The day after France’s elimination in the Davis Cup, the president of the FFT announced new developments in the federal organization.
Two distinct centers have been created within the National Technical Directorate of the French Tennis Federation (FFT) to “accelerate” And “to strenghten» the journey to the high level and “return to victory», announced Monday to AFP the president of the body Gilles Moretton. The first part of this new organization concerns 5-15 year olds who will integrate the “Path to high level» placed under the responsibility of the DTN Nicolas Escude. Then, players aged 16-21 with the ability will be placed in the group “High level» co-directed by Paul-Henri Mathieu, already in charge of high level at the FFT, and Ivan Ljubicic, Roger Federer’s former coach.
“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, responsibility must be instilled 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 this 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 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 device“.
“He has a team around him, he has been off to a very, very good start, he has a coach, Laurent Raymond, who is doing a remarkable job, and since the start of the year Ivan Ljubicic has been very close to him to play his role. of advice“, underlined Moretton.
Already, the president believes he has “several potential World Top 20s» among the boys, citing, in addition to Fils (44th at 19 years old), Luca van che (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 has reached the round of 16 in the men’s Grand Slam table this season, a collective poor performance which has 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.