Most stadium names have a clear logic—a city, a legendary player, or a sponsor. Think Wimbledon, Arthur Ashe, even the Hard Rock. But then there’s Roland Garros in Paris, home of the French Open. The tale of the stadium’s namesake begins in the middle of the Indian Ocean and is tied up with a pair of rugby-playing schoolmates in Paris, the dawn of aviation, and the First World War. But ultimately, it’s about the admiration of one friend for another—and not really at all about tennis.
In 1927, Émile Lesieur, a onetime record-setting sprinter and star rugby player, decided to keep the once-famous name of his late friend Roland Garros alive. Garros had been internationally renowned as a pioneer pilot before WWI and then became a war hero, giving his life for France. Garros had been dead nearly 10 years when Lesieur found himself with a unique opportunity to memorialize his comrade. He partially succeeded. Anyone who knows tennis knows the name Roland Garros, but very few have known his story.