Guidance Part 3

Post Junior Tennis Opportunities

The French Tennis Experience

By Brad Properjohn 

Playing tennis tournaments for money is the best way young players can get a true understanding of what it’s like to play for a living.  The way a player behaves under the pressure of winning money (especially if they don’t have much) offers a valuable insight into how they are likely to behave under ATP/WTA pressure.

The difficulty is;

a)     to get enough tournaments in a row to make it financially viable to play even at a relatively low level.

b)    to get enough tournaments in a row to give players a true understanding of the week in, week out grind of the Pro circuit.

c)     to get enough tournaments away from home with the added pressure of being away from the “comfort zone” parents & friends, friendly crowds, home cooking and own bed.

d)     to get enough tournaments in a row to bring into play extra duties such as stringing rackets, equipment, tournament entries, transport, accommodation, training, practice courts and washing.  

There is no better country in the world for playing money tournaments than France.  This country has produced a mass of Pro’s both French nationals and internationals. Hardly any Pro player will go through their career having not played in the French system of money tournaments at some stage.  

The French have developed a system that has few faults.  It uses the fair “feed in” draws where the better players feed in late into the draws to prevent blow out matches against weak opponents. The draws could go on for weeks continually feeding “better” ranked players into sections of the draw, ending finally where the tournament committee decides based on the prize money on offer. 

They have an extremely accurate method of record keeping that is easy to understand and takes all official matches into consideration.   

The French have a keen sense of community and this is evident in their festive events and timing of events. That is to say most tournaments are somehow tied into community festival with musical nights and parades in the streets.   

These local communities are happy to have good players come from around the world to boost the local competition and create a fantastic melting pot of styles for their own players to benefit from.  The system simply works at all levels of competition. 

    

A great way to get around the tournaments is to buy a van.  Some dealers will give you a buy back guarantee if the van is in good condition when you are finished with it, but you will have to find a permanent resident willing to register it in their name.  

The book of tournaments is thicker than a women’s magazine and the general idea is to find a route through the tournaments that suits your game and goals, be it to make money, gain experience and personal development or just to have fun.  

 You are issued with a French players licence after you have proved yourself with a temporary/probationary licence.  You are then free to play any tournament you like.  Of course you have to send an entry or call in the entry, which means you have to convince the referee that you will actually show up. The French Federation licence section website is www.fft.fr/a_vous_de_jouer/devenir_licencie.html

All this gets easier with the more tournaments you play and the reputation of being reliable that you might establish.  If you don’t show up to a tournament and have not excused yourself, there can be repercussions, but that is only fair and also perhaps a good lesson in responsibility to be learnt.  

The money varies from $300 US up to $3000 to win the tournament, keeping in mind you can start in the quarterfinals sometimes depending on your ranking.  You can play on your favourite surface to specialise or you can play on your worst surface to gain valuable experience.

The French are often quite creative with their prizes. Along with your prize money it’s not uncommon to win TV’s, skis, wine, tennis rackets and resort holidays.   

Of all the Western European countries, France or rural France has possibly the cheapest price of living and that includes practice courts.  People often billet you out in their homes and often take that opportunity to showcase their culture. Stay away from Paris, it’s simply very expensive. 

 

Travelling in your own accommodation allows you to play in the trendy areas like Nice, Monaco or Paris in summer where other players simply cannot afford the hotel prices.  You will still have to find safe places to park overnight with amenities but normally the clubs will allow you to park on the grounds for the duration of the tournament. 

France also has a bunch of ATP/WTA tournaments to aspire to.  You can use the money tournaments to get you into hot form or to bring you back to form after an injury/lay off, before going for the ATP/WTA Holy Grail. 

There is also chances to establish Club Team Tennis contacts as the inter club series is also well established in France with the competition having heaps of depth. 

Last of all France is a beautiful country to visit. It has a vast array of geographic types from the Alps to the central ancient volcanic area to the rolling beaches of the Atlantic coast.   

Here is a list of the Negatives:

a)     Communication is an issue if you don’t speak French.

b)    Public transport between small centers is difficult to get.

c)     Negotiating tournament date crossover conflicts (scheduling).

d)    Hotel accommodation is expensive at peak times in key areas.

e)     Washing Laundromats are rare.

f)      Unusual court types from powder clay to gym floor boards.

g)     The French people take some “getting used” to.

h)     Cheating is not uncommon.

i)       Ball quality is not a high priority for tournaments.

j)       Racket stringing can be ridiculous in price and quality so take a small machine and a lot of string.

k)     Dragging your stuff around including the stringing machine.

l)       The high price of sporting gear, shoes particularly.

m)  Rail travel is expensive but you can get “student” deals especially if you have your “authentic” international student pass.  

n)     Having to buy the International ticket price to get there.   

Playing money tournaments in France is the best way of really finding out if you are the circus-acting-nomadic-journey-man-do-all-McIver you need to be if you going to cut it out there on the tour.