In a few weeks, the next edition of Roland-Garros will begin. A Grand Slam tournament which will be played with the presence of Russian and Belarusian players in response to the invasion of Russia on Ukrainian soil.
“The position has not changed. To date, we are in line with the declaration of March 9, 2022 by all the sports ministries of the European Union and other signatory countries, which aims to impose to Russian and Belarusian athletes a regime of strict neutrality. So no flag, no anthem. Period. We leave it there. The position is that and we apply it “, announced a few days ago, the president of the French Tennis Federation Gilles Moretton. A decision contrary to that taken by the organization of Wimbledon and the British government. “We are not going to go into the judgment and the appreciation of the UK government. Everyone has their position. It happens above the small tennis tournament that we are”.
A subject that returned to the set of Do not touch My TV on C8, Tuesday, May 3. Do you understand this decision? Several columnists posted a sign with “yes” except Gilles Verdez and Géraldine Maillet. And to make them listen to reason to his colleague, Matthieu Delormeau raised his voice. “More than 50% of Russians are against the war!”he addressed to the novelist before attacking Gilles Verdez.
“What do you want them to do with Putin?”he explained, speaking of Russian athletes. “Would you go face to face with a guy who would put you in the gulag? You wouldn’t open your big mouth less! We’re in France here… it’s easy to play it in a free country like ours. You you can do anything, it’s easy to play rebellious, it’s a democracy. You can criticize Macron, nothing will happen to you…”
In response, the journalist replied: “I am for exclusion”he blurted out. “The big players are regime propagandists. They are oligarchs who profit (…) they don’t talk, they don’t play”estimated the big mouth of the team.
See also: “TPMP” – violent clash between Laurent Fontaine and Gilles Verdez: “Your postures with two bullets, you keep them for yourself …”
Frederic Faussurier