Why the French Open is named after Roland Garros, who didn't play tennis

Here is the latest breaking news from around the world: Sports Why the French Open is named after Roland Garros, who didn't play tennis May 26, 20262:08 PM ET By Rachel Treisman French aviator Roland Garros pictured in the cockpit of an aircraft in 1911. Branger/Getty Images/Hulton Archive hide caption toggle caption Branger/Getty Images/Hulton Archive The second tennis Grand Slam tournament of the year is underway in Paris: the French Open, as many English-speakers call it. But the official name of the tournament — and the complex where it takes place — is Roland Garros.

Many tennis tournaments are named after famous players, like the Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup. Sports The French Open courts are clay, a tricky surface for some. Here's how the pros do it Roland Garros, however, was an aviation pioneer and World War I fighter pilot with no known connection to the racquet sport.

The Details

"He's an important figure in early aviation, both as a record-setter before the war and as a wartime pilot," says Christopher Moore, the curator for World War I aircraft at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. "He's considered the first person to shoot down another aircraft with a gun firing forward between the propeller. " So how did Garros become synonymous with tennis?

Sponsor Message The short answer: In 1928, a decade after Garros was killed in action, Paris' new tennis stadium needed a name. Emile Lesueur, president of the Stade Français rugby club, suggested Garros — his former business school classmate. "I guess he was a national hero, and that kind of tells you how people thought about him," Moore says.

Here's the (slightly) longer version. Roland Garros is both the name of the tennis tournament and the Paris facility where it is held. Dan Istitene/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Dan Istitene/Getty Images Garros' high-flying career set records Garros was born in 1885 on Réunion, a French island in the Indian Ocean.

What Experts Say

The island's main international airport now bears his name, too. He grew up playing soccer, rugby and cycling — but "was not an avid tennis player," as the tennis tournament's website explains. Garros was not originally drawn to aviation either: He graduated from business school and founded a car dealership.

But everything changed when Garros, then in his early 20s, attended the first major international air show in the Champagne region of France, in August 1909. "He decides that he wants to be a pilot, so he basically goes out and buys his own plane, teaches himself to fly … he earns his pilot's license," says Moore. Roland Garros, in the dark suit, poses near the plane he flew across the Mediterranean in Tunisia in September 1913.

STAFF/ via Getty Images/ via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption STAFF/ via Getty Images/ via Getty Images In September 1911, Garros broke an altitude record, soaring to nearly 13,000 feet (without the extra oxygen that modern planes have above 10,000 feet, Moore points out).

The story has become one of the most prominent items on the global agenda.