Gaël Monfils has been named captain of the France Davis Cup team, replacing Paul-Henri Mathieu. I read that on the 7:32 train, and my first question was the simplest one: what does a captain do in tennis? In football, the captain plays. Here, I worked out, he sits on a chair at the side of the court. Silly question, but does he get an armband?
I looked for who else wanted the chair. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga wanted the job. According to L’Équipe, “he was working on a project, but his role as shareholder of the All In Academy, which both runs the ATP 250 in Lyon and acts as an agent, was a obstacle because of conflicts of interest”. So to sit on that chair, you must not run a tournament or be an agent. That, at least, is a clear rule. I wrote it in my notebook.
Then I found out the captain is not alone. Monfils will be assisted by Gilles Simon, head of high performance at the French Tennis Federation (FFT), and by Richard Gasquet, a member of the expert cell. An expert cell. I asked the newsroom what it does. Nobody knew. I checked, and actually nobody knows, at least not here.
According to We Love Tennis, the appointment came as a general surprise, and the choice has been much discussed for 24 hours. Daniel Riolo, a football journalist, wrote that with Tsonga, “always present and combative”, he was “a bit sour about it… But anyway”. A football journalist commenting on a tennis captain. That I understand: I come from somewhere else too.
The young man asked whether there was an armband. Nobody answered him. Someone should help him.
I still have to find out how you choose the player you send on court, and who decides that a captain is a surprise. Anyway, I still have a lot to learn.
It’s true, we checked: We Love Tennis.
