The pyramids of Egypt, the bay of Hong Kong, Grand Central Terminal in New York, the opera house in Birmingham… and now the esplanade of the Palais de Tokyo in Paris! Squash has for many years excelled in promoting its main tournaments, via fascinating spots around the world. For the first time in almost forty years, Paris is rushing into the breach by organizing the French Open, from August 27 to September 2, with the 96 best players in the world gathered on a glass court, with a view for the less fun on the Eiffel Tower. This will be the ninth Platinum tournament on the professional squash circuit (PSA World Tour), the equivalent of the Grand Slam in tennis. If matches of the first and second rounds will also be played, Sunday and Monday, at the Tennis court, at the Squash club Montmartre and at the Stade Français (free entry), the immense curiosity of this Paris Squash 2023 will therefore come from this exquisite setting on the esplanade of the Palais de Tokyo.
“We really made it a point of honor to find where to install this glass court so that it looks impressive, smiles Camille Serme, the ambassador of this tournament. We wanted to have the Eiffel Tower behind it to be incredible. ” Former world number 2 and winner of four Platinum tournaments during her career, she continues: “This project came from a frustration: I found it so unfortunate that we did not have a prestigious tournament in Paris. This sport takes us to incredible places. For example, I was able to play on the Bund in Shanghai or in front of dolphins in the Cayman Islands, so I wanted a spot as iconic as those in Paris. »
“There was an incredible boom in squash in the 1980s”
All that remains is to convince the players during the six days of the competition and to set up this major meeting in time. In the absence of dolphins in the Seine, the setting, the 65,000 euros in prize money, the budget of 1.4 million euros for this first edition, as well as the express filling (the 750 seats in the stands have all found takers for two months for the quarters, halves and finals), are good signals in this direction.
Squash is losing momentum in France and we said to ourselves that a tournament of this kind was missing in order to make an impression, explains Philippe Signoret, former coach of Camille Serme and director of the tournament. We thought more of the Trocadero at the start to be able to double the number of spectators but that was not possible this year. At the time of the Internationals of France Guy Laroche, Jacques Chirac came every year to present the trophy as mayor of Paris, that meant something. There was an incredible boom in squash in the 1980s, comparable to padel today, and losing the organization of a major tournament hurt us.
Almost two years after an idea launched by Eric Nizard, an enthusiast of the discipline and now president of the Paris Squash Project association, this lack is therefore officially filled this summer. The event will even be broadcast on Sport in France, then for free on L’Equipe live (site and app of The Team), for the quarters, semis and finals. If there are around 200,000 practitioners in France today, the current French number 1 (world number 20) Mélissa Alves is aware that such an appointment, at the level of other Platiniums, can seriously boost the discipline.
“We can’t do more than that to promote discipline”
“Now that all these tournaments are broadcast on Squash TV, it’s obviously an additional motivation for all young people to play one day in places as legendary as San Francisco Bay or near the pyramids,” she says. As a French squash player, I can’t dream of anything better than to finally play such a tournament at home. We can’t do more than that to highlight the discipline in France, and no longer be seen as a leisure sport that we practice quickly like that. »
Same story with his compatriot Victor Crouin (24), currently world number 8, and who will therefore arrive with great ambitions on Sunday, after having reached the final of a Platinium in Qatar this season: “Camille Serme, Thierry Lincou and Grégory Gaultier had a huge impact on our generation, they made us dream. There, this Paris Squash 2023 can put stars in the eyes of young French people. I’m very excited to play there, with a view of the Eiffel Tower. This is the tournament where I will want to shine, as is the case for French tennis players at Roland-Garros. » The successes and more? For access to the second week, it should in any case do, with this start of the tournament scheduled for Sunday.
On a palace rooftop in Shanghai
But how much do all these dantesque spots around the world, especially on the Gold and Platinum circuits, amaze professional squashers, to the point of transcending them? Mélissa Alves (29 years old) has great memories of glass courts: “There are really barred places: in Shanghai, I happened to play on a rooftop, in the suite of a palace, it was completely crazy ! The advantage is that you can install a glass court almost anywhere in twenty-four hours, so the possibilities are limitless”.
Victor Crouin, who holds a degree in economics from Harvard, agrees: “That’s why some tournaments take place in shopping malls. It’s a good idea to introduce our sport to non-connoisseurs. Nantes also had the great idea of changing the venue for its Bronze tournament each year, combining sport and culture. There, Paris has so many magical places where the court could be set up that we can’t wait to see how this tournament will last there”.
The “political decision” not to retain squash at the Paris Olympics
And this in order to fill a huge regret for all French squash players, that of not being scheduled for the Paris Olympics in 2024. “We are the Olympic champions of the short-list”, quips Philippe Signoret. Squash has indeed been systematically docked since it submitted its candidacy for the Beijing Olympics in 2008. “After our presentation for the Paris Olympics, we believed in it, so it was a pretty hard slap,” recalls Camille Serme, who was applying for her lifelong sport to the Organizing Committee for the 2024 Olympic Games. Mélissa Alves is still perplexed by this choice dating back to February 2019.
Everything is now in place: you can find incredible spots, it’s become much more telegenic than ten years ago, and it’s a guaranteed show. I don’t understand what we missed in relation to breakdance for the Paris Olympics. Our best chance now is Los Angeles 2028 because the United States is investing heavily in squash.
Victor Crouin was part of the delegation alongside Camille Serme: “We met all the criteria, but in the end, it was a political decision”. Before putting things into perspective, four and a half years after this disillusion: “Somewhere, we live well from squash and our sport is perhaps doing better than certain disciplines which have been Olympic for a long time, and in which we can only shine once every four years “. This regret will be particularly mitigated from Sunday, when he will enter for the first time on this glass court of the esplanade of the Palais de Tokyo.