1939 French Championships (tennis) 1939 French Championships (tennis) The 1939 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 8 June until 17 June. It was the 44th staging of the French Championships and the last one held before a six-year hiatus due to World War II. It was the second of four Grand Slam tennis events of the year. Don McNeill defeated Bobby Riggs 7–5, 6–0, 6–3 Simonne Mathieu defeated Jadwiga Jędrzejowska 6–3, 8–6 Don McNeill / Charles Harris defeated Jean
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.