Roland-Garros: The Belgian Secret Behind the French Open’s Clay
When television cameras pan across the iconic red courts of Roland-Garros during the French Open, viewers around the world are captivated by that unmistakable shade of clay. But few realize that the very surface the world’s best tennis players compete on has a distinctly Belgian origin. Since 2024, a family-owned company based in Niel, near Antwerp, has been supplying the crushed brick that gives the Parisian tournament its signature look.
A Century-Old Family Tradition
The story begins not in Paris, but in Kontich, Belgium, where Gustaaf Tahon built his first clay tennis court in 1904. That court is still in use today, and its owners remain customers of the company that grew from that single project. Now called Tennis-Brick, the business has been perfecting the art of crushed brick tennis surfaces for over 120 years.
Alexander Van de Mosselaer, the current director, took over the company in 1993, learning the trade from André Tahon, the founder’s grandson. “One brick is not like another, so you have to know the trade well,” Van de Mosselaer told RTBF. “It’s a bit like cooking.”
From French Brick to Parisian Clay
The process is surprisingly intricate. Raw materials — second-choice French bricks that are cracked or over-fired — arrive at Tennis-Brick’s facility from Briqueteries du Nord (BdN) in Templeuve-en-Pévèle, near Lille. There, they are crushed, ground multiple times, and meticulously sieved to produce the fine red powder that becomes the top layer of a clay court.
“It’s a very meticulous, very precise grinding and sieving process,” Van de Mosselaer explains. The company ships approximately 1,500 tonnes of material per year from BdN alone.
According to Briqueteries du Nord, the company has been repurposing its production waste for tennis courts for more than 30 years. “For more than 30 years, we have been reusing our production waste by contributing to the design of tennis courts,” the company states.
The Science Behind the Surface
A Roland-Garros court is far more than just a layer of red dust. The construction involves multiple engineered layers: a drainage foundation, crushed stones, clinker (mâchefer), crushed limestone (cran), and finally a 2-3 millimeter layer of fine crushed brick that forms the playing surface. This top layer also serves as a hydrating mulch, keeping the court moist during play.
The distinctive red-brown color of Roland-Garros is unique to the tournament. Unlike the clay courts of Monte-Carlo or Madrid, the Parisian shade is so distinctive that tournament cameras are specially calibrated to reproduce it accurately on broadcast. The color comes directly from the firing process of the French bricks — the local clay near Templeuve is naturally grey, but firing transforms it into that iconic red.
A Niche Within a Niche
Despite the global prestige of supplying Roland-Garros, the tournament accounts for only about 1% of Tennis-Brick’s total production. “The Roland-Garros clay is a niche product, barely 1% of production,” Van de Mosselaer notes. The company’s real market is closer to home: nearly all tennis courts in Belgium source their clay from Tennis-Brick, and approximately 30% of clay used on French courts comes from this Belgian supplier.
A Personal Connection
This year, Van de Mosselaer and his wife made the trip to Paris and took their seats in the Philippe-Chatrier court stands to see “their” clay in action. “You entered the stadium, what did your eyes go to? More on the clay than on the players,” he recalls with a smile. “I’m obsessed with the specific color. You see all the crushed brick here, but once it’s there, when you see the size of the court, it still gets you.”
What This Tells Us
The story of Tennis-Brick and Roland-Garros is a remarkable example of European industrial cooperation — French raw materials transformed by Belgian expertise into a world-class product. It also highlights the sustainability of the process: what would otherwise be discarded as production waste becomes the foundation for one of sport’s most iconic stages.
For a small, family-owned company that has been quietly perfecting its craft for more than a century, supplying the French Open is a point of pride — even if most spectators have no idea that the clay beneath their favorite players’ feet has a little taste of Belgium.
This article was compiled from reporting by RTBF, Briqueteries du Nord, and Tennis-Brick.