Pariz već menja boju i počinje da crveni sa opalim lišćem, a vazduh miriše na pečeno kestenje Paris is already changing colour and starting to turn red with fallen leaves, while the air carries the scent of roasted chestnuts
T he 2020 French Open is unlike any that’s gone before. at’s primarily because it takes place under the unusual circumstances caused by the pandemic. For a start, we didn’t watch top tennis being played in late May as we are accustomed to. And although the tournament may have been cancelled during the two world wars, the Par- is Grand Slam has never previously been rescheduled or postponed. is year it was shifted to the start of au- tumn and brought some new images. at’s because both Paris and Roland-Garros look completely different in the autumn. As the sun sets, the stadium is bathed in a golden glow that reflects off the surrounding buildings, which we’ve never seen before. Paris is already changing colour and starting to turn red with fallen leaves, while the air carries the scent of roast- ed chestnuts, all of which provide reasons to enjoy the seasonal shift by taking long walks through the beauti- ful streets of Paris, even if you aren’t among the fortu- nate few who managed to buy tickets to watch the tennis. However, if you are among them, it’s good to know that those less appealing things that autumn brings, such as rain and inclement weather, will no longer result in play being stopped. Philippe Chatrier Court has entered a new era and is now covered with a retractable roof. Com- posed of 11 magnificent roof constructions, this new canopy pays homage to Roland Garros himself, a French war hero and pioneer aviator who flirted with clouds. And it’s actually in October, or more precisely on the 6 th of the month, that Garros would have turned 132, while we mark the 102 nd anniversary of his death the day before. And although many think that this stadium was named after some deserving tennis player, that couldn’t be further from the truth. at’s because Roland Gar- ros was a pilot, a national hero, the first man to attach a machine gun to the front of a plane, while at the same time he was also, of course, a lover of tennis who played the sport for recreation during his days in Paris. It was actually the racquet that his comrades smuggled to him while he was held captive in Germany during World
War I that saved the young Roland’s life. A map of Ger- many was hidden in the handle and, after many rever- sals of fortune, he finally arrived back in his homeland. Isn’t that symbolic? He very quickly returned to active duty and was shot down just a day before his 30 th birthday. He is also re- membered by France and the rest of the world for the fact that he was the first pioneer aviator to complete a non-stop flight across the Mediterranean Sea, from Fré- jus-Saint Raphaël on the French Riviera to Bizerte in Tu- nisia. e stadium that carries his name was built for the purposes of the Davis Cup in 1928, initially on three hec- tares of land donated to the French Tennis Federation by Rugby Club Stade Français, which gifted the land un- der one condition: that the stadium be named after war hero Roland Garros. And so it is that during the unusual autumn evenings of 2020, as darkness falls over Roland-Garros, the usual silence is replaced by the sounds of excited cheering, ech- oing through the night. And the lighting of street lights no longer signals the end of the show in Paris. anks to new floodlights at the stadium, matches can contin- ue into the dense autumn darkness. Paris est toujours une bonne idée...
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