1946 French Championships (tennis) 1946 French Championships (tennis) The 1946 French Championships (now known as the French Open) was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland-Garros in Paris, France. The tournament ran from 18 July until 27 July. It was the 50th staging of the French Championships and the first one held after a six-year hiatus due to World War II. In 1946 and 1947 the French Championships were held after Wimbledon and were thus the third Grand Slam tennis event of the year. Marcel Bernard and Margaret Osborne won the singles titles. Marcel Bernard defeated
Grand Slam (tennis) have more respect for history, ruled in 1982 that winning any four straight majors constituted a Grand Slam—and offered a $1 million bonus for it [...] But many tennis people, and most writers, and probably most fans, too, did not accept the new rules, and the I.T.F. has dropped the gimmick." Vecsey was only half right: the ITF dropped the "gimmick" of the cash bonus, but it had never changed any rules. However, the ambiguous way the ITF described the Grand Slam in their Constitution led to journalists continuing to make the same assumption as Vecsey over two decades later.