This week, the national technical director Nicolas Escudé and part of the staff of the French Tennis Federation (FFT) went to Tarbes, to attend the Petits As, the unofficial World Cup for the under-14s. Before going down to Bigorre, the former 17th player in the world, 2001 Davis Cup winnertook stock with “20 Minutes” on the lackluster situation of the high level tricolor and on the work carried out to change the situation.
What is your assessment of the Australian Open, with Caroline Garcia eliminated in the round of 16 and Ugo Humbert and Benjamin Bonzi out in the third round?
I was inevitably disappointed, certainly not as much as her, to see Caro stop so quickly, compared to the status which is hers today. It is his ambition this year to seek a Major. There are three opportunities left. If it can be done at Roland-Garros, we will be all the happier. On the boys’ side, there were no good surprises unfortunately, when you look at the rankings of each other.
Do you agree with the statements of Richard Gasquet, French No. 1 before Melbourne: “It is not possible to leave a country like France at this level. In my time, the 42nd in the world was 6th or 7th French…”?
I more than agree. There is certainly a turnover with the generation of Richard, since Jo (Tsonga) and Gilles (Simon) stopped last year. Gaël (Monfils) has been absent since the second half of last season. The new generation has a little trouble taking over. Will it be as strong as the previous one? We can doubt it when we see the presence of these four boys in the top 10 for many years.
But they can be ranked much higher and they work for. We must not forget that Bonzi or Rinderknech mainly emerged last year. We must give them a little more time. That said, French tennis, especially men’s, is out of place and must be represented at the highest level.
You are talking about the intermediate generation, that of the Bonzi, Rinderknech or Halys. What about the one after, with the four junior Roland-Garros semi-finalists in 2021 (Van Assche, Fils, Cuenin, Mpetshi Perricard) and Debru?
Some are not yet of age, or just barely. This generation is progressing very well. When we see the last season of Luca Van Assche who did not finish far from the Top 100 or the progress of Arthur Fils, who has just won his first Challenger tournament… Without putting more pressure on them than necessary – they put it enough on their own – we will be more than vigilant to ensure that they reach the highest level.
To come back to the transitional generation, not so long ago Lucas Pouille was 10th in the world, Ugo Humbert not far from the Top 20. They experienced small physical glitches, a crisis of confidence… Ugo Humbert is coming back when we look at his career in Melbourne. We have representatives, certainly not in the top 10. But in the Top 150, we are among the best nations. We will have to go even higher.
After the last Roland-Garros, you were talking about “shake the coconut tree”. What has been done, particularly in the supervision of young people?
Everyone had to become aware of where French tennis stands, of the efforts that we all have to make. Not only the management but also the players. It may take time, like for the generation that reached the last four of Roland-Garros junior in 2021. We would like it to climb as fast as an Alcaraz or a Rune, but we know that it is not so easy.
When we look at the measures announced, we find many that concern 14 years of age or less. Is it at this age that everything is played?
Yes. The observation was made of a huge deficit in terms of the number of kids and girls, but also in terms of the level of play. We have to go back to basics. This is what was started a little over a year ago and is beginning to bear fruit. But we also know that training a player takes more than 10 years. Emphasis has been placed on the bottom of the pyramid, without leaving aside the top. Even if we have less control, if at all, on what is played at the highest level.
In this context, what do you expect from Ivan Ljubicic, appointed director of the “Ambition 2024” mission ?
It is just beginning, since January 16. We are waiting for him to bring us his eye. He will have to tame the whole ecosystem. This is why he went to Les Petits As, before going to see a league, then a club, to understand how things work in terms of training. He will be able to tell us what he thinks about it and also help us on something for which we have been criticized a lot: the transition between the cadets-juniors and the pro circuit.
The FFT also hired him for his “gnaque”. It may be a cliché, but it is often said that the French, especially young people, lack it.
That may be true, but don’t hide your face either. We are in a beautiful country, within a Federation which has the means with a tournament like Roland-Garros. The whole ecosystem lives thanks to this tournament. Ambition cannot be decided. A trainer will certainly be able to accompany, make progress, but it is the player who knows where he or she wants to go, who will give himself the means.
Mathilde Ngijol (15) won the Petits As 2021. She trained in France, then went to Spain. Is this symbolic of the vagueness that can reign among young people?
One may find at times that the grass is greener elsewhere. This is what Mathilde may have thought when she left for Spain. She returned to France and will again be trained at the Federation in Paris. But it is not because we have the means that it is a guarantee of success. It’s up to us to make the right choices and also sometimes be a little more rigorous. Because from the outside, a good number of players, kids, girls, managers and parents have been able to take the Federation like a bank. That’s not how it happens.
The door is wide open, in one direction but also in the other. If at some point, we feel that it’s not good enough at the Federation, no problem, you can look elsewhere, in an academy or in a structure that you have set up. It’s up to us to structure things in order to demonstrate that in addition to being right, we get results.
This can go through the regional hubs, which you wanted to relaunch…
Two years ago, there were only two poles left. In Poitiers, there were only six players and no more at all from the national pole at the women’s level, if not the National Training Center (CNE). We had to restart the machine. We come back to the fact of working at the base, “re-densifying”, in order to be able to fill our national poles and above all bring together the best. This is what has sinned in the past with the idea that tennis was an individual sport, where you worked in your corner with your own coach from an early age. Many of our young people have suffered from this isolation, hence the fact of being able to bring them together.
What can your role be to revive certain players, like Lucas Pouille, but also Hugo Gaston who had a complicated season?
They are adults and vaccinated. They are the ones who decide. We still find ourselves today at the head of the national technical direction with a Pauline Parmentier at the female level, a Paul-Henri Mathieu at the male level, a DTN who was a former player. We have skills in our coaches and a great tool at the National Training Centre. We have something to help and support. Afterwards, the player wants it or not.
Is the Federation sensitive to the mental aspect of sport?
At the top level, everyone is aware of the investment and the work to be done. On the other hand, how do you handle a break point or a match point? These are crucial things. I felt that we had fallen far behind in France in this area.
That’s why when I arrived, I went up a department in mental and psychological dimension, headed by Francisca Dauzet and Mélanie Maillard. It’s something you work on, like you train physically and technically. It’s still hard to get in, not just in the minds of the players, but also in the minds of the coaches. We don’t say that you have to do mental preparation on 12-year-old kids. At this age, we don’t talk about mental preparation but about understanding certain things. It’s a different job.