Charlotte Robillard-Millette is back in the fold of Canadian tennis and, by extension, international tennis. Not on the courts, although at 25, she would certainly not be too old to play matches on the WTA circuit. However, it can be said that she is returning with full force to the “major leagues” of a sport that has given her a wide range of emotions.
Fresh out of the Université de Montréal, Robillard-Millette, with a bachelor’s degree in hand, is starting a new professional career as communications coordinator at Tennis Canada, where she has already begun — less than two weeks before the first matches at the National Bank Open — to fulfill various mandates related to the high-performance component.
With a full-time contract for one year, but subject to renewal at the end, Robillard-Millette says that this opportunity allows her to combine her two great passions: tennis, of course, but also the field of communications.
“Communications was part of my career plan,” she said in an interview with The Canadian Press at Tennis Canada’s Montreal offices. “Ever since I was young, even at 14 or 15, I knew I wanted to go into communications and stay in tennis, even after my professional playing career.”
“After all the years I’ve spent, all the sacrifices, the time I’ve dedicated to my tennis, it was always clear that I wanted to reuse that baggage in other ways,” she said. “That’s why I say it was always my career plan to come back [au tennis] in communications.”
As luck would have it – or fate – Robillard-Millette is embarking on this new phase of his professional life in a role previously held by Valérie Tétreault, now director of the National Bank Open.
“When I was playing, she happened to interview me when she was the communications coordinator,” Robillard-Millette recalled. “Her career inspires me,” admits the woman who would like, as Tétreault did, to play the role of tennis analyst on the small screen one day.
Before submitting to a formal interview, Robillard-Millette was able to speak with Tétreault for nearly an hour on the phone at the beginning of the year to tell him about his professional desires.
“I remember finishing the call and telling a few people about it; I really felt like I was talking to the Valérie from X number of years ago who had stopped playing, wanted to go into communications and was interested in a position at Tennis Canada. It definitely got to me,” admitted Tétreault.
“When she talked to me about her career, about what she wanted to do in the coming years, I think she already had ambition that I was able to sense in her speech. Of course, I also knew her as a player and I knew her work ethic. And for me, it’s something that has always been extremely important in life,” added Tétreault.
She wasn’t the only one at Tennis Canada who was impressed by Robillard-Millette’s confidence. So was Oliver Wheeler, the senior communications manager in Toronto to whom Robillard-Millette reports.
“We’ve been very impressed with the way she’s stepped up to the plate since joining us. In recent weeks, she’s led the Davis Cup team announcement and the announcement of Rob Shaw joining the Paralympic Games team. I think that’s a testament to Charlotte’s enthusiasm and passion for her role and also for her job,” Wheeler said.
Robillard-Millette plans to draw on his years on courts around the world in his new role.
“In all humility, I think I have an advantage having been a professional player and having gone through the programs here, knowing how things work, knowing the people. I often worked with the media, too, as a player. There are many things where I don’t have experience as a communications coordinator; this is my first job as such. But at the same time, I have years of experience as a player that are still worth something,” she believes.
“I played the FedCup [aujourd’hui la coupe Billie-Jean-King]I’ve been to the National Centre, I’ve been in the relief groups, I’ve travelled with Tennis Canada; I’ve done it all. Everything I work on is either with people I know very well or programs I know very well.”
Robillard-Millette feels trusted, which makes her new work environment very stimulating, she says.
“I’m really grateful because I didn’t necessarily expect this. I’m starting out, I just got out of college. I could do routine chores,” she says.