Tennis world champion
At 66, Bénédicte Le Grand has won two world tennis championship titles, by team and in mixed doubles. Back on an exploit.
“What I like is going up to the net, shortening the exchanges”, explains Bénédicte Le Grand. And the player excels there: the proof, her double title of world champion of tennis 2021, in team, and in mixed doubles with Marc Renoux, during the event which took place in October 2021 in Mallorca. The AS RUC player in Mont-Saint-Aignan, 66, always has a sparkling eye when she recounts her matches. She trains every week, twice for an hour and a half. And every Friday she plays “a frenzied game” with a lifelong friend, not to mention the competitions on weekends. “We are really good in this club,” she rejoices.
The life of Bénédicte Le Grand has been turned towards tennis since childhood. “My father was a good player who took us to the lessons”. She ended up entering the top 100 French players: “We played for fun, we played for good points. It was friendly and fun. Then she was an instructor, and she only stopped playing for a few years, for field hockey. But it was to resume better: “I found pleasure from the first game. The children were older… ”Since she was 45, she has been selected nearly 20 times for the French team. “We had to wait a certain age to get there…”, laughs Bénédicte Le Grand, who recounts: “I have seen the country: New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Mexico, Florida, Finland, Germany, Turkey… We are lucky to have a Federation that does not skimp in sending teams of veterans in all categories. “
The 2022 world championship is scheduled in Florida, Bénédicte Le Grand, reigning French champion, will put her world titles at stake there. Nothing will be able to stop her. “Even if I find that the net is getting longer and longer,” she admits in a blink of an eye, before leaping onto the court.