“It is our duty to study all possibilities” to “not lose” the Masters 1000 tournament in Paris, declared the president of the French Tennis Federation (FFT), Gilles Moretton, Friday on the sidelines of the draw of the 2023 edition, which begins Monday. Asked about a possible move of the tournament which the FFT owns in 2025, from the east to the west of the capital, from Bercy to Nanterre, mentioned by the newspaper L’Equipe at the beginning of July, he replied: “Our duty, as an FFT, it is to study all the possibilities, to sustain it and above all not to lose it.”
“The question is not the fear of losing him, but of adapting to the standards which are those of the world circuit, which rise from year to year,” he underlined. “He who does not progress, regresses. Today, let’s not forget that many of the Masters 1000s are mixed, with fields of 96 players, compared to 56 players in Paris.
“With Monte-Carlo, we are exceptions to the Masters 1000 circuit, we wish to remain in this category, to stay there we must meet the requirements set by the ATP and which are legitimate,” added the federal leader. “Our only objective, and the stakes are high for French tennis, is to secure and perpetuate this asset which is the largest indoor tennis tournament in the world,” he insisted. The Paris Masters 1000 has been played in the Bercy venue since its first edition, in 1986. At the end of the 2022 edition, the director of the indoor tournament Cédric Pioline was already considering the possibility of relocation, without however commenting on a horizon. “It’s one of the possible options,” he said. We are studying, we have started to find out, we are not excluding.”
