The Roland Garros tennis tournament may only lasts for 15 days, but in the hearts of the public, the emotions last longer.

Children at the Central Court

Paradoxically, forgetting was the mission of the day at Roland Garros, organised for 12 children from L’Aquila, Italy. They were invited to get distracted, to trying forgetting the earthquake that devastated their hometown on April 6th .

On May 26th, these children of clients and employees of BNL (BNP Paribas’ subsidiary in Italy) spent a VIP day at the courts of one of the most prestigious international tennis tournaments.

Thanks to the FFT (the French Tennis Federation), the children enjoyed special treatment throughout the day. They were escorted in official Roland Garros vehicles to the courts, where they were seated at the BNP Paribas loge. From there, they could not only watch the matches of the Central Court, but they also had access to the players loge, where they could get a close look at their favourite tennis players.

Some of the players, such as Sara ERRANI, Simone BOLLELI, Gilles SIMON, Novak DJOKOVIC and Dinara SAFINA took the time to talk with the children, take pictures with them and give autographs. The children had so much fun and this unique opportunity to meet world’s top tennis players will remain an unforgettable experience that they will take back home with them in Italy.

Stay connected to watch the videos of this event, in a couple of days on the blog…

The Children with Novak Djokovic

The children with Dinara Safina