Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gaël Monfils are spending their off-season in Asia playing in the IPTL.
They are just the most high-profile players from France to still be playing on Dec. 10.
But back home, it seems that everyone else is still playing – and not just the French.
The Open de Caen wrapped up Wednesday with Richard Gasquet defeating Paul-Henri Mathieu 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 to take home the title for a second time in three years.
It’s a small-budget event that actually calls itself an amateur event, and includes seniors – 35+, 45+, 55+ and 65+ for both men and women.
A couple of years ago, there were 550 players in the qualifying at various levels, with total prize money of about 6,000 Euros. It’s a tournament that has grown from being held in a private club, to needing its own arena.
And look at the crowd for the final (above)
Among the players who also took part: Roberto Bautista-Agut (ranked No. 15), David Goffin (ranked No. 22) and Pablo Andujar (No. 41).
Tickets for the event ranged between 6.50 and 15 Euros.
Goffin won it last year, and Gilles Simon won it in 2011, when he was No. 12 in the world. Michael Llodra and Arnaud Clément also played it that year, along with Gasquet.
This local reporter (who came armed with a serve-volley game and a one-handed backhand) even got to hit balls with Gasquet.
Caën is northwest of Paris, just about on the English Channel.
A few days earlier, the men’s and women’s Interclub first-division finals were played, after a season that featured a lot of solid pros coming and going.
The men’s league was won by Sarcelles, for the first time in the club’s history.
They left little to chance. They had Ivo Karlovic, Jarkko Nieminen, Ricardas Berankis and Jérémy Chardy on their roster for the final, with a qualify player like Gilles Muller on the bench.
Check out Karlovic jumping around after he and Nieminen clinched the victory in doubles. Certainly not quite what they’re used to week in and week out on the ATP Tour.
Here are some of the recognizable names who took part on the men’s side.
Strasbourg: Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Paul-Henri Mathieu, Dustin Brown, Daniel Brands
Quimperlé: Roberto Bautista-Agut (a last-minute replacement for Tommy Robredo), Jimmy Wang, Ruben Bemelmans
Hainaut: Joao Sousa, Filip Krajinovic, Jurgen Melzer, Victor Hanescu, Alex Bogomolov
Bressuire: Jan-Lennard Struff, Thiemo de Bakker, Tim Puetz
Dijon: Damir Dzumhur, Peter Gojowcyk
TC Lillois: David Goffin, Igor Sisjling, James Ward, Bjorn Phau, Olivier and Christophe Rochus
Metz: Paolo Lorenzi, Michael Berrer, Tobias Kamke, Flavio Cipolla
Lagardère Paris Racing: Richard Gasquet, Edouard Roger-Vasselin Blagnac: Pablo Andujar, Albert Ramos, Marc Lopez
Hauts de Seine: Teymuraz Gabashvili, Robin Haase, Andrey Golubev, Lukas Lacko, Jesse Huta Galung,
Sarcelles: Jérémy Chardy, Lukasz Kubot, Ivo Karlovic, Gilles Muller, Jarkko Nieminen, Adrian Mannarino, Malek Jaziri, Ricardas Berankis, Lukas Rosol.
Tennis Club de Paris: Marc Gicquel, Nicolas Mahut (who got injured), Andreas Beck, Marco Chiudinelli.
Not all the players played every match, obviously. You can see right away which team put out the budget and loaded up, big time. And they ended up winning.
Players like Steve Darcis and Jan Hernych were playing for Villa Primrose, a former first-division champ that had been relegated and successfully made its way back up to the top with its efforts this month.
On the women’s side, TCP (Tennis Club de Paris) won its first first-division title in 25 years over Sarcelles with a squad that included Stefanie Voegele, Pauline Parmentier, Ons Jabeur, Mandy Minella, Stéphanie Foretz and Julie Coin. Not the same star power, certainly, but these women also have been playing all season long.
Here are some of the other names playing on the women’s side: Marta Domachowska, Alizé Cornet, Monica Niculescu, Kirsten Flipkens, Aleksandra Krunica, Kristina Barrois, Karolina Pliskova, Sesil Karatantcheva, Timea Bacsinszky, Patricia Mayr-Achleitner, Renata Voracova, Petra Martic, Maria José Martinez Sanchez (who’s a new mom), Michaella Krajicek, Donna Vekic, Timea Babos, Kristina Mladenovic, Petra Cetkovska and … Sybille Bammer.
There were certainly injuries.
Nicolas Mahut injured his calf and had to retire in his match last weekend, so the beginning of his 2015 bears watching. So did Jérémy Chardy, a foot injury that affected him during the final and caused him to withdraw from the above-mentioned Open de Caën.
As for Chiudinelli, he went straight from the drama of Switzerland’s win over France in the Davis Cup final in Lille, to fulfill his interclub duties. But then … a slight interruption. Elbow surgery on Dec. 1. No kidding.
I underwent elbow surgery today, hope to be back in March #rehab #fight #comeback #nevergiveup pic.twitter.com/P7AAu9lGh7 — Marco Chiudinelli (@mchiudinelli33) December 1, 2014
He was back quickly to substitute for captain captain Thierry Champion, who was under the weather, then cheer his team on in the final.
Shared some great emotions with my friends from @TennisClubParis yesterday. Hope for some more today! #finals #aléTCP pic.twitter.com/nwCuWC1AKa
— Marco Chiudinelli (@mchiudinelli33) December 7, 2014
Chiudinelli doesn’t expect to be back on court until March.
No worries. in a couple of weeks, it starts all over again for all those players.
Oh, what else was going last week in France? The BNP Paribas Master U tournament, which is for university teams and usually is won by France or the U.S. (the last three straight) took place in Rennes.
The Americans, led by Wimbledon junior champion and Wake Forest player Noah Rubin, beat France 4-1 in the final, the outcome basically decided after the men gave the women a 3-1 lead after their matches.
The final standings:
1. États-Unis
2. France
3. Russie
4. Belgique
5. Allemagne
6. Grande-Bretagne
7. Chine
8. Irlande
That’s about it. We probably missed a few tournaments.
Can you imagine if it were like this in North America?
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