Roland Garros, the famous tennis tournament in Paris, will reach its peak these days. And while white sports fans enjoy the top matches and moves of their favorite players, few know who is behind the name of this spectacle.

Roland Garros was a celebrated war pilot in France most notable for his actions in the First World War. Yet he had been known in celestial circles before.

Although one of the world's biggest tennis tournaments was named after him, Roland Garros has never played a single competitive match! This is no wonder, since the famous Frenchman was not actually a tennis player, but gained world fame in a completely different category.

His fame reached its peak when, in 1913, he became the first man to fly in uninterrupted flight over the Mediterranean Sea from Frejus in the south of France to Bizerte in Tunisia. It took him 7 hours and 53 minutes, and the venture brought him world fame.

During World War I, Roland Garros joined the French army and became a war pilot. After several missions, Roland realized that flying and shooting at the same time was too difficult, so instead of on the side, he attached an automatic rifle to the front of the fighter plane. He thus made it easier for himself to shoot at his opponents, and in order to protect the propellers from damage by enemy bullets, he placed metal wedges on the plane.

In a short time, he crashed three German planes, which brought him a great reputation. Soon his system introduced a real revolution in warfare in the sky.

The fortunes of war turned their backs on him on April 18, 1915, when his plane was shot down over the German part of the battlefield. He was taken prisoner, he managed to escape only after three years. As soon as he arrived on the territory of France again, he returned to the army and took off again.

It turned out that the decision to rejoin the army was fatal for a brave pilot. Roland Garros was shot down again on October 5, 1918, above the town of Vuzia, in the Ardennes. He died less than a month before the end of the war.

Although one of the world's biggest tennis tournaments was named after him, Roland Garros has never played a single competitive match in his life!

He played tennis recreationally during his student days, he pointed out that it was a very exciting sport, but he was actually a champion in another discipline - Roland Garros became the French cycling champion in 1906.

How, then, did such a significant tennis event bear his name?

This tennis tournament has a very long tradition and has been played at the state level since 1891. The matches were held on the grass at one of the two stadiums in Paris - at the Stade de France and the RCF.

In 1925, the tournament became international, and for the needs of the Davis Cup in 1928, the leaders of the Stade de France ceded to the tennis federation three hectares of land to build a court.

They had only one condition - that the new stadium and tournament be called Roland Garros.