“You are the new captain of the French Davis Cup team…
I am proud, honored, I am also moved to have this position. A few years ago it wasn’t necessarily a goal, I took a bit of a step back after my career. When I was asked to join the FFT, I hesitated for a long time to try again. I did it with a lot of passion and desire. I started this mission as a high-level director. Little by little, I said to myself why not apply to be captain one day. The opportunity presented itself because Sébastien (Grosjean) decided to leave the adventure. I am very motivated, I am aware that I also have a lot of responsibilities between the Davis Cup and the Olympic year.
How do you envisage this 2024 season and your relationship with the players?
We have to be as competitive as possible, give ourselves the maximum chance of winning the matches and winning the medals. I created links with quite a few players, there is a real emulation that has been created between the youngest and the less young. We had doubts about filling the quotas for the Games a few years ago and, today, I am not taking any risks by saying that we will fill these quotas. I hope we go for a medal. I am very ambitious for all these boys. There is no limit for them.
In its press release, the Federation refers to “a double strategy”. What does that mean ? Building pairs for example?
The problem with creating teams now is that it’s always a bit risky. Today we do not know the four qualifiers who will leave for the Games. The idea is above all to create support for specific doubles players with our best chances of medaling. We will discuss it with Ivan (Ljubicic, new high-level strongman at the FFT) and we will explore the subject in more depth over the coming weeks. This is something that we would like to highlight because, today, we know that the doubles is often a crucial point during matches and it is also a chance of a medal at the Olympics.
You have an Adrian Mannarino who has not hidden his little taste for clay (the Olympics will be played at Roland-Garros), how can you manage that?
Adrian Mannarino, I will have a discussion with him. It’s very recent so I haven’t had time to call and discuss it. It is not at all my intention today to make players play under constraint. In the Olympic Games, it is the players who register. If he thinks he has no chance, we’ll see with him.
“It was not to take revenge on 2002 that I applied to be captain”
Is having a long career enough to make a good captain?
I think I have the capabilities, otherwise I would never have dared to apply for this position. My experience as a former player helps me enormously, I spent more than 20 years on the circuit. And for the two years that I have been at the Fédé, I have had this desire to transmit. This sharing of experience is something that I enjoyed. I even wish I had more when I played. Sometimes I have had somewhat difficult discussions with the players because we have to confront them with their reality. I feel completely capable of leading this French team.
There is this lost final in 2002 (Mathieu lost the fifth match against Russia), would it be personal revenge to lift this salad bowl as captain?
The Davis Cup has always meant a lot to me. Why did I play tennis? For the Davis Cup and Roland-Garros. I have a very strong connection with this competition. I experienced very intense and very difficult moments but also very joyful moments. It was not to take revenge on 2002 that I applied to be captain. But I would be proud if we could lift this silver bowl.
What do you think of the current Davis Cup formula? Do you think you’ll talk about it between captains?
I’m not a fan of this new formula. Nothing replaces “home and away”. We still have them on the first rounds. Its very important. Meet with the captains, see what we can do, why not. But the decision is not ours. There are discussions underway but from 2025. The president of the ITF has been re-elected and we will take a closer look at what he plans to do in the coming years. »
