Créteil had its Dominique-Duvauchelle stadium, its National team and the Maison du handball.
It now has its "little" professional tennis tournament, the "Grand Paris Sud Est Avenir", the first edition of which is in full swing this week on the courts of the Val de Marne Departmental Committee - in the extension of the stadium.
Men's event, endowed with 15,000 dollars, the tournament is therefore an “U15”, more familiarly called a “15,000”, ie the entry level of professional tournaments.
"We have the fiber of the high level, which is a bit lacking in Ile-de-France, since there is only one other
15,000
, in Plaisir (Yvelines), against two women's events, the W15 of Gonesse (Val d'Oise) and the W60 of Croissy-Beaubourg (Seine-et-Marne)", explains Anthony Dagnaud, president of the Val de Marne committee and director of the tournament.
This week, the French and foreign players present are ranked between 370th and 900th in the world and are not stars.
Only excellent players, such as Kenny De Schepper (500th), Baptiste Crépatte (501st) or Clément Tabur (523rd), mostly young people.
🎾 ITF Créteil
First 2006 to score an ATP point, Frenchman Théo Papamalamis!
6-4, 6-3 against the qualifier Lakoseljac.
Between Van Assche, Son, Debru, Papamalamis… Incredible the density of French players who break through extremely early.
pic.twitter.com/AJsyRSWTt2
— Julien Kergonou 🎾 (@JulienKTennis) March 8, 2022
“The idea of the tournament was born at the beginning of the current mandate, specifies Eric Hamon, vice-president of the Committee and deputy director of the tournament.
In February 2021, when we were elected to the Committee, we interviewed the clubs and it emerged that they wanted a men's tournament, so that our best young people could try out the professional level.
»
Gym, restaurant, players' lounge
Objective achieved… Six players from 94 were on the qualifying start line on Sunday and two are in the final draw, Hugo Pierre and Mehdi Sadaoui (guest), both ranked 1740th.
As for Alexis Beurquier (US Fontenay), only 15 years old, French champion 14 years old, he got two balls from the big picture on Monday, without managing to convert them.
The Committee's facilities (four courts, three of which are dedicated to matches) have been transformed into a real pro tournament site: sports hall, restaurant, players' lounge, etc.
"The finals of the French interclub championships in December were a good break-in", welcomes Dagnaud.
And mounting an M15, how much does it cost, by the way?
"We are used to saying that a
15,000
comes to 30,000, a
25,000
to 50,000, etc., to a few thousand euros loan, explains Dagnaud.
The local authorities intervene up to 50%, in this case the Intercommunality
Grand Paris Sud Est
which gives its name to the event (Editor's note: the region and the department are likely to take a few tokens in a second time).
Funding from tennis (FFT, Ile-de-France League and Val de Marne Committee) represents 30%.
Partners complete the budget up to 20%: BNP, Tecnifibre, Intermarché, Elat.
We may be at less than €5,000 for a first edition, but nothing that jeopardizes the Committee's finances..."
Free admission all week
There is no ticketing receipt, as admission is free all week.
“We want everything to converge towards the clubs, continues Hamon.
This Tuesday is Women's Day: an evening is dedicated to female referents in clubs.
On Wednesday, all the tennis schools in the department are invited.
Friday, there is a morning for teachers.
Saturday, wheelchair tennis.
Sunday, is held the meeting of all the presidents of the committee (64 clubs, 20,000 licensees).
It's really the whole ecosystem of tennis that is supposed to be grafted onto the event.
»
Ile-de-France is also valued in terms of arbitration: an umpire has been appointed by the Federation, three FFT chair umpires, plus three additional chair umpires, eight line judges.
25 people are mobilized every day, including ten to twelve volunteers.
Nothing is left to chance.
Thus, on Friday, the organization has planned that the matches will be over when Duvauchelle Créteil-Concarneau begins in football, counting for the 25th day of National (7 p.m.).
