If the main draw of the Rolex Paris Masters begins this Monday in Bercy, it has already been two days since tennis took possession of the premises, on the occasion of the traditional qualifying weekend. And this year, the organizers decided to broadcast these qualifiers live on Twitch with a certain Gilles Simon on the comments. On this occasion, the newly retired agreed to answer questions from 20 Minutes.
First of all, to catch up on the man who played his last official match here, it was in the round of 16 against Félix Auger-Aliassime last year, but also to talk about the need for tennis to dust off its slightly old-fashioned image and to appeal to a younger audience. Often critical of dad-like comments, Gilles Simon wanted to take advantage of this experience, the very first for a Masters 1000, to test new things. He hopes this will make the matches more attractive to the new generation.
It’s been a year almost to the day since you retired, it was right here, in Bercy. How’s it going for you, hasn’t it been complicated? We often talk about a little death at the time of retirement from sport.
No way ! Looking back today, I feel very, very happy and lucky with the way it ended. I regret nothing. When I come back here, to Bercy, where everything ended, I’m delighted not to play (laughs). I’m just happy to come here as an observer, to see my friends again and to see them play, because I love tennis and I watch a lot of it at the stadium or on TV. But otherwise everything is fine, I haven’t had any post-career depression or anything. It was definitely time to stop. I had participated in the documentary on Canal+ on the twilight of champions, and when I looked at the other participants, I realized that not everyone had stopped in the same way.
That’s the hardest part, knowing how to stop at the right time.
Yes, absolutely. I already wondered last season if I hadn’t pushed my career too far. I didn’t want to stop with Covid, yet I already felt that it was complicated physically and mentally. I was afraid of ruining everything, the last year I no longer won a match and I would never have expected to have such good matches at Roland-Garros and at Bercy, it was totally improbable. So that’s where I say I felt lucky, I said to myself “oh damn it’s a miracle that it happened like that” and I didn’t say to myself “ah, my level is coming back, I should continue for one more season. And it’s really lucky that it happened like that, I said to myself “you know what? It’s perfect, presto!, curtain.”
There is one who is postponing the moment of retirement, it is Gaël Monfils, who has found a good level and hopes to achieve a little something at Bercy just to end the year in style. How do you analyze his return to the forefront?
Gaël is very fit, when you see him move, you almost have the impression that he is still 25 years old. Even though physically he still has his ups and downs, there’s always that specter of injuries, but when he comes back and he plays, he runs, he slides eight times in the rally, he really hasn’t lost his level is cool. Unlike Richard (Gasquet) who, for once, has really declined physically and who only really holds up with his tennis which can be very good. When he feels better physically, he can take you out for a very good week, and then he experiences slumps again. While Gaël we have the impression that when he is in a good phase, he can maintain a very good level for several weeks in a row as he did this summer. The time to stop has not yet come for him.
Often devalued, the qualifications are nevertheless an opportunity to see beautiful tennis and nice atmospheres. We particularly remember Lucas Pouille this summer at Roland. What do you think of the idea of broadcasting the Bercy qualifiers on Twitch?
I find it great. Already, it happens on the weekend, so it’s a different audience. Because we must never forget that when the tournament begins, Monday, at 11 a.m., apart from the tennis enthusiast who decides to call off the day to come to Bercy, not everyone can afford to come. It’s an older audience that comes. We often talk about the average age of tennis spectators, which is quite high, but it is also linked to the organization of our sport, its calendar. You play on a Tuesday at 11 a.m., well people are working and the kids are at school. Well, here this year, in Bercy, it’s a little different because it falls during the school holidays, but over the year this problem is real.
Coming back to these qualifications, even though we could say that the level is lower, it is the opportunity to come and see players who are all in the final draw of Roland-Garros, it is very high level. And since it happens on the weekend, you obviously have a younger audience coming. And the fact of broadcasting this on Twitch is also an opportunity to appeal to young people, and it allows us to comment in a slightly different way. And sometimes a little more picky too because the people who are going to watch the Bercy qualifiers are not everyone either.
All of this put together makes it a very interesting experience. Twitch is a medium more suited to the new generation. The people who will watch are in their twenties or thirties, they love tennis and we will therefore be able to talk to them a little more normally, not like traditional commentators. The idea is to comment as if we were among friends in our living room. Well, having dressed anyway (laughs)! Things like “ah damn that forehand is phenomenal!” ”, or “ah, that one, I wouldn’t have played it like that”.
What will be the style of Gilles Simon the commentator? In the past you have criticized the way things were done on TV, on traditional channels.
I never hid it, I never liked the way tennis was presented on TV. I believe that the way in which it was done, in which it was commented, anyone could do it. If it’s just to say “she’s good, she’s bad”, that doesn’t interest me. So I’m going to try to do it differently. I haven’t prepared anything in particular, it’s done by feeling. Afterwards, you’ll like it, it won’t like it, we’ll see. What’s good about Twitch is that we’ll get live feedback from spectators, so we’ll quickly know what they think and we’ll be able to comment on a match in a certain way and change it for the next match if that’s not the case. didn’t rain. I find the initiative interesting and innovative. There is a whole way of presenting tennis in a more modern way and that is what we are trying to do.