120,000 tickets sold

“After a record year 2019 (140,000 tickets sold),playing last year behind closed doors was extremely difficult. A month ago, we had sold only 50% of the tickets and today, we are at 120,000 tickets sold, which is an exceptional performance. People were perhaps a little hesitant at first, to come to a stadium, inside, locked up. But they realized that they could relive strong emotions and do so under conditions of maximum health security. I touch wood, but we haven’t had a cluster.

We are not on the figures for 2019, where we had sold more than 140,000 tickets, but being at 120,000, this is real good news. We had an extraordinary edition, with a quality of play that seemed superior to previous years. End up with a final between No.1 and No.2, Djokovic – Medvedev, a room exhausted since Wednesday evening, if I had been able to sign before the tournament, I would have signed with both hands. “

A prize money of 2.6 million to 5 million

“Since the start of the year, tournaments have only been able to pay players 50% of the prize money because they have played behind closed doors or under a gauge measured at 20 or 30%. Depending on the number of tickets we were going to sell, we knew that the prize money was going to increase. With this figure of 120,000 tickets, we will now almost double our prize money (from 2.6 million to nearly 5 million euros) and come with a prize money close to 2019. This is very good news for the players and we are delighted with that. There are few tournaments today which have managed to keep up with the figures for 2019. This is to be credited to the players too because it is they, through the quality of the show, who have encouraged people to come. “

Hugo Gaston’s “perf”

“He entered the Top 70 at the end of this tournament, (it will be 67th Monday), he qualifies for the Next Gen Masters, he beats players much better classified than him, even indoors. I hope this is the start of a great adventure for him. Coming out of qualifying by saving match points and doing this course, communing with the public, that was the very pleasant surprise of this tournament. I have memories of an extraordinary atmosphere here, with the French players. Gaël Monfils’ two finals (2009, 2010), Julien Benneteau’s victory against Roger Federer (2017), but it is true that there …

Is this due to the ‘withdrawal’ that the public has been through for many months? There is really a will to show your joy, your emotion to be there. Sometimes, if I may, it was a bit ‘borderline’ compared to the opponents, even if the foreign players understood that it was not against them, but really to encourage Hugo or Gaël. There were Davis Cup scents. We will remember Hugo’s career in this edition. “

The relative slowness of the surface

“I was the architect of an acceleration of the surface, which we implemented four years ago. After talking to Roger (Federal) in particular, I found that the surface in Paris was too slow. Since then, we have stayed at exactly the same speed. Moreover, the ATP Tour Finals, following this acceleration of the game, asked to adopt the same speed on the surface in London as in Paris. Now we also know that the ball has a great influence. Some played in Vienna, others in St. Petersburg, some with the Dunlop ball, others with the Head ball. Apparently the Dunlop bullet is a bit sharper, a bit faster. They are boys so sensitive, so attached to the little things that some will tell you, like Daniil (Medvedev), I have the impression that the courts this year are not progressing. And others will tell me, no, no, the court goes fast! It is an extremely delicate and very fine subject. “

Cleared by the FFT Ethics Committee in the Pandora Papers affair

“We made a lot of noise about this and I am also happy to see that the Ethics Committee has issued this report. I’m here to talk about tennis, about the tournament. I want us to come back today to purely field matters. I have already expressed myself, I hope that it is in the past and that we will talk about good things. “