Why Roland-Garros Is Correcting Everyone About Its Name Now

A debate has started over the name of a 135-year-old tennis Grand Slam.

On Tuesday, the official X account of the ongoing Grand Slam in Paris tweeted a popular meme showing the rapper Drake shooing away “French Open” and pointing approvingly at “Roland-Garros.” The tournament captioned the photo: “For everyone asking.” 

The post has nearly 700,000 views and 33,000 likes.

While Roland-Garros is the name favored by the tournament itself, English speakers and media—particularly in the United States and England—use “French Open.”

The three other Grand Slam tournaments—the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and US Open—are all played in English-speaking countries. 

Many players refer to the tournament as Roland-Garros. Men’s world No. 1 Jannik Sinner called it “Roland-Garros” during his pre-tournament media availability last week. Carlos Alcaraz, the 2025 men’s singles champion, called it “Roland Garros” in an Instagram post last month announcing that he would not be participating in the event. (Alcaraz did not add a hyphen, though events or places named after a person are hyphenated in French.)

Last year, American Coco Gauff, the 2025 women’s singles champion, called herself the “french open champion” on Instagram. 

According to the tournament’s website, the tournament started in 1891 and was called the “French Clay-Court Championships.” In 1925, it allowed the participation of international players “and the ‘French Open’ was born.” Three years later, the stadium was renamed after French fighter pilot Roland Garros, who died in 1918 in World War I. The tournament’s name followed.

Warner Bros. Discovery started broadcasting the Grand Slam in the United States last year, taking over for NBC and the Tennis Channel. WBD has had the tournament’s broadcasting rights across several European countries since 1989 (not including France).

Its TNT broadcasts have referred to the tournament as “Roland-Garros.”

A spokesperson for Warner Bros. Discovery told Front Office Sports that the online discourse about the tournament’s name has been “amusing to watch.” The company said in a statement that it has always used “Roland-Garros” to refer to the Grand Slam:

“We have never marketed the event anything other than Roland-Garros. Regardless of whoever had the media rights in the US prior to last year, we have been consistent on this for many decades. And, as Roland-Garros officials have indicated…it is the name of the event.” 

Asked whether “French Open” was considered an acceptable way of referring to the Grand Slam, WBD deferred to the French Tennis Federation, the tournament’s organizers. 

The federation did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

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