14 Roland Garros was a French pioneer aviator who fought in World War I. He was shot down and died during military operations in 1918. From 2021 to 2025 the ATP Finals took place in Italy, in the city of Turin. TENNIS AROUND THE WORLD Tennis counts for a huge number of events and tournaments all over the world which are generally followed by millions of fans. The Grand Slam tournaments These four tournaments are organised at a fixed time every year and all of them last two weeks. In each tournament, men and women compete in single, double, and mixed double games; in addition, there are events for junior players under 18 and wheelchair tennis games. The Australian Open takes place in Melbourne in mid-January. Games are played on hardcourt made of acrylic resins and silica on top of a concrete base. In one tennis season, the maximum score a player can get is 21,500 points; the record for the highest score belongs to Nolan Djokovic, who gained 16,950 points in 2016. Roland Garros, whose original name was the French Open, is named after the tennis stadium in Paris where it is held . It takes place every year in Paris in the month of May and is the only tournament among the Grand Slam ones which is played on clay courts. ONLINE RESOURCES Badminton Padel borough: quartiere, sobborgo clay: argilla, terra rossa concrete: cemento silica: silice 30 TO PLAY Wimbledon is named after the borough of London where it is played every year from the end of June. It is the only Grand Slam tournament played on grass courts. The US Open takes place in New York, from the last Monday of August. Like in the Australian Open, players compete on hardcourt. ATP tournaments The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) organised its first world tournament, the ATP Tour, in 1990. In 2009 a new structure of the tournament, which is still in use today, was established. The ATP Tour includes Masters 1000, Masters 500, and Masters 250 tournaments; the numbers indicate the maximum points which a player can gain for the world ranking. The final event of the Masters 1000 tournament, called ATP Finals , counts for up to 1,500 points . Players in the ATP tournaments compete on clay courts or hardcourts. The Davis Cup The Davis Cup tournament was devised at the end of the 19th century by four players of the tennis team of Harvard University who wanted to compete against their British colleagues. One of the players, Dwight F. Davis, established the rules of the tournament, whose first game was played in 1900 in the United States. The Davis Cup is now organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF). It is disputed by the best eighteen teams from all over the world competing over one week in November. The location varies every year, but the games are generally all played on hardcourt.