Sébastien Grosjean has many hats: tournament director, shareholder, captain of the French team and television consultant… Requested by its ethics committee, the French Tennis Federation (FFT) decided, on Monday July 10, to relieve the former world number 4 from his position as coach of the French men’s team, to avoid possible conflicts of interest. “After weighing Mr. Grosjean’s duties as captain against his interests resulting from various outside activities, the committee concluded that certain situations of interference constituting conflicts of interest existed,” the FFT wrote in a press release.
Captain of the Blues, Sébastien Grosjean is also director of the Open Sud de France tournament and consultant for the BeIN Sports television channel during the Wimbledon tournament (from July 3 to 16). Invited to comment on this decision, the former player assured the channel that he would keep the captaincy of the France team, but would refrain from being part of the selection: “The selection model will change a little , but I will remain captain. There is always pride in being in this position. We started this campaign in February and we have to go to the end. »
Co-founder and shareholder of Tennium, an agency that organizes tournaments and which also represents players – in particular Richard Gasquet, also a shareholder of Tennium, and Arthur Fils -, Sébastien Grosjean is the subject of “identified conflicts of interest”. This last function could influence the selection process for the Davis Cup and for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, according to the ethics committee.
A complex selection process
To overcome these conflicts of interest, the FFT has therefore decided to remove Grosjean from the “player selection process” so that the choice of players is “made after consultation with the national technical director [Nicolas Escudé] and the director of the top level of the FFT [Paul-Henri Mathieu] for discussion and validation before transmission to the president [of the FFT, Gilles Moretton]”. This decision, presented to the executive committee and recorded since July 7, has “immediate effect”.
According to the FFT and the recommendations of its ethics committee, Mr. Moretton will announce the list of Blues selected instead of Sébastien Grosjean. Since he became captain in December 2018, the day after the change of model of the Davis Cup, carried by the Spanish footballer Gérard Piqué, the Frenchman’s record has been mixed, with five victories and four defeats. The Blues are due to face Australia, Great Britain and Switzerland in Manchester from September 12-17, as part of the Davis Cup group stage which is due to lead to Malaga’s ‘Final 8’ in November. In what state will they be, when their captain no longer has the right to select them and the performances of the French players are struggling?
