As we wait for the final between #Djokovic and #Nadal, I looked up Roland Garros.

I had always assumed he was a tennis player, perhaps one of the three musketeers alongside Lacoste. Wrong.
Much more interesting.

1/

Eugène Adrien Roland Georges Garros was born in Réunion (east of Madagascar) in 1888, and studied at HEC in Paris.

He contracted pneumonia at 12, and was sent to near the sea (Cannes) to recover. He became very good at sports (yes, including tennis).

2/

At 21 he became a car dealer in Paris. He was the 1st owner of a Garros Bugatti Type 18.

But his real love was the sky. He started flying monoplanes and entered many air races. He set altitude records. He made the 1st non-stop flight across the Mediterranean Sea.

3/

Then WW1. He joined the air force & became a fighter ace. Legend says Garros was involved in the "first air battle in world history" (not true but still we like it). He invented a mechanism for mounting a forward-firing machine gun on aircraft (and got a prize for that).

4/

In 1915 his aircraft was shot & he was taken prisoner by the Germans. He escaped & went back to his plane. He won more air battles.

But one day before his 30th birthday he was shot down again & this time killed, near the Ardennes.

Now you know. Enjoy the match!

5/5 Ciao