clay Is Part of the French DNA

The ‘hallowed red dirt’ stands out from the other tennis Grand Slams

Courtesy of 2K Games – TopSpin 2K25

Walking around the grounds of Roland-Garros, all staff, volunteers and ball boys and girls are dressed head to toe in Lacoste – the luxury sports fashion brand founded by late French tennis star René Lacoste, aka ‘The Crocodile’ in what could only be described as French tennis chic.

But it’s not just fashion that is on display during the two weeks of the French Open – many people from all over the world congregate in Paris to watch their tennis heroes tackle the clay court, with Roland-Garros the only Grand Slam on the calendar which features the ‘hallowed red dirt’.

Using the French Open to not only promote tennis as a sport, but also the art of French fashion and elegance is something that Stephane Morel, the managing director of the French Tennis Federation, stresses the importance of.

“Clay is definitely part of our DNA, and we are the only ones among the Grand Slams playing on clay – so that’s a key element.

What makes us so specific, I would tell you our tagline right now is ‘move the lines we style’. We try to be different, and one of our differences is that we are based in Paris, and to our mind, it’s an advantage.”

This French elegance, which is represented by clay, we try to make it work in every side of our tournament.

If you look at the outfits of our ball kids, umpires, people walking the various streets of Roland-Garros, French elegance is great, but we don’t want to focus only on that. ‘Let’s move the lines’ meaning, let’s try new things to make sure we are different, to make sure we can distinguish ourselves from the others.”

For fans watching the sport, the clay brings with it a tenacity to force athletes to adapt their playing style to the surface, often slowing down the game while simultaneously impacting the bounce of the ball – where it bounces higher – which makes it super difficult for athletes who rely on speed and power to win points.

Sloane Stephens TopSpin 2K25 — Courtesy of 2K Games – TopSpin 2K25

This style of game is something that suits the USA’s Sloane Stephens – former World No. 3 – to a tee, telling GIVEMESPORT that she enjoys being able to use her athleticism to her advantage on that specific surface.

“Clay obviously slows down the court a lot and kind of like neutralizes very hard balls or serves, or people trying to hit winners like that doesn’t work as well on clay.

So being athletic and running after every ball suits my game well. Obviously, it depends on how the clay is playing, how the courts are playing – if it’s rained a lot, all those things, but for the most part, Clay’s always been my favorite surface.”

The numbers back up the notion that clay is Stephens’ favorite surface, where she holds a 63.5 percent win record, by far her most successful output. But aside from her success on the court, what makes Roland-Garros so special to her is the uniqueness of the Parisian culture.

“It’s always just like been a really good tournament for me. Paris is a great city as a whole, but I do think that the tournament is really special. Every slam has its uniqueness, and I think the French Open is just another one.

I mean, there’s only four slams, but each of them have their own unique piece, and being able to be in Paris, where in the US Open, you’re in New York, and you’re in the city, that’s what makes it special and unique. So I think, here the very French Parisian Tennis Centre and all of that stuff makes it special and cool.”

Video Games Are ‘One Piece of the Puzzle’ in Helping Develop Tennis

Morel is hopeful TopSpin 2K25 can bring new fans into tennis, and Roland-Garros specifically

As tennis is being recognized as a sport that is back on the rise, 2K Games opted to bring back the well-loved franchise, TopSpin 2K25, after 13 years away from the market.

It is estimated that 88 percent of young people in the UK aged between 16-24 play video games, while for children aged between 7-18, that number is around 68 percent, or two thirds. On a global scale, the number of gamers there are thought to be is around the 3.2 billion mark, which makes gaming one of the most lucrative facets of the entertainment industry, thought to be generating a surplus of $282 billion US dollars, and is expected to continue to soar over the next three-to-five years.

With the TopSpin series back – giving tennis a top-tier feature game once again – Morel has high hopes that it can leverage its reach to audiences that may want to take up the sport in real life after playing the game online, and is especially hopeful that TopSpin 2K25 can be used as a method of allowing young people to discover tennis which fulfills the French Tennis Federation’s goals.

“I’m pretty sure it has an impact, because it’s a way for kids to discover tennis, and as long as they discover tennis, whatever the way, it’s great, and it will develop tennis in France, which is our DNA as a federation.

So that’s why we try to boost our TV coverage. That’s why we try to boost the number of courts in France. We try to print campaigns to promote our sport.

TopSpin 2K25 is also very good way to develop tennis in France and to make sure they know what tennis looks like. We were talking about identification – if kids identify themselves to [Carlos] Alcaraz, John McEnroe and say, ‘Wow, these guys look great, and I play football or basketball, but this game is fun. I should try real tennis,’, I will be happy.”

However, Morel is quick to acknowledge that they cannot rely on video game outreach alone in France, and elsewhere, to develop the sport, citing gaming as ‘one piece of the puzzle’ of improving accessibility to the sport.

“
To my mind, we should not rely on a video game to develop tennis in France. It is one piece of the puzzle- a nice piece – but only one piece.

What I would like to see in a video game, let’s say realism -to make sure our court looks like the real court, to make sure the players look like real players, and to make sure kids, teenagers and adults, want to play the game, but also want to go out and play real tennis. And if at the end of the day, the virtual cycle is in place, then I will be the happiest man in the world.”

Pete Wentz Matteo Berrettini TopSpin 2K25

As part of the game’s launch at Roland-Garros, musician Pete Wentz – who is best known for being the bassist and lyricist of the alternative/indie band Fall Out Boy – and is the off-court ambassador for TopSpin 2K25, was fortunate enough to be able to sit down and play TopSpin 2K25 with Italy’s Matteo Berrettini – who was forced to withdraw from the 2024 French Open due to injury – where he discussed how important the game is in creating a tangible culture for tennis as a sport in a digital space.

“I think that it’s part of the necessary fabric of creating a culture. We live in a time where it’s so digital – kids are so into avatars in this generation, that to be able to go and play as your favorite current contemporary player, or be able to play as Steffi [Graf] or Andre [Agassi] is so insane. It’s so insane to be just a small part of it, being here in Paris, and playing, with Matteo [Berrettini] as he’s playing as himself is so fun.”

An Ode to the King of Clay

Rafael Nadal may have played at Roland-Garros for the final time

As part of the promotion of TopSpin 2K25 at Roland-Garros, GIVEMESPORT also got to spend some time with Spanish tennis star Paula Badosa, and discussed her tennis heroes growing up. As a Spaniard, her answer brought with her no hesitation – Rafael Nadal was her inspiration, along with Maria Sharapova.

“I’m Spanish – It’s easy, Rafa Nadal is mine, and on the women’s side, Maria Sharapova also. These two players both inspired me very much to play the sport, for sure… For Nadal, I think this tournament has to have his name almost, because he’s won it so many times. When I think about Roland-Garros, I think about Rafa Nadal.”

“As a Spaniard, as a follower, and as a fan of Rafa, I feel very sad that maybe this [was] his last year playing here. So not only for me, I think for all of us, he represents tennis and he’s been an example for so many of us. So, of course, it’s sad.”

The now-38-year-old is one of the most decorated stars in tennis, having a win-loss record of 1075–224 games. While his 2024 Roland-Garros campaign wasn’t the farewell to clay that he was hoping for when he lost in the first-round to now-finalist Alexander Zverev – amid rumors that it was likely his last French Open appearance – there is no understating the mark he has left on Roland-Garros.

As the most successful athlete to ever grace the clay, having won 14 French Open titles since 2005, his last being in 2022, Nadal has deservedly earned the name the ‘King of Clay’ with the next-best men’s singles title winner Björn Borg winning only six titles, and regardless of whether he plans to come back one last time, or decides enough is enough, it will take some feat for anyone to surpass his 112-4 record there.

There’s no wonder that Badosa feels that the tournament should be named after her sporting hero.

With just the men’s singles final left to come in Roland-Garros 2024, after Iga Świątek dominated Jasmine Paolini in the women’s singles final to pick up her fourth French Open title in five years, where 21-year-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz is set to take on r Zverev, all athletes are now preparing themselves to get ready to do it all over again, this time dusting off the clay from their sneakers, and moving onto grass, with one of the most famous grand slams on the calendar coming up next, Wimbledon.

Sloane Stephens, Paula Badosa, Pete Wentz, and Stephane Morel spoke exclusively to GIVEMESPORT courtesy of Top Spin 2K25, the latest installment of the popular tennis video game franchise, which is available for purchase here.