INTERVIEW
For the Blue, defeats and scrambles have given way to victory. By winning Sunday in the Fed Cup final against Australia, the players of the French team have offered France its third title in the event, after 1997 and 2003.
The victory of the French team "gave us immense joy," said the president of the French Tennis Federation (FFT) Bernard Giudicelli Nathalie Levy microphone, a few minutes to go to the Elysee to to be received, in the company of the players, by Emmanuel Macron. "It was a very strong emotion to see our players go brave the world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty on his land, and take this trophy exceptionally."
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"Our players had more desire to win than the Australians"
For Bernard Giudicelli, the explanation of this collective victory is simple: "Our players had more desire to win than the Australians". An ambition that can be explained by the difficulties experienced by the Blue in recent years, between early failures in the competition and scramble between Caroline Garcia and her teammates. During the defeat against Switzerland in February 2017, "they told me they wanted to be recognized as true professionals and treated as such," he recalls. And "from the moment when Julien Benneteau arrived, things were unraveled".
Arrived at the captain's post in June 2018, the former 25th world "knew how to tie the threads of dialogue and put everyone in the locker room to go caressing this crazy dream," greets the president of the FFT.