PARIS — Roland Garros is the smallest of the four Grand Slam tennis venues, packed into a narrow wedge of parkland. Its 17 courts are fixed rectangular slabs, like the bricks that are crushed into dust to cover their surface.
But unlike the grass at Wimbledon and the hardcourts in Melbourne, Australia, and Flushing Meadows, Queens, the dust at Roland Garros moves. With every gust of wind, bits of the court lift into the air and spread the terre battue beyond its intended confines, looking like a faint coat of rust.
