Valdes Tita on the heavy Black African influence on Roland-Garros and French tennis

Valdes Tita wrote a brilliant piece what Roland-Garros inherited from Central Africa, mainly focused on Yannick Noah and his sole championship win on the clay in Paris, but also looking at the influence that had on future Black French players of African descent: The clay at Roland-Garros remembers a lot. It remembers Cameroon and France in the same body. It remembers Arthur Ashe in Yaoundé in February 1971, and Zacharie running onto the court twelve years later. A winner’s microphone was handed over for the first time and used to thank the gardeners. Tsonga waved off it for the last time in 2022. In four days it will register the studs of Gaël Monfils. By the time the men’s final is played on Sunday, 7 June, it will have been hit on by Fils, by Mpetshi Perricard, by Monfils for one last fortnight, and by Kouamé. It is going to be a busy clay. Can this be a whole book please? The post Valdes Tita on the heavy Black African influence on Roland-Garros and French tennis appeared first on…