Loving Cup

Tennis luxury, including the story behind the Roland Garros men's singles trophy.

Also in this issue:

• News from the Cannes Film Festival

• Valentino Sweatshop Accusations

World No. 1 player and three-time Roland Garros champion Novak Djokovic, in his Lacoste gear and holding the tournament’s Mellerio-made trophy.

Roland Garros, the tennis tournament also known as the French Open, begins this week. And there are several luxury connections.

First, there is Lacoste, which is a longtime sponsor. The sportswear and tennis brand was founded by French tennis champion René Lacoste in 1933 to produce a breathable polo shirt he designed and wore on the court. The company’s now-iconic logo is said to have come from Lacoste’s nickname “The Crocodile,” which he earned because he chomped through the competition. The Lacoste brand currently dresses former world No. 1 player and three-time Roland Garros champion Novak Djokovic.

Another luxury brand at the Stade Roland Garros—named, like the tournament, for a French aviation pioneer and World War I fighter pilot—is French Bloom, the non-alcoholic “champagne” that hit the market in 2021, and is now partially owned by LVMH. French Bloom is making its debut at the tournament this year, giving teetotalers at the swish corporate luncheons a bubbly option beyond Perrier, which has been a Roland Garros partner since 1978.

French Bloom non-alcoholic bubbly.

And there is Mellerio, the world’s oldest jeweler, which produces the Coupe des Mousquetaires, the enormous, ornate silver cup presented to the Men’s Singles winner.

Though the rococo trophy looks like it’s been around as long as the tournament, which was founded in 1891 as the Championnat de France, it’s only about forty years old.

For decades, winners received awards that changed in design, size, and style from year to year. Finally, in 1981, Philippe Chatrier, then-President of the French Tennis Federation, decided it was time for an iconic annual trophy for the men’s single’s winner. It would be called the Coupe des Mousquetaires, in honor of 1920s French tennis champions Jacques Brugnon, Jean Borotra, Henri Cochet, and René Lacoste, known as the Musketeers, after French author Alexandre Dumas’s swashbuckling novel The Three Musketeers, because the players dominated the sport, and did so with grace. From 1927 to 1932, the Musketeers led France to six consecutive Davis Cup titles, and collectively won 20 Grand Slam singles titles, plus many doubles and mixed doubles.

Among the houses that submitted designs was Mellerio, a family-owned French jeweler founded in 1631 and headquartered on the rue de la Paix. During its four centuries of business, Mellerio has made jewelry for monarchs and maharajahs—French Queen Consort Marie de’ Medici was its first client, and Marie Antoinette was its most famous. You can find vintage pieces, like this charming 1960s bird brooch and this handsome 1980s 18-Karat gold cuff, as well as shop for beautiful new designs by company president and creative director Laure-Isabelle Mellerio, the 14th-generation family member to run the house.

Mellerio, 9 rue de la Paix, Paris.