It was the second largest court for spectators at the French Open for many years until Court Suzanne Lenglen moved it to the third position in the 90's. It's often called the Bullring by tennis fans, connoisseurs and players. It's a unique court, a circular stadium with close quarter seating and the names of all of the French Open champions ringing the outside of it. It is also my favorite tennis court in all of the world.
Court One makes a player feel like they are hitting the ball bigger than normal, due to its unique acoustics. For an outdoor court it sounds unusually like an indoor court, with the ball reverberating loudly to the players ears. For as large as the playing surface is on the Roland Garros Center Court, now called Court Philippe Chatrier, Court One's playing surface is intimate and enclosed with the fans sitting almost on top of you. If you're a fan, there's not a bad seat in the house.
I played a lot of matches on Court One and a few of them really stand out. The first one, a third-round match vs. Andre Agassi in 1989, lasted two days due to a late start on Day 1. I was up two sets to one and on the brink of my first second-week appearance in a major when play was halted. We came back the next day and I won the fourth set to take the match. I am pretty sure Andre was ready to get out of there and let me win the fourth, but all I cared about was getting through it, which I did. It was the biggest win of my career at that point (I was 18 years old) and it really put me on the tennis map. I remember getting a couple of calls in my hotel room that night from well-known U.S. tennis writers to comment on the match and Andre, who was already a superstar the media loved and hated.
For the rest of Jim Courier's thoughts on Court One, go to ChampionsSeriesTennis.com.