Le Stade de Roland Garros ("Roland Garros Stadium") is a tennis venue located in Paris, France. It hosts the French Open tennis tournament (known as the Roland Garros Tournament within France), a Grand Slam event played annually in May and June. The facility was constructed in 1928 to host France's first defense of the Davis Cup. It is named for Roland Garros, a pioneer aviator (completed the first solo flight across the Mediterranean Sea), engineer (inventor of the first forward-firing aircraft machine gun), and World War I hero (the first pilot to shoot down five enemy aircraft, and to be called an "ace" for doing so), who was killed in aerial combat in 1918.

The 21-acre (8.5-hectare) complex contains twenty courts, including three large-capacity stadiums; Les Jardins de Roland-Garros, a large restaurant and bar complex;Le Village, the press and VIP area; France's National Training Centre (CNE); and the Tenniseum, a bilingual, multimedia museum of the history of tennis.

While the Roland Garros surface is invariably characterized as "red clay", the courts are in fact surfaced with white limestone frosted with a few millimeters of powdered red brick dust. Beneath the 3-inch-thick layer of porous limestone is 6 inches of volcanic rock, followed by a 3-foot (0.91 m) layer of sand, all of which rests on a slab of concrete. Crushed brick is pressed onto the limestone surface with rollers, then drenched in water. The process is repeated several times until a thin, compact layer coats each court. The crushed brick is deep enough to allow footprints and ball marks, but shallow enough to avoid making the court spongy or slippery. In tournament situations workers smooth the surface before matches and between sets by dragging rectangular lengths of chain-link across it. The red brick dust is replenished as needed (daily during major tournaments).

Philippe Chatrier (2 February 1926 - 22 June 2000) was a French tennis player. After his playing career ended, he became a journalist, and was then involved in sports administration. He was president of the French Tennis Federation for 20 years, from 1973 to 1993, and president of the International Tennis Federation for 14 years, from 1977 to 1991.

Chatrier was born in Créteil in France. He was the French junior tennis champion in 1945 and a member of the French Davis Cup team from 1948 and 1950. He last played a Wimbledon in 1953, and, after retiring, became a journalist. He founded the magazine Tennis de France in 1953, and also sports and news editor for the Paris daily newspaper Paris-Presse.

Chatrier married Susan Partridge, who was French tennis champion in 1953. They later divorced. Chatrier later married a second time, to French golfer Claudine Cros.

Chatrier took part in the merger of professional and amateur tennis organisations in 1968. He was a vice-president of the French Tennis Federation (Fédération française de tennis) from 1968 to 1973, and was captain of French Davis Cup team in 1969. He became president of the French Tennis Federation in 1973, then president of International Tennis Federation in 1977. Under his direction, tennis was reintroduced to the Olympic program in 1981, as a demonstration sport at the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and then a full Olympic sport beginning in the 1988 Summer Olympic Games in Seoul. He became a member of the International Olympic Committee in 1988.

Samantha "Sam" Jane Stosur (English pronunciation: /ˈstoʊzər/ STOH-zər, born 30 March 1984) is an Australian professional tennis player. She won the 2011 US Open singles title and was a finalist at the 2010 French Open. Stosur is ranked World No. 6 and her career high in singles is World No. 4, achieved on 21 February 2011. She is a former world No. 1 on the WTA Tour in doubles with Lisa Raymond from the United States.

Stosur was born in Brisbane, Queensland, the daughter of Tony and Diane, and has two brothers, Dominic and Daniel. She is of Polish descent through her grandfather. When she was six, the family house and business on the Gold Coast was destroyed by a flood, and the family moved to Adelaide. There she started playing tennis, when she was given a racquet for Christmas at the age of eight. While her parents worked long hours at the cafe they had started, Stosur played at local courts with older brother Daniel, who later encouraged their parents to take her to tennis lessons. Stosur attended Helensvale State High School on the Northern Gold Coast. She went away on her first overseas trip at the age of 13, competing in the World Youth Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Rafael "Rafa" Nadal Parera (Catalan: [rəˈfɛɫ nəˈðaɫ pəˈɾeɾə]; Spanish: [rafaˈel naˈðal paˈɾeɾa]) (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player and a former World No. 1. As of 28 May 2012 (2012 -05-28)^[update], he is ranked No. 2 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time; his success on clay has earned him the nickname "The King of Clay", and has prompted many experts to regard him as the greatest clay court player of all time.

Nadal has won ten Grand Slam singles titles, including a record six French Open titles (tied with Bjorn Borg), the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles, a record 21 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments, and also was part of the Spain Davis Cup team that won the finals in 2004, 2008, 2009 and 2011. He completed the Career Grand Slam by winning the 2010 US Open, being the seventh player in history, and the youngest in the open era, to achieve it. He is the second male player to complete the Career Golden Slam (winner of the four grand slams and the Olympic Gold medal) after only Andre Agassi.