★ Roland-Garros

01Why it matters

Clay is the discipline the rest of the season is measured against, and Roland-Garros settles the six weeks of European clay tennis that precede it. Its position matters as much as its result: the fortnight covers the turn from the Paris spring into the European summer. In our reading it is the most Parisian of the majors in a specific sense, in that the tournament belongs to a national federation rather than a private club, its grounds are city land adapted for the purpose, and the crowd is more local and more partisan than at any other Slam.

02The week around it

The 16th arrondissement is the quietest part of central Paris and it stays quiet, which is one of the tournament's small pleasures: the crowd arrives on the metro, walks past the Serres d'Auteuil and disappears into the stadium, and the neighbourhood's cafes fill for two hours a day and then empty.

What does concentrate is brand activity, most of it inside the gates. Partners run pavilions and terraces in the Village, and the fashion houses that sponsor the tournament stage their hospitality at the ground rather than in town.

03When to arrive

Qualifying week, the Monday to Friday before the main draw, is inexpensive, lightly attended and gives the whole site; it is the best-value visit and almost nobody outside France makes it. In the main draw, the first Tuesday to Thursday delivers the most tennis per ticket.

04Where to stay

The 16th around Passy, Trocadero and Auteuil is closest and calmest, fifteen minutes by metro or a walk through the Bois, and it is where visitors who come for the tennis specifically tend to base themselves. The trade-off is that the 16th empties in the evening.

05Access and hospitality

The federation sells tickets in a published sequence each winter. Licence-holders of French clubs get a priority window first; a general public sale follows, allocated by a random draw that assigns buyers a purchase slot rather than a ticket, after which those with slots choose from what remains. Returns and remaining inventory are released in stages through the spring, and the federation runs its own resale platform for tickets buyers cannot use, the only sanctioned secondary route. A main-draw ticket is court-specific and includes the grounds; qualifying week is sold separately and cheaply; the Chatrier night session is a separate ticket covering one match. Official hospitality is sold by the federation directly and through appointed agencies abroad: boxes and seats on Chatrier and Lenglen paired with dining in the Village, the tournament's hospitality quarter behind Chatrier, which is not open to general ticket-holders. No public tariff is published.

06Where the social activity happens

On site, the public places are the terraces above Court 14 and the Place des Mousquetaires, the promenade past the Serres d'Auteuil, and the concessions along the Allee Marcel Bernard; the Village and the partner pavilions are closed to general ticket-holders.

07Getting there

08Practicalities

09History

The championship began in 1891 as a national event restricted to members of French clubs. It opened to foreign players in 1925 and joined the Grand Slam group, and in 1928 the federation built the present stadium at Porte d'Auteuil to defend the Davis Cup won by the players known as the Four Musketeers. The ground is named for Roland Garros, an aviator killed in 1918 and a member of the club that ceded the land.

10Who is there

A markedly French crowd by the standards of the majors, drawn from the federation's licence-holders and Paris's professional classes, alongside corporate hospitality in the Village, the tennis trade, the luxury houses that sponsor the tournament, and an international contingent that concentrates in the second week.