LE SCAN SPORT – On the occasion of its thirtieth edition, disputed this week in Marseille, a comic book looks back on the great moments of the tournament.
After a 2020 edition, disputed in the sad atmosphere of closed doors indoors, without an audience, partners, journalists, the Marseille ATP 250 finds its spectators and life this week in the Palais des Sports. And like every year, the cast looks good. With in particular Stefanos Tsitsipas, fourth player in the world or even Felix Auger-Aliassime, recent winner of Rotterdam ahead of… Tsitsipas. Since 1993, almost all the stars have evolved in Marseille. The tournament, which offers very generous guarantees, has always relied on young hopefuls who will one day become giants of the game. This is how a certain Roger Federer came to the Open 13 four times. A first time in 1999 thanks to an invitation, then in 2000, 2001, and 2003, where he won the final against Jonas Björkman. And if they never won in Marseille, the Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal also walked the courts of the Palais des Sports.
Read also30 editions of the Open 13 in comics
As a teenager in 1993, Lionel Maltese was a ballboy during the first edition. Today a lecturer at Aix-Marseille University, he has been one of the main leaders of the tournament since 2003. It was he who had the idea for the comic strip and who scripted it. The founder and director of the Open 13, the Marseillais Jean-François Caujolle is the narrator from the first to the last plate. 30 editions that he tells the former French number one Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who has become the majority shareholder of the event and is expected to be his successor one day.
Lendl and the power cut
The comic strip, printed in only 300 copies and illustrated by Arnaud Brosset, is made available on the Open 13 Provence website, teeming with crisp anecdotes. We learn that in 1993 during the first edition. Ivan Lendl, a great perfectionist, had come to train at the Palais des Sports… from 6 o’clock in the morning, but at that time, the electricity was cut. In 2006, the Aixois Arnaud Clément won his fight against Nadal in the semi-finals. A feat. It must also be said that the Mallorcan who had won the first set 6-2, had been stung by a wasp in the middle of the second set and had then lost five consecutive games to finally lose 2-6, 6-3, 7 -5. Clement winning the tournament that year.
Kuerten and the stripper
The Open 13 is also a festive event. And the tasty anecdotes are legion. In 1998, during an evening organized by the players, a stripper invited by Serge Migne, a figure of the Marseille nightlife, wanted to take a photo with Gustavo Kuerten, then very popular in France after his victory at Roland-Garros in 1997 , but the ATP categorically refuses. Image issue. In 2001, Magnus Norman, then the second player in the world, emptied the entire bar of the organization after losing in the second round against Max Mirnyi. “He had heated up his credit card ”Confirms Lionel Maltèse.
Kyrgios and the superstition of the WC
The comic also shows how a manager experiences a tournament from the inside. And Jean-François Caujolle sometimes tears his hair out when he loses a headliner prematurely or when a star withdraws at the last moment like John McEnroe during the first edition. In 2005, Greg Rusedski, one of the stars of the tournament, injured his shoulder while playing… golf the day before his second round where he had to play Frenchman Sébastien De Chaunac. While the players represent 40% of the budget costs of the tournament, it is sometimes necessary to know how to manage their quirks. Just before the 2016 final, it’s the “ WC gate ». «Very superstitious Nick Kygios (winner that year) always went to the same WC at the Palais des Sports, tells Maltese. He thought it brought him luck. But on the day of the final it was clogged. Others were available but this was the one he wanted. We then urgently called in a company to unclog it. ».
Rios and the thefts of his belongings
In 2015, like a rock star, the yet little “rock’n’roll” Milos Raonic, leaves his hotel room in a terrible state. It’s not always easy to manage egos. And the former world number one Marcelo Rios did not leave an imperishable human memory. Logically scalded in 1997 by the theft of his personal belongings and his snowshoes on his arrival at Marseille airport, the hot Chilean had suffered a second theft in the week! A spectator and her daughter then found her bag. To thank them, the organizers had organized a meeting for Rios to sign an autograph for the kid. But it was rather insults that had been thrown as a thank you… This anecdote and so many others are savored by the lover of the little yellow ball who wants to know almost everything about this unmissable meeting of French tennis.
