LONGINES
A true winner at tennis As a partner and Official Timekeeper of the French Open, Longines helps shape future tennis champions. Chris Andre was courtside in Paris for this year’s tournament
WHAT CAN BEAT the glamour and elegance of Paris in the summer? The evenings are long as the City of Light basks in the glory of beautiful weather. This time of year also sees the annual return of the French Open, or Roland Garros Tennis tournament. It remains the only major professional tennis tournament to be played on clay courts. This type of court is slippery, demanding extreme endurance as well as high performance. Even if you are not a big fan of this racket sport, you will likely be hooked easily after watching a game or two on TV or, especially, live.
A loyal partner to this exciting tournament is none other than Longines, a Swiss watch brand that is equally famed for elegance and precision, two among many things that a pro needs to ace a Roland Garros match. More than just a supporting brand, Longines has also become the official timekeeper since the partnership kicked off 11 years ago. This year’s programme, running from May 28 to June 11, got to a more exciting start as Spanish player Rafael Nadal, the reigning champ for nine years excluding the 2016 tournament, seemed ready for a revenge.
The tournament involved both men and women, singles and doubles, and took place at the Roland Garros Stadium, a convenient sports complex consisting of twenty courts at 16th arrondissement, Paris. While notable suspects of tennis champs had a smashing start late May, Longines was already busy with another engrossing event.
For one, Longines held a separate match that invited the next generation of racket champs at the 2017 Longines Future Tennis Aces tournament at the Parvis de la Defénse, Paris. The game’s eighth edition brought in 20 young players from 20 different countries, ranging from the United States to Germany to Singapore. Juan-Carlos
Capelli, Vice President of Longines, touched on what this initiative is all about: “It’s our way to support the new generation to get involved in sports and to learn about performance and respect. We hope to see Indonesia participate in this tournament soon.”
This direct focus on children, and less about commercial branding - since Longines has yet to produce watches for children - has been a shared interest between the brand and its two great tennis winners and ambassadors: husband-and-wife Andre Agassi and Stefanie Graf. While Agassi blazes new trails to provide education for the youth through the Andre Agassi foundation, his wife cares for the children and families traumatized by the war through the Children for Tomorrow foundation. Agassi, by the way, also dropped by a Longines boutique in Paris during the Roland Garros weeks for an autograph session.
Back at the Roland Garros stadium, the long summer day had three to four games per court per day, depending on the weather. During my visit on June 4, it was really packed with great matches. Both Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, the winning player last year, were among the participants in the men’s section, while Venus Williams appeared to be a strong participant in the women’s singles.
I managed to secure a front-row seat for an intense battle between two talented Spanish players, namely Roberto Bautista Agut and Rafael Nadal. Just before the match commenced, the crowd was rambunctiously shouting the names of their champs, working up the appetite for a truly exhilarating competition. From the Longines digital board that noted the scores and the speed of the service, Nadal managed to reach 182km/ h at one service, and even faster on other occasions. Such an impressive opening smash stood as a veritable testament of how apt the “King of Clay” title is for the 31-year-old who had celebrated his birthday the day before. For sure, you don’t want to be on the other side of the net from this guy.
The tournament culminated with Djokovic’s unexpected loss to Dominic Thiem, and Rafael Nadal’s winning the French Open for the 10th time. It goes to show how a true champ can create a new tradition, as Nadal became the player with the most titles in the history of French Open since 1891.
Also a venerable player who favours tradition is Longines, which celebrates its 185th anniversary this year. Given these two special occasions, I simply couldn’t have asked for a better Roland Garros tournament to attend.