Three days before the election for president of the French Tennis Federation (FFT), the outgoing Gilles Moretton, criticized for his management style and opposed to his former support Germain Roesch, defends his record to the AFP.
“My whole life has been a fight: on a tennis court, in a company…” insists the former 65th player in the world, former director of the Lyon tournament. “To get your ideas across, to advance your sport, you have to put on the heating blue,” argued Mr. Moretton in an interview conducted on Monday.
Elected at the start of 2021 with 61.2% of the votes against the outgoing president of the FFT Bernard Giudicelli, the French tennis boss highlights his economic record at the head of the country's second sports federation, which in 2023 exceeded one million laid off (1.1 million compared to around 950,000 in 2021, just after the pandemic).
“Four years ago, we took a federation which made 92 million (euros) in losses. After four years, we made 33 million in net profit,” he says.
In the event of re-election, the 66-year-old Lyonnais is banking on continuity in the strategic positions of the FFT, after a first mandate marked by numerous departures of employees, voluntary or not, and the succession of three people in four years to the position of director general (Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, Caroline Flaissier and Stéphane Morel).
“There will be a DTN” (national technical director) to succeed Nicolas Escudé, whose departure was made official at the end of July. “But behind it, the teams in place are doing a remarkable job,” he judged.
Faced with an adversary who has put the clubs at the center of his project and criticizes Mr. Moretton for having little understanding of their reality, the person concerned presents himself as “a field president rather than a salon president”.
“No president before me has visited so many clubs,” he maintains, saying he is “surprised” by the candidacy of Germain Roesch, who supported him in 2021.
– “Let's be patient” –
“When you have someone at your side for three and a half years, who votes for all of the measures except two and who behind it, all at once, discovers lots of things (…) it's not seriously,” says Mr. Moretton.
But “the objective for me is to talk about tennis, because I realize that we have slipped, overwhelmed on a certain number” of other subjects, he continues.
Asked about his results, the outgoing president cites the increase in financial aid allocated to clubs or the increase in federal staff dedicated to sports such as padel or beach tennis.
“We have developed women's tennis”, by creating competitions adapted to the level of each player, he is still pleased, even if he regrets that the percentage of women among the licensees only amounts to 30% .
In terms of high level, after failing this summer to reach the quarter-finals of the Olympic tournament in singles and doubles, for the first time since 1996, “we can hope for a medal in singles” at the Los Angeles Games in 2028.
“We have a good generation, we have 13 players in the top 100” in the world for men, argues the candidate. “For the girls, we have to catch up, I think Clara (Burel) and Diane (Parry) have the potential to be in the top twenty.
“Let's be patient, let's not get carried away when they (the French players, Editor's note) have won a match and let's not destroy them when they lose,” asks the president of the FFT.
Among the projects for a possible new four-year mandate (2025-2028), Gilles Moretton wants to increase the loyalty of young people under 10 by improving “the quality of education”.
Another project, “we must allow young people with disabilities to play tennis.”
In current French paratennis, “we have players who have been victims of an accident in life and who play tennis. But we have not yet approached young people with disabilities at birth”, he explains. -he.
“My philosophy is tennis everywhere and for everyone, it is to allow as many people as possible to play tennis,” concludes the candidate.
dga/bdu
