Emmanuel LANGELLIER, Media365: published on Wednesday December 08, 2021 at 08:54 a.m.
Guy Forget will soon no longer be officially the director of Roland-Garros and the Rolex Paris Masters. He explains his departure.
The news fell on Tuesday, surprisingly. Guy Forget, one of the figures of French tennis for many years, will no longer be the director of Roland-Garros and the Rolex Paris Masters within a few days. His contract ends on December 31, 2021 and the former world number 4 will not continue. He led the French Open since 2016 and the Parisian tournament played at the end of the year indoors since 2016.
Forget: “From the start, I felt that communication was not going through” with Gilles Moretton
After the news, first disclosed by L’Equipe and then confirmed by the French Tennis Federation, Guy Forget explained himself to L’Equipe. The former Davis Cup captain explained that he never really communicated very well with Gilles Moretton, the last president of the FFT elected last February. “After six years, since I have three-year contracts, my second contract expires on December 31st. I have no problem with the fact that Gilles and Amélie Castera (general manager) want to function differently, with other people. In fact, they started to make some changes, thanking a few people, that’s the game. For several weeks, with Gilles, we had discussions to possibly renew my contract. He made me a proposal recently that I refused “, first underlined Forget before letting go that” from the start of Gilles’ mandate, I felt that communication was not going on. “
And Forget to detail: “Gilles is someone very square, who has a vision. He is president, I do not dispute it, I know he is passionate, but from the start I told him of my astonishment. After a month and a half, we still hadn’t had an exchange, he had never asked me a question. I did not understand. While when he was elected, I congratulated him, I asked him when we could meet to discuss and I believe that the first exchange we had was a month and a half after his election. It’s long. Communication never existed with him. And clearly, I felt there was no trust. “
Forget without a post at the FFT for the first time since 1999
Guy Forget leaves reluctantly and does not know what his future will be. “I’m a little sad because it’s a page that has been turned but it’s a house that I love so much that I wish this team every success. I have worked for years with great people, I cannot name them all, but I have learned a lot from them. They are people devoted body and soul to the federation and to the two tournaments. I’m not continuing the adventure, at least for the moment, because we don’t know what the future will bring. For him, there was a detrimental lack of closeness. “As soon as he arrived, I was convinced that our tennis sensitivity would really bring us together in a strong way, and that was not the case, regrets Forget, speaking of Moretton. I respect his policy, but not to collaborate directly in a close, I would say even intimate way, because it is a tandem, it is unimaginable. It may be my way of operating that is not the right one … “Guy Forget finds himself without an official position within the French Tennis Federation for the first time since 1999, that is to say twenty-two long years.
