| 2019 French Open |
|---|
| Venue: Roland Garros, Paris Dates: 26 May-9 June |
| Coverage: Live text and radio commentary on selected matches on the BBC Sport website and app. |
All this time we’d been thinking Sue Barker was the last British woman to win the French Open.
Apparently we were wrong.
Because, according to the French Open trophy, Barker is, in fact, Australian.
Ashleigh Barty, who is actually Australian, noticed the error after she was crowned women’s singles champion on Saturday.
She searched for her compatriots on the trophy, looking for Margaret Court, who was the last Australian champion – in 1973.
But next to Barker’s name it reads ‘AUST’ rather than ‘GB’.
Barker, now a BBC presenter, won her only Grand Slam title in 1976, but nobody has fixed the engraving error in the 43 years which have passed.
French Open organisers said on Sunday the mistake would be rectified.
They will also amend the 1977 engraving, with champion Mima Jausovec’s surname spelt Jausevec.
Oops.
