Longines Ambassador of Elegance Stefanie Graf and Arantxa Sanchez, patron of the 2016 edition, were on hand for the ceremony for the opening-round draw for the Longines Future Tennis Aces tournament, which the watchmaker has been organizing since 2010. This year, the event brings together 16 young ladies under 13 years of age from 16 different countries – Australia, China, South Korea, Spain, United States, France, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, Singapore and Taiwan – who will compete on an open-air court built on the Parvis de la Défense.
After the final match of the three-day tournament, which takes place from May 26 to 28, the event will wrap up with an exhibition match featuring the two finalists, Arantxa Sanchez and Kim Clijsters. The winner of the Longines Future Tennis Aces tournament will be awarded a Longines watch, a trophy and an annual bursary until her 16th birthday, to help pay for her sporting equipment.
2016 is synonymous with celebrations of many types, as it marks the 10th edition of Roland-Garros since the beginning of the partnership between Longines and the Fédération Française de Tennis (FFT), as well as the 20th anniversary of the final match at Roland-Garros between Arantxa Sanchez and Stefanie Graf, which was won by Graf. To commemorate this occasion, Longines showcased the Suzanne Lenglen Cup during the ceremony, and the two former tennis players got a chance to hoist it one more time and reminisce about their many victories on the legendary clay courts of the Paris tournament.
The evening also represented an opportunity for Stefanie Graf to publicly unveil a recently launched Longines watch, the Conquest Roland Garros, which the Ambassador of Elegance had a hand in developing. This timepiece is intended for female athletes who want a watch that epitomizes dynamism and performance, but does not compromise when it comes to elegance, just like the six-time French Open Champion. Created specifically as a tribute to the prestigious Paris clay-court tournament, this timepiece sports an anthracite dial, and has a touch of orange on the hands, the dial or the applied indices, as a subtle reminder of the clay that is emblematic of the courts at Roland-Garros. The back of the watch features an engraving of the event’s logo.
2016 Longines Future Tennis Aces Tournament Schedule
Thursday May 26 – 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.: Eighth-finals
Friday May 27 – 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.: Quarter-finals, followed by semi-finals
Saturday May 28 – 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon: Tournament final, followed by an exhibition match with Arantxa Sanchez and Kim Clijsters
