In 1930 the "Association Française des Professeurs de Tennis (AFPT)" held its first pro tournament, titled "Championnat International de France Professionnel" (French Pro Championships) June 18–22, 1930, and is considered as a part of the professional grand slam from 1927 to 1967 till the advent of Open Era. The tournament only had a men's draw.
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From 1930 the French Pro Championship were always played at Paris, on outdoor clay at Roland Garros except from 1963 to 1967 where it was held at Stade Pierre de Coubertin on indoor wood. Ken Rosewall holds the record for 8 wins overall and 7 consecutive wins.
There was a tournament played on indoor cement in 1953 at the Palais des Sports. It is listed in the table below, but there is no suggestion that it was seen as a French Pro.
Champions
Notes:
a In History of the Pro Tennis Wars, by Ray Bowers, Bowers gives a very detailed account of the first twenty years of the professional tennis tours, from a modest beginning in 1926 with Suzanne Lenglen and Vincent Richards as the main attractions, on through 1945, there is no mention of a French Pro tournament in 1933. The only professional competition played that year at Roland Garros was a USA-France meeting, September 22–24, in the Davis Cup format won by the USA 4–1 where Cochet overcame Bruce Barnes, Tilden defeated Plaa and Cochet, Barnes beat Plaa, and Americans then closed out the doubles. Many sources probably wrongly considered the Tilden-Cochet match as a final of a supposed French Pro.
bIn 1953, from Saturday November 21 to Sunday November 22, a 4-man (Sedgman winner, Gonzales runner-up, Segura 3rd and Budge 4th) professional tournament was held in Paris on indoor red cement at the Palais des Sports but there is no mention anywhere that this tournament was a French Pro: in particular in the January 1954 edition of Tennis de France, the French magazine, run by Philippe Chatrier (future president of the ILTF) who made the report of this tournament by interviewing Frank Sedgman, winner of the tournament. Joe McCauley included this tournament in his list of French Pro tournaments but in the precis to his book "History of Professional Tennis" mentions that it may not have been considered at the time as an official French Pro. In January 1950 at the same site Pancho Segura defeated Jack Kramer.
Bristol Cup
Before 1930 some tournaments were sometimes labelled "Professional Championships of France": the Bristol Cup (held from 1920 to 1932), the most important pro tournament in the world in the 1920s, was sometimes referred as the French Pro as well as the World Pro tournament held at Deauville in 1925. Therefore, two different tournaments were both considered as French Pro Championships in 1925 (World Pro at Deauville and Bristol Cup at Cannes) and from 1930 to 1932 (Roland Garros and Bristol Cup at Beaulieu).