Yann Master had warned. His wishes to the Royan Tennis community, Thursday January 9, would hold “a big surprise”. The Garden Tennis manager did not exaggerate. “The confirmation is recent since it dates from last week: the Garden Tennis will host, in June, a professional tournament, a first since the ATP tournaments organized in 1979, 1980 and 1981.”
At this stage, Yann Maître himself still does not know what category of tournament the French Tennis Federation (FFT) plans to entrust to Garden Tennis. The request from this organization comes in any case directly from the FFT. After 32 editions, the Bourg-en-Bresse tennis Grand Prix (Ain), contested on clay at the end of June, will not take place in 2025, the organizers of this tournament registered on the ITF circuit have just made it announcement. Another date which disappears this year from the French calendar of professional clay court tournaments, the Blois Internationaux, forced in 2024, for their 22nd edition, to take refuge in the shelter and on hard courts due to the rain. This tournament was part of the Challenger Tour, the secondary circuit of the ATP.
Two tournaments stop
In the coming weeks, a delegation from the FFT will come to Garden Tennis to review a site that the federal authorities obviously know and recognize. The Garden has long hosted the French stage of the Copa del Sol, the European championship for men aged 14 and under. If Blois prides itself on being “the little Roland-Garros of Loir-et-Cher”, by the quality of its infrastructure, its clay courts and especially its location on the immediate edge of the mouth of the Gironde estuary , Garden Tennis has often been compared to a “little Monte-Carlo”.
“We will have to accommodate 70 people, between the 32 players involved and their staff”
Once the euphoria of the announcement of a professional tournament has passed, Yann Maître is already thinking about organizing an event of this magnitude. “For an ATP 50, the allocation is around 46,000 euros. We will also have to accommodate 70 people, between the 32 players involved and their staff (1), which will represent around 400 nights, ideally in the same place, even if it will be difficult at this time of year in a tourist region like ours. We will also have to plan for around 2,000 meals. » Gargantuan figures and a budget to match, which Yann Maître has not yet refined.
-A budget to gather
The mayor of Royan, Patrick Marengo, obviously in the know, announced Thursday January 9 that “the City will provide aid of 20,000 euros” to host this tournament. In addition, certainly, to logistical support. “The French Tennis Federation will also support us financially and will also take charge of the tournament supervisor and referees, but we will have to find private partners to support us. »
The next few months promise to be busy for the manager of Garden Tennis, which the expected professionals will still find under construction. Work on the site’s new restaurant will begin in the coming weeks and may not be completed by the time of the professional tournament.
(1) Challenger ATP tournaments like those of the ITF circuit provide full accommodation coverage by the tournament organization.
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