Guillermo Vilas Blog
June 7th, 2007
10:10pm Paris TimeWe are two matches away from the men's final that everyone has been waiting for. The Weather has been wonderful for the second week and looks like it will continue through the finals weekend. As I said before I usually spend all of my time during the French Open at Roland Garros, but today I was honored to be a guest on Tennis Channel's French Open tonight. It's very interesting because this show is shot on location in Paris. Tonight's show was filmed at Place Jacques Rueff which is between the Effile Tower and the Ecole Militarire. John McEnroe was there also on the set and he didn't get mad or break anything. Tennis Channel would be very popular in Argentina and I hope we get it there soon. On Friday I will play my first match in the Legends over 45 event. The senior events at Roland Garros are very organized and well attended. We are fortunate to be playing on court Lenglen. My partner is the Australian Davis Cup captain John Fitzgerald. We are up against one of the all- time great doubles partnership of Brian Gottfried and Raul Ramirez. Thirty years ago, when I won Roland Garros Gottfried was on the other side of the net, we will need some luck to have the same result tomorrow.
June 3, 2007
10:21pm (Paris Time)All of the four majors have a unique history and Roland Garros is no exception. In the 1920's there were many countries that wanted to host a grand slam event and if it wasn't for the great Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon, Henri Cochet, and Rene Lacoste (Les Quatre Mousquetaires as they are known in France) leading France to six straight Davis Cup titles, 1927 through 1932 Roland Garros would not have become one of the four majors. In those days only the countries who dominated the Davis Cup competition would be considered worthy of consideration to become one of the majors. But that's not the only reason; the incredible popularity and importance of the Davis Cup at that time demanded that large stadium court be built in Paris at Porte d'Auteuil. It was constructed very quickly and you can tell because there are crosses that were taken from another other concrete structure and used in part of the construction. Most people know that Roland Garros was a world war two fighter pilot, but he also is the man who created the invention that enabled the pilot to fire his guns the propeller of his plane. The club members didn't even ask the French Federation for any money to use their club for the event, all they wanted was for the tournament to be named after a member of their club who loved tennis and they chose none other than Monsieur Roland Garros!
May 31, 2007
11:30pm (Paris Time)Bienvanidos a mi primero blog con Tennis Channel. First of all I want to tell everybody that it normally isn't this cold and rainy here at Roland Garros - this weather reminds me more of Wimbledon than the French Open. Even with this unpleasant climate the last few days we have still enjoyed the ambience of this special place. The first thing I always notice when I return here each spring is the natural beauty. It's so green and everything about the French Open is very romantic. There is a special love affair between the people of Paris and this tournament, which you can immediately appreciate once you are inside the gates.
This year is very special for me for many reasons (I will go into more detail later). One of these reasons is because my daughter Andavin, who is three and a half years old, is making her first trip to Roland Garros. She is very excited to be here and we wake up very early each morning, which is important because at the French Open it is good to arrive on site before it gets crowded. This Grand Slam has a unique time table mainly because there are no lights here. The US Open and Australian Open can go late into the evening because they have lights, and at Wimbledon the sun sets later, but here it gets dark earlier. That's why I arrive early to hit on the practice courts. Yesterday morning, the first thing I saw was Connors and Nastase exchanging deep, steady grounds stokes and joking around as if 1977 never ended..more later.
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