ITF

20 ITFWORLD SUMMER 2017 ITF SENIORS CIRCUIT with 18,257 tournaments run throughout the country last year, a sum that has more than doubled over the last quarter of a century. Seniors tennis has a significant part to play amongst those numbers, says Stephane Berrefato, who works alongside Borfiga at the FFT and is responsible for the development of both Seniors and Padel tennis across the country. "The goal of the Federation is to increase the number of players in all categories," Berrefato says. "We are seeing an increase in the population of both Seniors and Padel tennis. We are trying to increase the number of ITF tournaments too. The French Federation pays 1,000 euros to a club to organise a new ITF Seniors event. As well as their tailored approach to their players in competition, success on the world stage is usually borne out of significant participation at grass roots level and a healthy competition structure. That's certainly the case in France, where tennis is the second most popular sport in the country after football. In 2016 there were over 7,800 tennis clubs operating throughout the country, with 1.04 million registered players and almost 380,000 of those competing in organised tournaments across all levels of the game. While there are fewer tennis clubs in France today than there were 25 years ago — there were over 10,000 back in 1992 — the number of competitive opportunities has increased significantly, "We try to take care of every population of players in France – from the very young to the very old. Part of my job is to take care of every French team, from the Davis Cup and Fed Cup through to the Seniors teams." - Julien Borfiga, FFT tickets to catering, and try to give the best conditions to each team. Of course, the Davis and Fed Cup teams are important, because they are professional, but we think that all the French teams deserve the same kind of organisation and treatment. "I want my Seniors players to be happy to travel to Florida, and to feel that someone is working for them," he continued. "I want them to go there and care only about playing, and that's it. "Whether it's a small club in a small city in France or it's the World Championships, we have the same approach. Maybe that explains why we had such a good performance in Cape Town," Borfiga adds with a shrug. "But we also had good luck!" France's 2017 Young Cup winners in Cape Town: Severine Pinaud, Caroline Dhenin and Mathilde Lefevre Franck Hervy and Christine Calleja were mixed 50 champions in Helsinki in 2016 Jacques Hervet won individual and team titles in men's 55 at the 2016 ITF Seniors World Championships Men's 65 world No. 1 Bruno Renoult

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