Tennis and fashion at the Roland Garros

Paris is a symbol of style and elegance, renowned throughout the world as the capital of high fashion. Impossible not to mention the names of some of the French designers who have drawn its history: Christian Dior, Coco Chanel, Loboutin, Hubert de Givenchy, René Lacoste and many others.

In Paris, fashion lives in many forms and in many different places, from the Musée de la Mode and de la Ville de Paris, which contains more than 70,000 pieces of clothing of all kinds, passing through some of the most prestigious fashion schools in the world like the Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale and the Esmod, up to the Paris Fashion Week which is held twice a year. If it's true that in all these places the past of Parisian fashion is remembered, its present is admired and its future is planned, it is also true that it is possible to breathe it even outside, in every corner of the city and in the style of its inhabitants. This fashionable face of Paris is flanked by others, indeed great tennis also lives under the Eiffel Tower, with the ATP Masters 1000 and above all with Roland Garros, which is being played in the last days of May. Roland Garros, however, is not only one of the most important tournaments in the world, it is also – and more than every other – the occasion in which the city of fashion and the city of tennis meet and give life to an unforgettable show.

On the red clay of the French open, we have always admired great tennis shots and special looks, and we are continuing to do so again this year with the Aila Tomljanovic suit that recalls the French colors, with the fluo kit that Fila created for Brandon Nakashima, as well as with the richly printed one worn by Marton Fucsovics or with the colorful Nike jacket sported by Naomi Osaka. To further prove how much Roland Garros is the son of Paris, in the latest editions the trophies have been brought to the field in special customized trunks, made by Louis Vuitton and given to the winners of the tournament (male and female) by famous actresses such as Léa Seydoux, Isabelle Huppert and Nicole Kidman, while for this year's tournament Lacoste has launched a special collection in which classic and modern are combined in harmony.

Of the many legendary champions who performed in this unique atmosphere, Rafael Nadal certainly deserves a separate mention. On one hand, there are tennis players whose game perhaps best embodies the class of the context, but on the other hand, on the grandstand of the Court Philippe Chatrier the words "Victory is for the most tenacious" are engraved, and probably no one is able to represent them better than the Majorcan champion. Thirteen victories obtained in sixteen participations consecrated him as the absolute legend of the competition. Even this year the Parisian glamor tournament, one of the four of the Grand Slam, has already shown its prestigious sporting face, with exciting matches and in particular with the touching farewell to tennis of Jo Wilfried Tsonga, followed by greetings, thanks and encouragement from his French colleagues and many other great tennis players from around the world. But, as they say in these cases, considering the great champions competing and the scoreboard shrinking, there is no doubt that the best is yet to come.