“You are part of the Roland-Garros furniture. » It is with this expression that Olivia Leray, journalist at France Televisions, began a moving tribute addressed to his colleague Nelson Monfort (71 years old), known to be one of the flagship journalists of the French channel, who lived his last at Roland-Garros, Sunday June 9. A last one marked, therefore, by the victory of the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz against the German Alexander Zverev (6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 1-6, 2-6).
“An indelible mark that no referee would get off his chair to check”
“I have always hated this expression because I find it super ugly and derogatory, it means that people see you but that they no longer notice you. We often say that when you’ve been there for ages and we’ve gotten a little bored. But you (Nelson Monfort)No, she continues. You always take the children and grandchildren, you are in the middle of the living room and you talk to them about tennis. You are a story that we listen to as a family”she said, microphone in hand, and to a piano sound that was as moving as it was touching.
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“You are a magnificent piece of furniture, thirty years later, a piece of furniture that still surprises us, that we still admire, that has lots of drawers with things to tell us. […] You promised loyalty, and in a world that just keeps moving, that feels good. At the end of each Roland you always said see you next year, and you kept your word, because the year after that you were there. […] Your imprint here (at Roland Garros) is indelible, you leave a visible trace, undisputed, incontestable, that no referee would get off his chair to check this trace. So yes you are part of Nelson furniture, but often moving makes you cry a lot”she concluded, suggesting that we could find the Franco-American journalist for other events or on other channels in the future.
