If you’re travelling in Europe during the summer, there are two fantastic tennis events that run almost back to back in May and June that happen to take place in two of the world’s most exciting cities – Paris and London.
First off, in the last week of May and first week of June, there’s the Roland Garros in Paris. And only a month later, there’s the only grass Grand Slam at Wimbledon in south-west London.
For anyone who loves the game of tennis, going to either of these Grand Slam events is a great experience, even if you only get tickets to the matches on the outside courts of Roland Garros or Wimbledon. To be there and soak up the atmosphere, almost regardless of which games you get to watch, will give you some travel memories to store away forever, and recall whenever you want to.
But this year, there’s the promise of something special happening at either or both of these tennis Grand Slams. Records may well be broken.
At Roland Garros, Rafael Nadal is going for a record number of victories on the clay courts. Spaniard Nadal has already won the tournament eight times, and has been the reigning champion for the last four years, and , he’s the favourite to win there again this year. This will bring his total to nine victories at Roland Garros, a feat that no other player has come close to. In fact, last year saw Nadal break the record books by being the first player to win one Grand Slam eight times.
In order to win the French Open, Nadal will, of course, have to see off the other favourites, who include Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka, David Ferrer and Roger Federer.
Federer has the potential to make his own entry into the history books at the Wimbledon Championships this year. He’s already the joint holder of the most wins at Wimbledon – having notched up seven victories already. He shares that honour with US player Pete Sampras. But this year, if Federer wins he will then be the only player to have won Wimbledon eight times.
He’s not the favourite to win – he’s the veteran player on the courts this year and his age will definitely count against his chances of getting that record. But he’s currently second favourite, behind Djokovic who’s priced at 2/1, but on a par with Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal, priced at 5/1 at the time of writing.
None of the other favourites have enjoyed the same consistent successes at Wimbledon as Federer has, and if pure passion about this championship counts as much as form, then your money should be on Federer to win there this year.
Whichever Grand Slam you decide to attend in person, both London and Paris offer an incredible amount of culture and fantastic sights to go along with the excitement of watching the best tennis players in the world performing at their absolute best.
