I’m very excited about watching the Australian Open this year! Every Grand Slam is special. I anxiously wait for each Grand Slam every year. Players say the Australian Open is the friendliest slam, Wimbledon the classiest, the French the most rigorous, and the US Open the most fun. This may all be true. I think those qualities all shine through to the average fan. However, if I was to pick a favorite, it would have to be the French Open. It’s always the most interesting and exciting slam to watch. Here are my reasons why.

Reason Number 1: Iron man quality.

This is the grand slam where it seems every point is 40 strokes. Everyone looks absolutely spent after each rally. To add insult to injury, many of these matches are marathon affairs, going the full five sets. One of the obvious reasons for this is the slow and heavy tendency of the red clay. Either way, it makes for some very entertaining and physical play throughout.

Reason Number 2: The clay court specialist.

No other surface seems to own the term “Specialist.” You don’t hear about hard court specialists or grass specialists. Clay seems to be the one surface where all of a sudden, a bunch of players that never really do any real damage anywhere else on the calendar go deep into the draw. Some of these guys even win the tournament! Sergi Bruguera and Gaston Gaudio come to mind.

Reason Number 3: It’s in the middle of Spring

You can’t beat tennis in the Spring. I live in Chicago, and after a very long and terrible winter where I’m usually playing inside for six months, one can finally get outside and hit some tennis balls. Watching the French Open always inspires me to get out there and play with inspiration. Sometimes I even look for some clay courts so I can do my best iron man clay court specialist impression.

Reason Number 4: I love the French people.

The crowd is great, they always have cool little segments about food and culture, and it’s fun to see camera shots of Paris in the Spring. One of my favorite moments at the French was also listening to Serena Williams give her victory speech in French. Who doesn’t love that? Here’s a clip of that moment.

Reason Number 5: Big servers tend to lose.

You’ll never see a big server do well at the French Open. Even tennis greats like Pete Sampras would routinely lose in the first week. In sum, you cannot hit your way into the second week in Paris. You have to come prepared to play 40 shot rallies on every point. This means you get your money’s worth on every match!