Every year since 1980, the French Tennis Federation invites an artist to design the official poster of the Roland Garros tournament. This time, that honor went to young Frenchman Maxime Verdier, who produced the 44th such image of the event.
With an almost poetic air and titled land of stars (Land of the Stars), the poster is the first to be drawn entirely in colored pencil, further enhancing its soft, dreamlike aura.
The artist, through this work, wanted to represent the scope and position of the tournament by giving pride of place to the new Philippe-Chatrier track, bathed in a halo of light under a night sky dotted with tennis ball stars.
He also wanted to leave a lot of room for the imagination so that all tennis fans could make this poster their own.
“When they asked me to create this poster, a memory came to me. I had a friend at school who played tennis a lot and often watched Roland Garros. I didn’t play tennis, but he shared his passion with me. It was at that moment that I started to get interested, to discover Nadal and Federer. What was wonderful was the dazzling look he had when he talked about those players. That was my first inspiration.”Verdier said.
“When I made this poster I was thinking mainly of the children of the tennis clubs, encouraging them to want to go further in their sport,” he completed his explanation.
