Will Roland-Garros be the scene of fierce battles both on the courts and behind the scenes? While waiting to verify it, the Porte d’Auteuil tournament (from May 26 to June 9) could well experience a tense edition internally, according to the signals sent by the French Tennis Federation (FFT). Its president, Gilles Moretton – elected in February 2021 – appears more and more as the only master on board of a body which currently no longer has either general director or national technical director (DTN), and whose governance is severely questioned.
In this context, around a hundred “anonymous tennis volunteers” decided to rely on the Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, by sending him an open letter on Monday February 26. The Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, who was general director of the Federation (from March 2021 to May 2022) before entering the government, cannot in fact exercise supervision over the FFT, placed under the authority of Matignon.
Fearing a witch hunt, these 104 employees, ex-employees, leaders of clubs, departmental committees and regional leagues, but also former players, preferred not to reveal their identities: “We are all scared to death of being summoned,” said one of them.
“Quasi-immunity status”
In this letter written on February 24 and of which The world had a copy, they are alarmed at “social chaos” ambient, “affecting the physical and mental health of many [des] salaried employees » of the FFT. According to them, since the accession to the presidency of Gilles Moretton, their Federation (of more than a million members) “is no longer controlled internally, despite the existence of statutory mechanisms” – Superior Tennis Council and ethics committee, in particular.
If they note that the government of Elisabeth Borne and the ministry of sports did not hesitate to ” bring order “ to the French Football Federation or the French Rugby Federation, they deplore that “the case of the French Tennis Federation, although at least largely comparable on many points in terms of duration and facts, was not at all taken into consideration by your predecessor (…), they write, calling out to Gabriel Attal. Despite numerous internal and media alerts or ongoing procedures, the FFT and its president appeared to benefit from a singular status of quasi-immunity and protection.
The mailbox of the economic and social committee (CSE) of the FFT, for its part, is overflowing. On January 18, its members received a new letter – mentioned by The Team and also consulted by The world – signed anonymously by a hundred “employees in distress”. A year after the first revelations in the press of widespread social unrest, “the injustices, the lack of recognition, the people crying in the corridors (…), the departures of competent and invested elements for the benefit of cronies with uncertain skills unfortunately remain current”, they lament. The social hemorrhage results, according to their census, in “150 departures out of 400 employees in three years, unheard of”.
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