The Roland-Garros stadium is an iconic international tennis venue in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. Located on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne park, it is just a stone’s throw away from the Parc des Princes, where some of the football events will be held during the Games. Named after French aviator Roland Garros, the stadium was built in 1928 to host France’s Davis Cup in a venue worthy of the French athletes’ exploits. The stadium has also hosted one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments – the French Open, organised by the French Tennis Federation – every year since its opening.
Covering 12 ha and featuring 18 clay courts, the stadium has been extended and upgraded several times over the years to compete with the other Grand Slam venues. It was last upgraded between 2015 and 2021
– the most extensive renovations to stadium date – as part of a six-year project that completed its transformation. The work involved rebuilding the Philippe Chatrier court (the 15,000-seater centre court now has a state-of-the-art retractable roof comprising eleven 300-ton trusses, which can be opened or closed in 15 minutes) and building the Simonne Mathieu court (a 5,000-seater court in the Serres d’Auteuil botanical garden). The Roland Garros stadium, a key Paris 2024 venue, will host a total of four sports: tennis and boxing during the Olympic Games (fun historical fact: the stadium already hosted major boxing matches back in the 1970s) and wheelchair tennis and sitting volleyball during the Paralympic Games.