Costa Rica rather than Belgium, Guatemala and not Slovenia, Mexico instead of Ireland, Egypt preferred to the Netherlands: Romane Cloteaux-Foucault‘s bad notebook is atypical to say the least and does not doesn’t really resemble that of the other French people who travel the world circuit.
“It’s a thoughtful approach, not because I want to see the country (laughs), explains the 23-year-old badista. I have a clear objective: to be in the Top 100 in the world in 2025.” 112th in September, she fell ten places after not being able to defend her title in Egypt in October due to angina.
“Something that looks like me”
The Top 100, a rank that changes many things in a career. “So you can join big tournaments. Playing the 1st round at the Hylo Open (Super 300 in Germany, World Tour event) brought me as many points as my victory in Uganda (Future Series). »
So why run around the bad planet for tournaments where she is often the only Frenchwoman? “We’re going to lie to each other, there are easier matches in the first rounds than in similar tournaments in Europe. But from the quarters onwards, it’s a high level, with Top 50 players, like Yu Zhang (Canada, N.51) or Liam (EU, N.47). With my trainer, Régis Bridel, we came up with something that resembles me. I need to play, to win matches to gain confidence. If others say: “It’s in Europe that we learn”, for me, at 23, my apprenticeship is already done. These “exotic” tournaments allow me to go faster. »
Organization: thank you mom!
Faster and further, therefore, thanks to his personal tour operator: “My mom! She is very good at finding me good deals. Tickets costing more than 1,000 euros can put a little pressure on the court. » But the Bretillian gets along with it. Like when she finds “rooms far from European standards in Latin America, or the tournament stops between noon and 3 p.m. on Fridays in Algeria or Egypt, time for prayer”.
But, apart from a tourist in 2022 in Mexico, she has “not encountered any major problems in the five years she has been traveling solo. I sometimes meet foreign players again and there is a great solidarity between us. We take Airbnbs together and, sometimes, friends coach me. »
Goal Los Angeles 2028
And when other players return from a European tour saying to themselves: “I lost in the first round, I don’t have the level”, Romane Cloteaux-Foucault comes back with a smile. Particularly for the Interclubs with Aire-sur-la-Lys (Pas-de-Calais), despite some not very nice reflections. “ “You played easy matches!” “Did you come back from your “country”? My answer is that I take a set from Rosy (Pancasari N.61 and French N.1) and that I hook Xuefei (Qi, the Rostrenoise, double Olympic qualifier and N.66).”
Advice that does not distract him from his flight plan. With a hoped-for landing in 2028 at the Los Angeles Olympics!
