How do you pronounce Roland-Garros?
Facts checked November 2, 2026 by the French Open Insider editorial team
Short answer
Say it roh-LAHN gah-ROHSS. The French pronunciation, written in IPA, is ʁɔlɑ̃ ɡaʁos: the n in Roland is nasal and the d is silent, the final s of Garros is spoken, and a light stress falls at the end. Both r sounds are the French r, made at the back of the throat.
How do you say Roland-Garros, syllable by syllable?
The French pronunciation is [ʁɔlɑ̃ ɡaʁos], four syllables. The respelling below is a reading aid built from that IPA, not a perfect match for every French accent. The capitals mark the light stress French puts at the end of a word.
| Syllable | IPA | Say it like | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ro | ʁɔ | roh | The French r, made at the back of the throat |
| land | lɑ̃ | LAHN | A nasal vowel: the n is not fully sounded and there is no d |
| Ga | ɡa | gah | A hard g, as in "go" |
| rros | ʁos | ROHSS | The throat r again, and a clear s at the end |
Is the s in Garros pronounced?
Yes. The IPA ends in [os], so Garros ends with an s sound, close to the end of the English word "dose". The letter that goes quiet is the d at the end of Roland: the IPA has no d sound at all.
Those are the two places where English spelling habits mislead: a final d that French drops, and a final s that French keeps.
Why is there a hyphen in Roland-Garros?
French typography joins with a hyphen the names of public bodies, buildings and monuments that carry a person's name. The standard examples are "lycée Henri-IV" and "stade Roland-Garros".
So the stadium and the tournament are Roland-Garros, with a hyphen, and the man is Roland Garros, with none. The tournament's French website writes the aviator's name without the hyphen. You see the same hyphen in Court Philippe-Chatrier and Court Suzanne-Lenglen.
How do you spell Roland-Garros?
One l in Roland; a double r and a single s in Garros. Two misspellings turn up often in searches: "Rolland", with a double l, and "Garos", with a single r.
- The tournament and the stadium: Roland-Garros (with a hyphen).
- The aviator they are named after: Roland Garros (no hyphen).
- Not correct: Rolland Garros, Roland Garos, Rolland Garos.
Where will you hear the name said?
The tournament uses Roland-Garros as its name in all languages, so it is the name of its website, rolandgarros.com, and of the stadium itself, the Stade Roland-Garros at 2 avenue Gordon-Bennett, 75016 Paris.
To hear native speakers say it, watch the French coverage: in France, France Télévisions shows daytime matches free-to-air and Prime Video has the evening match on the first 11 days, under a deal that runs until 2027. French commentators say it the way the IPA above shows. Why a tennis stadium carries an aviator's name is told in why the French Open is called Roland-Garros.
People also ask
How do the French pronounce Roland Garros?
As roh-LAHN gah-ROHSS: a throat r at the start of both words, a nasal vowel with no d at the end of Roland, and a clear s at the end of Garros. The IPA is ʁɔlɑ̃ ɡaʁos.
What does Roland-Garros mean?
It is a person's name, not a French phrase. Roland Garros was a French aviator who made the first flight across the Mediterranean in 1913 and was killed in 1918. The stadium was named after him in 1928.
Is it Roland Garros or Roland-Garros?
Both, for different things. The man is Roland Garros, without a hyphen. The stadium and the tournament are Roland-Garros, with a hyphen, following the French rule for buildings named after a person.