It brings luck to court number 14. 24 hours after Lucas Pouille, who this time was in the stands to encourage his girlfriend, Fiona Ferro pulled out of the three qualifying rounds to earn a place in the final draw at Roland-Garros. “It’s like a rebirth” savors the 26-year-old blonde. The word is not too strong. A year ago, in February 2022, Fiona Ferro filed a complaint against her former coach Pierre Bouteyre for sexual assault and rape when she was between 15 and 18 years old. The coach is indicted in August 2022.
“I have gone through a lot of emotions in recent months, not all of them hyperpositive, confides the player. If someone had told me a few months ago that I was going to find myself there, qualified for the final draw at Roland, I would have said yes right away. Sharing this moment with my family, my friends who know what I’ve been through, close to my home since I live right next to the stadium, it’s strong, very strong in emotions. »
The public, who again filled this famous court 14 where the French shine since the beginning of the week, understood it. Ferro has been encouraged, supported, loved during these last matches and not only for her tennis. “For a few months, she says without mentioning the case, I have been trying to put things into perspective. There is more to life than losing a point, a backhand or a forehand on a court. I know it. Even if I can be hard on myself, I tell myself that it’s only tennis. »
This story has destroyed her, inevitably. Hope of tricolor tennis, she climbed to 39th place in the WTA rankings in 2020 offering herself in passing, an 8th final at Roland-Garros the same year. And then his former coach ruined everything, his life and his tennis. Fiona Ferro is now ranked 411th in the world, far from the standards of a player who can make a living from her sport. “It’s simple, she said this Friday with a smile, since the beginning of the year, playing tournaments has cost me more than it has brought me. I was in the red all the time. We can stay in 400th place in the world but not for too long… ”This week, she also won the lottery. Her qualification in the big picture guarantees her a minimum bonus of €69,000 if she is knocked out in the first round.
To end her week, Ferro took out Australian Jaimee Fourlis 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. “Fourlis gave me nothing, slips Ferro. I was tense and lost the thread of the match in the second set before getting back into it in the third. I’m super happy. »
The story has been tragic and painful. She becomes beautiful. Fiona Ferro is back in the circuit even if everything has not yet returned: “In certain passages, I have the impression that I have the same level as when I played in the Top 50. But at that time, I was more stable, I had less difference in level in the same match. If I want, and I want to, to come back as high as possible, I have to work on that”.
The page of the sexual assault of which she was the victim for too many years is not closed. It will never close and the scar will always be there, painful. But thanks to this victory under a hot sun and in front of her family, Fiona Ferro can start another life. “It was important to prove to myself and to others that I was capable of replaying tennis at this level. Yes, for me it is a rebirth. »
Fiona Ferro is the first Frenchwoman to emerge from the top of the Roland-Garros qualifying tournament in 17 years. The last time was in 2006 and the two tricolors were called Virginie Pichet and Aravane Rezaï.
