There are those who bemoan the fact that modern tennis is dominated by seven foot beanpoles with huge racquets and 200mph serves.

Today's players would probably make mincemeat of their forebears.

But that does not stop people hankering after the old days when tennis players had flair, and also wore very tight fitting shorts.

Men like Henri Leconte - an entertainer who used guile instead of brute force.

Well, as it happens, they're right here at Roland Garros.

Visitors to the French Open are getting the best of both worlds, as for the fourth year running, the stars of today are joined by legends from the past.

The Legends Trophy features the likes of Leconte, John McEnroe, Guy Forget, Stan Smith, John Newcombe and Ilie Nastase.

But character they have in abundance, and now they have free rein to enjoy themselves and entertain the crowd.

Not that the likes of Leconte and Nastase did anything other than that throughout their careers.

Played from the Monday to the Friday of the second week, the Legends Trophy is a doubles tournament with the players split into under-45 and over-45 categories.

The under-45 competition has two groups of three teams playing in a round robin format with the group winners going through to the final on Thursday 7 June.

The dream team in the under-45 competition is undoubtedly McEnroe and Leconte, winners in 1999.

The only doubt is whether McEnroe can patiently keep a lid on his temper while Leconte gets up to his usual antics.

In the over-45s, Manuel Santana and Stan Smith are the reigning champions, but John Newcombe partnered by Fred Stolle will be looking to get his hands back on the title he won in 1998 and 1999.

Let's just hope for McEnroe's sake that they do not all take it too seriously.