“I'm going to feel like I'm coming home.
I have too many memories at Roland Garros… ”The final point of the election for the presidency of the FFT is being played this Saturday afternoon but the voting system has already bent the match for a few weeks.
The challenger Gilles Moretton, who just celebrated his 63th birthday on Wednesday, will take the chair of outgoing Bernard Giudicelli, 63 years old… next week.
After staying in an annex of the stadium keeper with Yannick Noah or Pascal Portes at the end of his teens, the new French tennis boss will have a large office with large bay windows overlooking the central court for the next Roland-Garros. .
“When we get to this age, we have everything behind and we realize that what has been most important is tennis because we have spent our lives there,” says the Lyonnais, winner of 'an extremely tense campaign.
Strong character
Little known to the general public, Moretton cultivates multiple facets under his air of dandy far from being one-armed.
“When he played, he was a real brawler, a nasty on the court, remembers Patrice Hagelauer, who trained him in the late 1970s. He wanted it.
He was very demanding, even angry, towards himself and sometimes towards others.
He was someone who didn't like being stepped on.
»Already a trademark.
After ending his career at the age of 26 in 1984 with a 65th place in the world, an 8th final in Paris and nine Davis Cup matches in his racket bag, he became a salesman and then, quickly, a business leader in sport. , events, marketing.
“He is a creator, admires Claude Michy, former president of Clermont Foot and organizer of the French motorcycle Grand Prix, who met him more than 25 years ago.
He took initiative in everything he did.
He was never afraid.
"
"It is better to be with him than against him"
The founder of the Lyon Tennis Grand Prix in 1987, boss of the Asvel basketball club for thirteen years (2001-2014) before handing over to Tony Parker, claims a part of unconsciousness.
“It takes some to have dared, breathes the one who dreamed of being a doctor before missing his bac D operation. It's a paradox, I am both unconscious and hyper responsible.
When I do things, it's methodical and complete.
I covered the Sarra slope in Lyon with snow, we received indoor windsurfing at the Tony Garnier hall… I only lived with passion.
Even the misfires were great adventures.
"
This oenology lover, who hardly likes to put water in his wine, has nevertheless left a bitter taste to many former collaborators forgotten overnight or business relations that he has showered with procedures.
"Why waste time talking about this gentleman?"
He surely had to change, well I hope so, ”slips one of his ex-faithful before hanging up.
The 14th boss in the history of the FFT
“I say it without animosity or resentment, he has qualities but it is better to be with him than against him, remembers Pierre Seillant, historic president of Pau-Orthez, with whom he crossed swords in the 2000s. 'is still rubbed with a lot of people.
In any case, I prefer to remember him as a tennis player than as a basketball manager… ”
Four years his senior, Jean-François Caujolle knows perfectly well the fourteenth boss in the history of the FFT and his career.
“He's a huge hard worker, combative, persevering, pugnacious.
He is a go-getter, ready to lift mountains when he advances towards a goal, summarizes the director of the Open 13. He is someone of convictions, die-hard.
He will put all efforts to advance his ideas.
He is often Manichean in his relationships.
It is either all black or all white.
He may have lacked affect, but he's more sensitive than he looks.
"
In three decades in the business, Moretton, fan of two-wheelers, put the moods in the garage.
“I know that I can appear tough, confesses the ex-manager of Télé Lyon Métropole from the height of his meter ninety-one.
I made a lot of mistakes but I know how to recognize them.
I am seen as a brittle person and I am like that on the front, I am not easily accessible.
My nature is reserve and prudence.
Suddenly, people believe that I am not accessible, not friendly even though I am an epicurean, with various circles of friends according to my areas of interest.
"
Nepal as a decompression chamber
Provided with his retirement points, this father of false twins, doubly grandfather, has turned the page of active life without regret.
“I had to be egocentric and I knew I was going to take an altruistic approach,” he says.
Before that, I wanted to take time for my family… and go to Nepal.
I was like everyone else in the whirlwind of life and I needed a decompression airlock.
"
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Without being a Buddhist, he has been inspired for several years by the works of the monk Matthieu Ricard and finally offers himself a trek in Annapurna.
"We have dreams and we never realize them," he continues, imagining himself trudging one day in a Tibet freed from the Chinese yoke.
I said stop.
This period cleaned me up, I put the priorities in their place and approached my third life with great serenity… ”His“ tennis ”opponents, who do not dispute its legitimacy, hardly believe in the discourse of zenitude, even of redemption.
“He's a good communicator, but he's still a cold-blooded animal that doesn't let go of its prey and can hurt,” says a member of the outgoing team.
To use a tennis metaphor, it is clear that at the net, he targets the player… ”
Appointed at the head of the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes league, the second in France, in January 2018, Moretton took the reins of the EPAT (Ensemble Pour un Autre Tennis) list in early 2020, with Arnaud Clément by his side.
And started a tour of France from below by going to explain his approach almost club by club.
Real painstaking work.
“He just thinks he can bring, loose Caujolle.
He's genuinely selfless, he doesn't do it for money, social advancement, or recognition.
"
"He has very rarely composed with others but he has the capacity"
The person concerned says he “felt like pushed”.
Even if he denies it, the desire for revenge has also brought him against an opponent whose name he no longer wants to pronounce and whom he has already beaten ... at the Lyon Criminal Court.
Bernard Giudicelli was indeed convicted of defamation in 2017 after having publicly affirmed that his now successor had nourished, like other former internationals, the network of concierges who resold Roland-Garros seats at a high price.
“This election was above all a battle of men, analyzes a keen observer of the duel.
Moretton did not focus on something rational or quantified but on his experience as a player, on the emotion of the disappearance of the Davis Cup
(Editor's note: of which his competitor was one of the instigators)
.
He won the battle between image and human.
Somehow, it's a beautiful irony… ”
A group of enthusiasts to represent “Together For Another Tennis” on 13.02.
Proud of a field campaign and a collective adventure made of authenticity and simplicity.
Thank you to everyone who supports us.
#fft #tennis #lechoixdurassemblement #clubs pic.twitter.com/aiGJSBGro1
- Gilles Moretton (@g_moretton) February 2, 2021
Another part is now starting at the helm of the second federation in France, on a more institutional court where you have to know how to smooth things over.
Juggle between employees and volunteers.
"He has very rarely composed with others and will have to do it, but I think he has the intelligence and the ability," Caujolle says.
He improved his ability to listen and surround himself.
Former player, promotion Senghor (that of Macron), candidate for the Ministry of Sports in 2017, Amélie Oudéa-Castera, who has just resigned from Carrefour, must be appointed to the key position of general manager.
A supporter of candidate Moretton, Hagelauer believes in his evolution.
“I felt a real collective approach, assures the former captain of the French Davis Cup team.
He speaks from his heart, he is sincere and wants to finally reunite our family for too long divided.
We are all aging, which can soften or change the outlook.
"
The chosen one, who acknowledges having a lot to discover, promises proximity, exchange, plurality.
"I wish for the richness of our sport to have people who think differently from me, that we can debate," he swears.
And I will decide when necessary in the sole interest of tennis.
"