There are three of them have won the departmental championships of the Côtes d’Armor this May 3 and 4 weekend. François-Xavier, Lilou and Noah Le Gaouyat, each in their categories, are also available. It must be said that tennis is a family affair.
Most of the day: our exclusive selection
Every day, our editorial staff reserves you the best of the regional info. A selection just for you, to stay in connection with your regions.
France Télévisions uses your email address to send you the newsletter “The essentials of the day: our exclusive selection”. You can unsubscribe at any time via the link at the bottom of this newsletter. Our Privacy Policy
In Brittany, there are no big tennis champions. But we have … a golden family! The father, the daughter and the son succeeded in a pretty group shot this weekend and won the three of the departmental championships of Côtes-d’Armor, in their respective age category.
A performance all the more remarkable as they achieve this tripled for the second consecutive year.
In Perros-Guirrec, in the Gaouyat family, I ask for the father. His name is François-Xavier and is classified 4/6. He won the Easter weekend Son… 19e title of departmental champion of Côtes-d’Armor.
I then ask the girl. Classified 15 to only 14 years old, she is a double champion of Côtes-d’Armor.
I finally ask for the son. His name is Noah, it can’t invent. At 9 years old, he was classified 30/2 and has also just doubled his title of departmental champion, this weekend of May 3-4 in Saint-Quay-Portrieux.
François-Xavier, the father, owes part of this success … to the grandfather. “He was not playing little or led the sports commission at the level of young people in the department. We have always bathed in tennis”.
François-Xavier does not officially teach tennis to young people from the club, but he holds his state certificate of tennis instructor, whom he passed when he was a student in Staps.
-Today manager of a hotel-restaurant in Ploumanach, he trains about twice a week. And never tires of competition.
“I play as a team with the Lannion club, in pre-national, on spring weekends. In summer, I do a lot of individual tournaments on the coast. Before, these are tournaments that I won. Today, young people push me towards the exit”he admits smiling.
Lilou and Noah play almost every day. The teenager will go this summer to do a tournament tour in Normandy. Noah has already been selected for national courses, on the side of Poitiers. His model? Alcaraz.
However, it is another Spaniard, a certain Rafael Nadal, who made the whole family dream for years.
Moreover, the Le Gaouyat have three times chose as a vacation destination for the Nadal Academy, in Mallorca.
“Between travel, equipment, registrations, tennis, it’s a good part of the family budget”recognizes François-Xavier.
We could also talk about other family members. The mother was champion of Brittany 3e series at 22 years old. She had won her ticket for the French championships in Roland-Garros, where she bowed in the first round.
Between Lilou and Noah, Marius, 13 years ago, 4e departmental table tennis. And the youngest, 7 years old, also already teases the little yellow ball.
Which makes a third chance in the Gaouyat family to defeat the Indian sign, and to climb higher than the highest departmental level … and why not, higher than the highest regional level.
