Two distinct centers have been created within the National Technical Directorate of the French Tennis Federation (FFT) to “accelerate” and “strengthen” the journey to the high level and “return to victory”, announced Monday at the AFP the president of the body Gilles Moretton. The first part of this new organization concerns 5-15 year olds who will join the “Pathway to high level” placed under the responsibility of DTN Nicolas Escudé. Then, players aged 16-21 with the ability will be placed in the “High level” group co-led by Paul-Henri Mathieu, already in charge of high level at the FFT, and Ivan Ljubicic, the former coach of Roger Federer .
“The priority is to do the right job from the start so that, behind us, we can inherit players ready for the high level,” explained Gilles Moretton.
“From a very young age, we must instill responsibility in young people and parents, because everyone must be master of their own project. The ambition to become N.1 is a personal ambition, it cannot be the ambition of the Federation. But that must be worked on from a very young age,” he explained.
“It will be educational work, on a daily basis,” insisted Moretton, explaining that then it would be up to Ljubicic to ensure “the transition from junior to senior” by guiding the young hopefuls “in the creation of their structure” .
Finally, Mathieu will support, as he already does, the French teams and the over-20s.
The president cites as an example Arthur Fils, one of the main hopes of French tennis, who, at 19, “understood this system”.
“He has a team around him, he got off to a very, very good start, he has a coach, Laurent Raymond, who does a remarkable job, and since the start of the year Ivan Ljubicic has been very close to him to play his advisory role,” Moretton emphasized.
Already, the president believes he has “several potential world Top 20s” among boys, citing, in addition to Fils (44th at 19 years old), Luca van Assche (69th at 19 years old), Giovanni Mpetshi (221st at 20 years old) or Gabriel Debru (324th at 17 years old). “Beyond that, there is a generation at 5-10 years.”
No French player reached the round of 16 of the men’s Grand Slam table this season, a collective poor performance which had only happened in 2021 and 1978 in recent history. Among the women, Caroline Garcia lost in the round of 16 in Australia, in the third round at Wimbledon, in the second at Roland Garros and in the first at the US Open.
