French Fed Cup team disharmony

skibbarriz · Strong Club Player

French Fed Cup team disharmony

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Gone from bad to worse....

Garcia had to go before a FFT doctors' board - as no one believed her - but was approved (although many still don't believe her).
And so Océane Dodin was called up instead.
But she then refused point blank.
So risks sanctions, up to 5 year's a ban.
Amid lots of bad feeling.

Amandine Hesse will now play (and her dad is an FFT man so that should be fine)

But it's hardly happy families....

indiana · Tennis legend

LOL

wolf · Tennis legend

A ban from what?

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

wolf wrote:
A ban from what?

A ban from all FFT tournaments.

The rule was changed a few months ago so that if you are called up to play for France and refuse (without justifiable excuse i.e. injury, like Garcia (supposedly)), there's a range of sanctions the FFT can take from simple warning right up to a total ban on participation on all FFT tournaments, like Roland Garros, Bercy, Montpellier, Marseille etc.

It was/is supposed to combat 'unjustifiable individualism'.

steven · Tennis legend

Given that these bans don't seem to be proving to be much of a deterrent, the FFT just seems to be creating an Océane of pain for itself. Lots of fun for us looking from the outside though

The FFT must do something right though, or is it the clubs that do all the work and just happen to be a lot more competitively-focused than the clubs here?

skibbarriz · Strong Club Player

Coup Droit wrote:
wolf wrote:
A ban from what?

A ban from all FFT tournaments.
The rule was changed a few months ago so that if you are called up to play for France and refuse (without justifiable excuse i.e. injury, like Garcia (supposedly)), there's a range of sanctions the FFT can take from simple warning right up to a total ban on participation on all FFT tournaments, like Roland Garros, Bercy, Montpellier, Marseille etc.
It was/is supposed to combat 'unjustifiable individualism'.

Wow, pretty authoritarian. Not in the spirit of Liberté, égalité, fraternité.

It's forced fraternity at the expense of liberty. And now there's little liberty and no fraternity. Mon Dieu!

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

Can we find a long lost British Grandmother Garcia?

wolf · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:
wolf wrote:
A ban from what?

A ban from all FFT tournaments.
The rule was changed a few months ago so that if you are called up to play for France and refuse (without justifiable excuse i.e. injury, like Garcia (supposedly)), there's a range of sanctions the FFT can take from simple warning right up to a total ban on participation on all FFT tournaments, like Roland Garros, Bercy, Montpellier, Marseille etc.
It was/is supposed to combat 'unjustifiable individualism'.

Surely they don't have the authority to ban players from international tournaments.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

No, the FFT is very much responsible for the success of French tennis. Both directly and indirectly.
It's true that the clubs themselves are very good but they are all (or nearly all) very much joined at the hip to the FFT and it's the FFT that makes them able to function so effectively.
This is one of the reasons that the FFT is so miffed - it feels it gives a huge amount to the players growing up and that they 'owe' it back.
And they have a point, to be fair.
The ban is very new so I guess it's a bit early to say if it's going to act as a deterrent - it was very much a reaction, too, to the 'scandale' at the Olympics. But, it's true, it certainly didn't put Dodin off in this case.
However, the French are also a bit obsessed with solidarity, and collabarativeness etc. etc. etc. (in tennis and everywhere) - they find huge individual ambition very 'American' and distasteful (which is a bit of a problem, really, as far as tennis is concerned, being such an individual sport). But I'm not sure that trying to 'force' cooperation and team spirit is necessarily the right way.
But it's all makes good reading in the press .....

skibbarriz · Strong Club Player

So a new president came in, changed the rules and helped make a giant mess of it all? Resulting in the very opposite of what he was trying to achieve. Impressive. Of course, the attitude of certain players along the way hasn't helped.

https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.leparisien.fr/sports/tennis/fed-cup-oceane-dodin-refuse-la-selection-et-s-expose-a-une-sanction-17-04-2017-6860874.php&prev=search

" Support of the new FFT President Bernard Giudicelli, who has made the systematic selection of the best French elements in the national team one of his main objectives."

-- Edited by skibbarriz on Monday 17th of April 2017 07:52:24 PM

-- Edited by skibbarriz on Monday 17th of April 2017 07:53:09 PM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

wolf wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
wolf wrote:
A ban from what?

A ban from all FFT tournaments.
The rule was changed a few months ago so that if you are called up to play for France and refuse (without justifiable excuse i.e. injury, like Garcia (supposedly)), there's a range of sanctions the FFT can take from simple warning right up to a total ban on participation on all FFT tournaments, like Roland Garros, Bercy, Montpellier, Marseille etc.
It was/is supposed to combat 'unjustifiable individualism'.
Surely they don't have the authority to ban players from international tournaments.

They claim they do - i.e. if it is an FFT-run tournament, they can.

I honestly don't know the rules but they seem pretty sure of themselves.

(NB I really don't think they'll ban Dodin, although they might want to do it for one tournament, to make a point).

wolf · Tennis legend

Maybe the AELTC can ban Roger & Novak for Wimbledon then.

wimdledont · Challenger level

Seems remarkably snotty from Oceane, who got all 3 of the GS MD WCs in the gift of the FFT in 2015, and 2 out of 3 in 2016, and bagged herself almost half of her career earnings, over $200k, as a result of winning 2 matches and losing 5, to refuse the call to the colours.

I think the FFT has every right to be furious with her.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

wolf wrote:
Maybe the AELTC can ban Roger & Novak for Wimbledon then.

Yes, the thought occurred to me too

Like you, I can only see them being able to ban you from competitions where you need a French FFT licence to play (i.e. domestic team and individual competitions)

But they did list the big tournaments so maybe .......

And I agree, wimbeldont - it seems out of order really - it's not a lot to ask.