ROLAND GARROS

June 5, 2022

Gilles Moretton

Amelie Mauresmo

Press Conference

(In French.)

THE MODERATOR: Amelie Mauresmo, the tournament director, and Gilles Moretton, president of the French Tennis Federation, FFT.

Good morning, everyone. This is the press conference of the end of tournament before the men's final. Gilles Moretton, president of the FFT, and Amelie Mauresmo, tournament director, will give an assessment, then there is a Q&A session, first in French and then in English for international journalists.

During the Q&A session, if you can introduce yourself for the transcript so that we can record as clearly as possible the press conference.

AMELIE MAURESMO: Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for being here this morning, and to listen to us for this assessment, although there is still the last day today. So let's start taking stock of this 2022 edition of Roland Garros.

I'm going to give you my feelings, my assessment, and then give you the floor for questions. As you know, before the beginning of the tournament, our general idea was to reach the goal of entering a new era for this tournament, a more modern era, under control while staying true to the tradition, and to try to make this move as smoothly as possible and as adapted as possible.

What we did was along these lines, everything we have implemented. Sometimes we moved the lines. Sometimes we stayed more traditional where we respected the habit.

My feeling with respect to all this is that it was a beautiful edition in this respect. This enables Roland Garros to position itself in a different way, with a different identity based on tradition, based around tennis emotions but also modernity.

To illustrate all this and what we fully used during this post-COVID edition is, first of all, the enthusiasm of the crowds. We were all pleasantly surprised. It was an extraordinary edition in terms of crowd enthusiasm, this fervor around the tournament of Roland Garros. This doubles session which was very successful, in this new stadium that was for the first time fully used with the day sessions and night sessions.

Historically in Roland Garros it was a bit complicated to circulate. The flows were not very simple to go from Lenglen to Chatrier, et cetera, but I think that this edition enabled us to see that the whole stadium was very well adapted.

Of course there were waiting lines. There are things to improve and to fine-tune, but overall in this respect everything went pretty fine for this new stadium.

So we had some fears, and we are eager to see how everything was going to work. We also wanted, right from the start, to make this tournament accessible for three weeks. We took this initiative to open the quallies in a greater way. From the Wednesday of quallies we saw incredible images when we opened the training sessions in Lenglen or Chatrier right from the quallies, to enable as many people as possible to see the best players training before the tournament, in addition to the matches that were being played in the quallies throughout the day. So that was something very dear to our heart.

For 2023, we really have this objective, this strong objective of renewing this, repeating this in terms of accessibility for the tournament and the possibility for everyone to watch these sessions.

The question marks we had were regarding these night sessions. Last year there were a few without audience except last one. So we wanted to see how the crowd would react, what type of atmosphere we would have, would it be full right from the first point. A lot of questions we had, and it was legitimate because it was a new challenge at Roland Garros.

I think that here, once again with adjustments that will have to be made, reflection that will be on the table after the tournament, but overall what we saw is that the audience was enthusiastic. There is a real demand for people who are working during the day and who, like they would go to theater or cinema, are able to watch tennis at Roland Garros despite the fact that they have to work during the day. Maybe on weekends and labor holidays they could not come, and we really have the impression that it was something that was successful. So there is a great pride to have been able with the music, the show before, we wanted to make sure that at 20:52 or 21:00 for the first point it was full house.

In this respect it was a success, because you know that filling up the stands was something very dear to our heart. So that was great.

Something we talked a lot upstream which was totally relevant on Friday and Saturday, and I was really emotional to see the wheelchair tennis for the first time in tournament history to be played on the Philippe Chatrier Court. When I saw the French players on Friday on the court, women for the women's final, I found it fantastic.

So we went outside of our comfort zone. Everyone contributed and were able historically to act for this event. I think for inclusion, for tennis, for all, we really are present for this edition.

It was a great success. On Friday a bit less people and yesterday more people in the stands. So it was really great.

Two or three points I would like to mention. First where we took some risks. It's the on-court interviews after the matches. You noticed that we have used a new technology machine. It was the first time you saw the speeches from the president that are subtitled, and here there was an additional technology which was based on risk. Why did we take this risk?

What we are interested in is the emotion that the champion can generate. And so like the post-final ceremony of yesterday, to have this fluidity in the discussions and the emotions that will come out more naturally and more easily.

We wanted also to show openness with Marion and Fabrice, and so go beyond, find international people, with Alex Corretja and Mats Wilander, with other cultures. This worked pretty well to open the interviews to other people, and it was important for us to change our habits, maybe a bit too French-French.

There was two moments of emotion outside of pure tennis that I would like to mention. It's the ceremony for Jo and Gilles for their retirement. Like one and the other, we wanted to follow their desires and personalities, and we were really happy to honor them in a fair manner with the emotion that each of them wanted to give by respecting their desires.

We had this challenge of LEDs, this decision to enter into modernity, and we started quietly this year but the idea is to rely on something very robust. My personal opinion is that it was very successful, that from now onwards we will be able to use them more and more on the next editions, and probably think about putting these LEDs on the Lenglen also. Because it was a very useful and interesting tool.

I would like to conclude by talking about the trophy ceremony. You saw the one of yesterday. We wanted to simplify things. The show part was before the match, but when tennis is dominating, we wanted to stay on the match and the emotion of the champions who were present on the court yesterday, maybe to talk about the people who gave the prizes, and we are trying to break the codes even more than yesterday. That's what you will see today.

That's what I wanted to say, and to talk about sports people, because that's what everything is all about. Gilles will talk about the French. But I found that it was an incredible edition, that we had an incredible scheduling on all courts, we had the chance at the best were present, all the French animated the first week.

Then the second part of the tournament, and yesterday the highlight with the confirmation of Iga in an incredible manner during the entire tournament. Because the pressure she suffered over the last weeks and months, especially since the beginning of the tournament, she was able to manage all that until the end. So congratulations. We will see what we have in stock today.

GILLES MORETTON: I wanted to thank Amelie for the work she did. First for taking this job and this responsibility, and what she's been doing from the word "go." She's been highly professional, which is what she's always done in her career. And strong-willed, as well, which is something very important.

Also, I must say that we owe her a lot. We were talking about Jo's ceremony. She's been managing this since February. All these types of things. So much so that we team up with the federal team and with Amelie, we are united, and we discuss and exchange ideas.

We very often agree, but from time to time we agree to disagree, and it's in this debate that we can make progress.

As far as the Federation is concerned, the No. 1 objective is to promote our own sport and the development of practice. The 2022 edition is an edition we are 100% proud of and satisfied with.

Our rationale was to get out of the comfort zone. I was hearing things like people were saying the tournament is good, everything is good, we are not going to change anything.

But that's not what you have to do if you want to improve. That's the reason why Amelie joined the team, the Federation team, to change the lines and to challenge things, because she knows how she can make us change and improve, make progress. That's a very important expression for us, is to try and improve and move forward and innovate, and sometimes we might be wrong, that's true.

But the best compliment I received I received yesterday from the American Federation of Tennis and there was a dinner yesterday evening, and they said, Now, your tournament breathes of tennis. It's a good thing. It breathes of tennis.

It means a number of things that is at all levels. What we did is we said the sports people should be at the heart of everything. Sometimes we reshuffled the agenda but the No. 1 concern was to focus on the athletes. Because if you don't have the athletes, the players, men and women, there is no tournament. That's something to be remembered.

And first there is no Roland Garros stadium for the '28 Davis Cup, so we thought players first. That was something very important.

What was also very important when I look at the other Grand Slams is to find our identity. Of course we have our identity. Each Grand Slam has its own identity, which is a very good thing, and we have reinforced ours in a certain way this year.

And I have said, and I have repeated, that tennis is doing well. Tennis is doing well in France. I suppose it's doing well all over the world, which is a good thing. It's doing well in France. We have more than 1 million tennis players with a license. If you look at the outlooks, that's incredible. Also with the emergence of paddle. And there is the show, the development of practice. People want to join a club and play tennis. And on the other hand we have these major events, not just Roland Garros.

If you look at the whole year, I was in Cherbourg, Les Petits As, Montpellier, and other towns in France. Tennis is doing well. It attracts people. This is a quality show with lots of emotions that we had in the 2022 Roland Garros edition. On the annex courts, on the central court, of course, but also thanks to the ceremonies that we hatched.

The objective for us as a Federation, as well, is that we want tennis everywhere for everybody. We want to whet people's appetite, and what we saw so far is that now people have an appetite for tennis. They want to travel, and we have also launched urban tennis.

What's the reason? Well, if you want to play tennis tomorrow you have to join a club, you need courts and you have to be a member, that is with a license or not. That means we are going to promote tennis also at kindergarten. We have started doing that, and this is our mission as a Federation.

And I could say that our showcase, the Roland Garros showcase, was a very nice showcase, for the younger generations. Yesterday you might have seen that on social network, one millionth tennis club member. That's incredible. She works in a medical environment. She got a free ticket with her boyfriend to watch the quallies. She watched the quallies. She wanted to play, and therefore, she joined a club around Paris, and that's a splendid story.

Yesterday she was walking around with us, and to say the thing we are really proud of is that, is these people who have discovered Roland Garros and they say, I'd like to try as well, I'd like to give it a go. An amazing result as far as this is concerned.

Then as far as the athletes are concerned, it was crowned with emotions and quality matches. For the French, I must say, they were really fighting hard on all the courts regardless of the results.

I'm not going to say that there were no problems. There are sometimes problems. We have had problems with the DTN, and as you know, this is very much in the pipeline. The objective is to change the DTN model.

I have Escude, Mathieu, Grosjean, and Julien Benneteau, DTN at high level, captain of the men's group and women's group, and they will be working on the DTN, which is the national technical directorate.

We were the winners of the junior tournament last year, and with Gabriel Debru, there's something incredible. This is a bit of a new sunshine for us. I followed him when he was at the town of Grenoble, the GT, Grenoble Tennis club. And the former president, now there is a new president called Vincent Berlandis, but the previous one believed in him from the very beginning.

He was sending me text messages at 12, 13. He was saying Gabriel Debru is playing. We are all in all satisfied. We have young players, boys and girls. And Elsa Jacquemot as well. We have to work on DTN, that is the national technical directorate and organization.

Of course I should talk about doubles. Doubles on central court with the two French players, we are very satisfied because they are playing together again.

Also, let's not forget that there is Paris 2024. They might win today, they might win a medal for Paris 2024. We should be happy about these types of results.

Then as far as the tournament is concerned, as I said earlier on, now, what I really loved about the tournament and appreciated when I looked at all the teams, employed workers, elected representatives, and also Amelie's team, is the human touch. That's always been on the tournament. Human beings, as we said, is something very important.

When I was elected I said if I decided to join the adventure as an elected member, it's all about human beings. That is what I want, I want to meet people in the clubs, people who love tennis. I think that this phenomenon oozes from everything we've organized this year.

Finally, and that's going to be my final point, is that we derive satisfaction from the fact that we have volunteers. As you know, we did things with volunteers and the teachers as well who came here and discovered what Roland Garros is all about. We wanted to facilitate and open the tournament for these people. These were dream days for children who joined clubs as a member but also for the volunteers who were in the presidential boxes, and they watched the tournament in extraordinary conditions.

This is very important for us, because if tennis is to be alive, it's thanks to 100,000 volunteers who are here, in and out, day in and day out. And on Sunday morning lots of people reopened the clubs because there are team matches, and they brought the croissants and the coffee cups, and we had to reward these people, we had to recognize these people as well.

Even though it's not enough, we have 100,000 of them, we couldn't host them all. But this is a very important mission for us.

And final important point on that you want me to share the key figures about the tournament. Yes, there we go.

Let's start. They really reflect what the tournament was all about. It's a record tournament. We are very satisfied with what we've done. We are going to exceed 300 million Euros of revenue for the tournament, and in 2019, let's take a normal year, we were at 262 million Euros in revenues, and therefore, a record number this year of course.

Then a number of spectators, in 2019 we had 519,000. Now we have reached 613,500 this year.

During the night sessions, lots of people had tickets for the day but would stay at night as well. It was a great opportunity for them to stay.

And also what we are proud of and satisfied with is the people who watched the matches, a record again. We are the most-viewed tournament on earth. 699 million hours watched. We are very satisfied about this. That's TV watchers, more than 38 million before the final. We had peaks as well that exceeded all the things we expected. On the 29th of May, on a Sunday, on France 2, the third French TV, Felix Auger-Aliassime with a peak at 5 million TV viewers.

I suppose that today we will beat another record probably with the Roland Garros final. Well, the weather conditions are such that maybe people will stay at home. That means that we expect quite a lot of people watching their TV today for this final.

So by and large, this means that this taking stock exercise is positive, I quite concur with Amelie. Even though we have things we could improve, of course, we are going to challenge a number of things, we're going to question a number of points, but we are going to debrief afterwards.

I think that soon there is a meeting to come, and we are going to be with the teams and debrief all that quite quickly, because everything is in our heads for the time being. We are going to do that so we can prepare the 2023 edition of Roland Garros.

THE MODERATOR: Questions. We will move to Q&A session. So there is a mic.

Q. Before the final, will this final be even more interesting? Because there is a Nadal question, will we see him again, will we not see him again? Will there be a 14th title? For you, tournament director and president of the Federation, are you afraid he might leave today? Is it something special for you?

AMELIE MAURESMO: It's always a huge interest. I can't answer you. We don't really know what will happen. We don't have any specific information from Rafa, what his decision.

But for me it's always interesting to see the history he has with the tournament. Will it be his 14th title? Just this is enough to keep the suspense. Or will Ruud be able to beat his all-time idol on his favorite court?

So nothing about that, and just enjoy this match this afternoon.

GILLES MORETTON: Nothing special to add. We are eager to watch this final. We are writing history of tennis whatever happens today at Roland Garros, will again write a page in the history of tennis with potential 14th title or a loss or another scenario, you are going to live the history of tennis like us.

So we are impatient, but Amelie and myself, like in tennis, we play one point after the other. We are not already watching at the match point to see how we are going to react at the match point.

So we are really eager to see, to watch this final.

Q. Can we imagine that, for example, Roger Federer could give the trophy tonight in addition to what has been foreseen? I'm asking the question naively. Regarding the assessment, you said, Amelie and Gilles, there was a desire of filling up the stands. We saw it was not so obviously, for example, the second semifinal between Cilic and Ruud, where it was all tickets had been sold but there were a lot of empty seats and people had accesses and it was not easy to enter.

AMELIE MAURESMO: Regarding Federer, a priori is not foreseen but we never know. Maybe at the last moment it could be organized.

Regarding the filling up stands, indeed the greatest deception and disappointment is this second men's semifinals that we all saw that the stands were much less full than the first semifinal than usual. And indeed, we don't have any answer, because as we said, all the tickets had been sold.

Did some people who had both tickets had seen enough tennis for the day and went away? Maybe. I don't have the answer. But indeed, it's a day -- well, we will have a meeting to talk about this, and see how we can organize things differently.

But overall regarding the filling up of stands, this edition was not so bad. It was not perfect, of course. But to be more precise regarding the Annex 'UP, we have to work on that, because it was not the success we expected. So the success we expected was related to the civic behavior of everyone. The lack of civic behavior we noticed very fast of some people prevented the rest of the crowd, majority of the people who had an Annex 'UP ticket to benefit from that.

So we did that. We continued even after a few days where we saw we had difficulties. So we wanted to persevere. It was implemented during the first week, if I remember rightly, I'm not sure, but it was not the success we were hoping and expecting.

So that's a good lesson to draw from this experience, and so we can find other ways to work.

GILLES MORETTON: I will be less perfectionist than Amelie. From the federal point of view, we are happy because there has been an improvement. Of course it has not been perfect and I concur with you, Amelie, but we tried some things. It's difficult to come back for some people who had the day after the Nadal/Zverev match. It was complicated, because it was such an intensity, and it suddenly stopped.

So disappointment. It was like a knockout in the boxing. People maybe left the stands and it was disappointment, also with respect to the quality of the match that came after.

So we will see. It's an assessment and we will also have to ask ourselves questions after this.

Q. After following 47 consecutive editions of Roland Garros and 162 Grand Slams, I can congratulate you for your organization. Because the human part was fantastic and all the rest. But if I may, I would like to know one thing. Regarding Suzanne Lenglen and the roof, will it be ready for next year? Will there be work during the tournament next year? What will happen on Suzanne Lenglen? Will we be able to play?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Yes, we will be able to play.

Q. No. 2, for the media, for those who did not purchase the TV rights, we don't have a room where we can have a short standup for the evening. We have to exit the stadium for half an hour and enter again.

GILLES MORETTON: Yes, I hear this comment. We have gone through that together. Your teams had to leave the stadium at a difficult moment and the comeback.

Q. Yes, at the US Open and Australian Open we have a room where we can go, come and...

GILLES MORETTON: We understood the message.

Q. It's just a constructive comment. It's not a criticism.

AMELIE MAURESMO: Yeah, we take the point.

Q. Billie Jean King yesterday said in her press conference how important it is for players to have personal contacts with the media. If we no longer have access to players' restaurant, lounge, maybe not during the first few days when there are a lot of players and people, maybe we could try to do that. Because it's not good for the players to have no contact with the media except through the agents or managers or during the press conference. We no longer have direct contacts and it's not good for the players and also for us. That's it. But it's a very constructive comment and no criticisms. And congratulations again.

AMELIE MAURESMO: Regarding the Lenglen roof, it will not be operational next year. It will be in 2024 that it will be operational. But we will keep playing like we continued playing on Chatrier during the work. We will continue playing on the Lenglen next year. There is no problem with respect to that. It's not a court that we will close during the work.

Then regarding the media room, I think this can be organized quite easily, I think.

And last point, I know that the access was a continuing issue during the tournament. What I would like to highlight is that the players' lounges have been extended in size. At the beginning of the tournament, I'm fully aware that the players and the entourage didn't have this visibility on the high part of the clubhouse. What I gradually understood is that they could go upstairs. During the tournament, upstairs there were a lot of top players and other players who would come up with their entourage.

The difficulty we have for the exit of the center court of the Philippe Chatrier, if I'm not mistaken, that's where you're interested to see them, we have the difficulty that how the stadium has been designed geographically. It's where the players come out of the locker rooms, where they have a seat to eat, it's the heart of their journey.

Maybe in the future we have to think about a way of having groups coming in or not, but having, as in the past, groups of five, ten journalists or more in this area where there is a lot of flows, people flows, it's not what we want.

Q. (Question off microphone.) Maybe not in the first three, four days.

AMELIE MAURESMO: Yes, we have to think about that, but it's something we have to progress.

GILLES MORETTON: Gilles Jourdan is here and I can say something about construction work. The foundation is ready for the four towers, so we've done that already. And then after 2022, when the tournament is over, we're going to build and erect the four towers. And then after 2023, just after 2023, we are going to place the roof, which means that Suzanne Lenglen will be at the end of 2023, ready for tournament 2024 but also for the Olympics.

But we have to do this this way and spread things over longer period of time. Otherwise it would have taken a full year without Suzanne Lenglen. But since we want to play on the Suzanne Lenglen, we need to phase in the works this way.

Q. Gilles said 5 million TV viewers for Nadal/Felix Auger-Aliassime. Do you know about Amazon and the number of viewers? Are you satisfied with the number? Second question: Amelie, were you surprised by all these reactions following what you said, that is, maybe at present men's tennis is more attractive than women's tennis when you were talking about the night sessions?

AMELIE MAURESMO: We are not going to give you the figures right now. Well, you know, as far as we are concerned, it was quite satisfactory.

GILLES MORETTON: I confirm.

AMELIE MAURESMO: Yeah, it was quite good news.

Also, I'd say yes, I was surprised, given all these harsh comments. You know, it's been almost 25 years for me. In the past 25 years, I consider that either when I was playing or afterwards when I was coaching players, when I was the captain of the Fed Cup or when I was promoting women's cause, being Andy Murray's coach, when people also said nasty things about me. Now, you know, a change was never something very good for me. Then afterwards, when I was Lucas' coach, things calmed down. So things changed with time.

But what is obvious is that for me this miscommunication, this clumsiness of mine, to some extent. Okay. But why would people challenge all that I did for women's tennis and for women in general in society? Yeah, I'm telling you the truth.

Q. Gilles, before the tournament, the general director for the Federation changed jobs. Do you know or can you tell us more about this position and the agenda attached to this position? Which is a very important position, otherwise we wouldn't be talking about it. Who is the person who is going to be replacing Amelie Oudea-Castera?

GILLES MORETTON: Well, the agenda is quite simple. This was a possibility, a possibility we said, an option. And I said, It's the role of president or CEO of a company to anticipate. So we prepared that. We were, of course, very satisfied for this nomination for French sport and for the Federation. We chose the right person for the Federation. And we agreed that our teams, that is Amelie, being the head of the tournament, could answer all the questions, and me on my side with all the teams, the federal teams, we would answer all the questions connected to the Federation. There was no sense of urgency, no sense of urgency.

The only emergency or urgency was Roland Garros 2022. We wanted all the teams to be here to deliver the tournament, which is what you got.

Amelie Oudea-Castera did a good job, and the teams were well prepared. The agenda is very simple. We have headhunters who will be identifying profiles who might be good for this position next week. And there is no sense of urgency. There is no panic in the Federation.

We decided that the governance of the Federation would be replacing the general management, treasury, general manager, et cetera. So we would be in the general management position. All the decisions are made together.

In the meantime, we are going to get profiles, let's say, in June, and then we will make a decision afterwards.

Of course Amelie will join us. She will be brainstorming with us, she will be having this discussion with us, it's very important, given our heading for the Federation and for Roland Garros. This is it. That's the timeline. There's no sense of urgency. We don't need to recruit by mid June or end of June.

We want to take time enough. If we take someone who is holding another position, as you know, you have to give your notice before you leave your previous position, et cetera.

Our objective would be to be ready by September, I think. I think this is reasonable. Well, we could do this earlier but no longer than September.

AMELIE MAURESMO: Very good.

GILLES MORETTON: Have I answered your question?

(In English.)

Q. We heard a couple of players in recent days make some sort of statement or another about things going on in the world at large, society, gun violence from Coco, comments about Ukraine yesterday by Iga. I'm just wondering what your thoughts are on players making these kinds of statements and trying to use the attention they get for their tennis to make comments about larger issues that aren't related to sports.

AMELIE MAURESMO: I think for them they are free to do it and definitely free to use the attention that they have at that moment to fight for what they think is the right thing.

I'm not the one that's gonna say that they shouldn't or that it's bad. I think it's if these things are really what they feel that they want to change, let them. Well, that's what they do.

GILLES MORETTON: First of all, they are allowed to say whatever they want. That's the first point. And I think to my opinion, I think it's good, because it gives them a personality, then something they think, except then, I did play well, or Congratulations to my opponent. I think it's good to know them better and know for what they want to fight, they want to say something, and to know them better.

You told that you want to see the players because you need to know them better, and that's a point. If we don't allow tennis players to express what they have inside so they will be a standout --

AMELIE MAURESMO: Robot. All the same.

GILLES MORETTON: And we will like them or unlike them. So...

(In French.)

Q. About women's finals, Billie Jean King was talking about the best-of-three sets.

AMELIE MAURESMO: Yes, the best-of-three sets, or, no, five sets.

Q. Is that one of the future changes you are thinking about, the best-of-five sets? Or should it be discussed between you and all the Grand Slams?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Well, when I was playing, I can tell you, I would have played five sets, the Masters. When I arrived, I think they had stopped that perhaps a couple of years before. That is the Masters Finals in five sets. I was so sad. That's what I would have loved.

Now being the director of Roland Garros, I'm not even talking about of Roland Garros today, it was in my head 20 years ago when I was playing. I always thought that for many reasons that this could help us.

If you are one set down, you are a bit stuck. There are so many things that have to be factored in. And then you can say, Okay, it's a best-of-five. It will give me more time.

That's what I was thinking about as a player. At the time I was thinking it would give me more time to roll out my game, perhaps to manage tension and stress. It's a different match altogether compared to the other ones.

That's always something I was thinking about. It was never decided, neither for the Masters nor for the women's Grand Slams. But why not? Why not think about doing this one day? I think that women's tennis would perhaps benefit from that, if it was the best-of-five.

This is what men do. We see them perhaps for longer hours, and maybe that's how we look at them in a more endearing way. Maybe that's something we can think about.

GILLES MORETTON: Well, that's an interesting scenario, and we saw that this year, Zverev, Tsitsipas. The first two sets they lost were so quick. Zverev was really very nervous, it was windy, he turned around and insulted -- no, he talked to his group. Sorry. I didn't say the right expression. I don't speak German either. But he was saying very aggressive things I think.

And then he was back into the game on his own. That's what's lovely about tennis. It's never over before it's over.

And it's long, and lots of things can happen in five sets. And I think Justine was saying this last year I think.

AMELIE MAURESMO: I don't know.

GILLES MORETTON: Justine Henin on the French television set was talking about this.

AMELIE MAURESMO: We'll see.

Q. I have a question about the night sessions. Now, it's something that 15,000 spectators like, but for you, the problem is programming, I think. It's a problem for some players that play really late and for a million TV viewers. So I suppose you have to strike a balance so people can watch the match. That's something you inherited, I know. But would you say at the end of the day playing night sessions is a good idea?

AMELIE MAURESMO: I'll repeat what I said earlier this week. From what I saw when I looked at the answer given -- well, by the way, as you were saying, it's perhaps just your idea of saying it's only 15,000 people watching the match, but I think they enjoyed it thoroughly during these probably 10 night sessions. I saw an atmosphere that was so amazing in the night sessions.

And here again, we didn't really know where we were going. We were fumbling our way through, but look at the results.

And then there's the fact that we are exposed. This could be a bit of a problem. Yet we know that this could be made more accessible, like for the Nadal and Djokovic evening.

And finally, I think personally that I should think more about the time at which the match ends. Yeah, maybe, and that's what I was saying earlier on. I was saying we need to think about this calmly, what we did this year, and look at each evening, when it ended, the temperature on the court, and how it ended. That's something important, temperature is, for the players' sensations and feelings.

We will meet 10 days after the tournament and for 48 hours we will brainstorm on that. We will discuss all these aspects. We get feedback from many people already. Nothing is set once and for all. We are open for discussions, and we will probably have to consider a number of adjustments and adaptations.

Q. Maybe it's for Roland Garros or not. I'm going to explain why. I was talking with Patrick Proisy, who is a very clever guy who has worked 22 years with IMG, and he said Grand Slams, like Gilles would like to do, have to try and renew all the traditional Davis Cup and only Grand Slams can do that, because you have the power. Proisy suggested that Grand Slams would put 10 million each on the table to have 40 million; so 20 million as prize money and 20 million for small federations who wanted to reform Davis Cup.

I think it's a very intelligent idea. Since Gilles is in favor of retrieving the tradition of the old Davis Cup, I think, and I wish, that Grand Slams cooperate and work together with ATP, with ITF, and everyone, to reach this solution. Because the current Davis Cup has nothing to see with the old two sets out of three. That's my idea. I hope you agree.

GILLES MORETTON: Do I have the choice? Well, I share this opinion. It's my role, the role of the Federation, to take a stance internationally. And very clearly I express my position many times in Tennis Europe, and recently with what was is happening with the Davis Cup, with ITF, and Kosmos.

The unsatisfaction of three formats that change over three years, so it's my role indeed and we can try. I'm ready to discuss with ATP and WTA and the Grand Slams.

I put this on the table. We have our Grand Slam board meetings. I mentioned that also during the tournament with Ian Hewitt from Wimbledon, Craig Tiley, and Mike McNulty, the president of USTA, on this topic.

I would like us to be responsible. We have to be responsible. It's difficult, because there are seven governing bodies, and I want to fight for the general interest. But I have first to fight for the interest of the FFT.

We have a role to play to make -- I'm very close from Andrea Gaudenzi from the ATP, with WTA we have relationships, Amelie or Nathalie Dechy, who also is in connection with them. We have this role to play. So yes, we will try to play such role.

Yes, it is good that the pillars of tennis that are the Grand Slams, and it was Davis Cup at some point. Although we had to reform it, but we shouldn't have given the keys of the truck to someone who doesn't know tennis. I'm sorry to say that, but that's what's happening today.

We see in the format that the quest is more financial than sports-based, and it's a problem for Davis Cup.

I have said already enough. Thank you very much.