Gauthier Delomez
modified to
3:25 p.m., November 5, 2023
Guest on Sunday morning on the Europe 1 weekend, Henri Leconte, former French player and contender for the captaincy of the French Davis Cup team, talks about the health of French tennis, far from living its finest hours. “I think we neglected the high level a little at certain times,” he explains at Lénaïg Monier’s microphone.
After Roland-Garros, French tennis was unable to raise its head at the Masters 1000 at Paris-Bercy. Despite the promises of Arthur Fils, the last French player in the running Ugo Humbert did not go further than the second round, losing to the German Alexander Zverev at the end of the suspense. A downward slope for French tennis that Henri Leconte, guest ofEurope 1 Morning Weekend this Sunday, explained by several reasons.
According to him first, the authorities “a little neglected the high level at certain moments. We took more care of Roland-Garros because we were late, there was no roof (on the court Philippe-Chatrier), and now there will be two with the short Suzanne-Lenglen”, recalls the ex-finalist in 1988, stressing that this was “another dimension” for the French Grand Slam .
Humbert “knocks on the door” of the very high level
However, these investments may have taken precedence over player training. “We have somewhat neglected the high level, especially in the clubs,” insists the man who is president of a structure in Levallois-Perret, near Paris. “We find ourselves in a small downward curve, but which will come back anyway because we have young people who are pushing, but who need to have an additional level to enter the best players in the world” and win big titles, analyzes the candidate for captaincy of the French Davis Cup team.
If he highlights the good performance this week of Ugo Humbert, a 25-year-old player from Metz who is “knocking on the door” of the very high level, Henri Leconte recalls that he is still “only in the top 25 players of the world. So, there is still a lot of work, and we must work to put a whole structure in place.” Work carried out by the French Tennis Federation, adds Henri Leconte, who mentions the recruitment of former Croatian champion Ivan Ljubicic. The latter will be able to bring his “experience” to future French players.