Wine and Spirits Travel

It was the final day of the Longines Future Tennis Aces tournament and I was ready to see the championship match. I was also more than ready to complete my own personal Grand Slam. Even though the American Adam Neff had lost in the first round, he was excited to be able to watch the match with Longines Rising Tennis Star Ryan Harrison. He also felt better knowing that the player he lost to, Rudolf Molleker of Germany was the winner of the tournament. In addition to Harrison, tennis stars Sabine Lisciki (who would reach the finals of Wimbledon a few weeks later), Arnaud Clement and Fabrizio Santoro gave out prizes and did exhibitions before we left for Roland Garros. I have covered the US Open nearly every year in the past three decades. I have been to Wimbledon and I’ve been to the Australian Open , but I’d never been to the French Open. Roland Garros, the fourth major, had eluded me – until this day. I was finally getting to complete my Grand Slam, at least as

The weather was almost winter-like as we bundled up for a full day of tennis at the Longines Future Tennis Aces tournament in Paris. I was up early for a quick breakfast at the InterContinental Paris Le Grand . We boarded the luxury bus to the Hotel de Ville, where a beautiful red clay tennis court was set up. There was a screen for those who also wanted to keep up with the action at the French Open. Though rain in Paris is not unusual, it was nearly snowing so we went into McDonald’s to warm up with some coffee while we checked our email. It was a McDonald’s like no other I had seen, with a full coffee bar (they even had French macaroons and croissants!) and kiosks you could use to pre-order food. I was quickly reminded that I wasn’t back in Champaign. We headed back to the courts for a while, enjoying the tennis live and on the screen with the marketing group from Longines before walking to Pamela Popo for lunch. The appetizer was scallops so they instead ga