Gem Of The Court

By: Amidon Jewelers

Every spring, between late May and early June, 128 men and women professional tennis players gather in Paris for the second Grand Slam of the year, the French Open. Held at Roland Garros, the all clay court tennis center named after the French aviator, the French Open is often considered one of the most physically demanding tennis tournaments on the pro circuit.   The evolution of the French Open is as fascinating as the tournament itself. As the official site for the French Open says,   The stadium that stages one of the world's four major tennis tournaments was built in 1928, but the French men's singles championship goes back much further than that. Originally reserved for members of French clubs, it was first held on the courts of Stade Français club in Paris in 1891. The women's singles were added six years later, it was not until 1925 that the French Tennis Federation decided to open the event to the best foreign players. Thus, the French Internationals were born, and staged alternately at Stade Français and Racing Club de France until the Roland-Garros stadium came into being in 1928.   The year of 1927 was a milestone for French tennis, the year the celebrated French Musketeers (Jacques "Toto" Brugnon, Jean Borotra, Henri Cochet and René Lacoste) pulled off one of the biggest shocks in 20th century sport. The famous foursome upset all the odds by winning the Davis Cup on American soil, and in doing so set up a rematch in 1928, in Paris. Obviously, such a major sporting occasion required a stadium worthy of its stature, and so it was that the Stade Français handed over three hectares of land near Porte d'Auteuil to the French Tennis Federation. The only condition to the offer of land was that the new stadium should bear the name of one of Stade Français' most renowned former members, Roland-Garros, who had died some ten years earlier. Roland-Garros was an aviation pioneer who, on 23 September 1913, had become the first man to fly a plane over the Mediterranean. The 1928 French Internationals were the first event to be held in the new stadium, just before the Musketeers took centre-stage to beat the Americans in their long-awaited rematch.   These days tennis is synonymous with fashion; from French player Suzanne Lenglen to Andre Agassi, the Williams sisters and Maria Sharapova, tennis stars have shown that you can look as good as you play. Even if you can’t slide and slice on clay like the pros, you can still capture their style with several pieces of carefully chosen jewelry.   Maria Sharapova is known for her dazzling diamond earrings, something she wears at each Grand Slam.   Dazzle like a pro at Amidon Jewelers.     Ever since former tennis pro Chris Evert wore a single stranded diamond bracelet during a match at the 1987 US Open, which happened to accidentally break open and went flying across the court, the bracelet has been dubbed the tennis bracelet.     Amidon's silver and diamond bracelet. Tennis pro Ryan Sweeting spared no expense when asking Kaley Cuoco to marry him.   Halo engagement rings at Amidon Jewelers.