The 19th edition of the Moselle Open, the Metz tennis tournament, will take place from September 18 to 25, at the Arènes de Metz. With quite a plateau, and new shareholders.
Eight top 30 players featured
The board, first. Three of the ten best current players in the world are on the program. The Polish Hubert Hurkacz, 10th player in the ATP ranking, defending champion, who comes to put his trophy back in play. The Austrian Dominic Thiem, n°6, finalist in 2016, winner of the US Open in 2020. Above all, the n World No. 1, Russian Daniil Medvedev, “the most French of Russians“, in the words of the tournament director, Julien Boutter. A player “unique, unorthodox game“, according to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, quadruple defending champion. Not to mention the very popular French player Gaël Monfils, admittedly injured, but whose next objective is the Metz tournament, according to its leaders.
Legal action
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a young retiree, is now, with his former coach and friend Thierry Ascione, the new majority shareholder of the Moselle Open, via the All In group. France Bleu Lorraine announced it last July. Yves Henry remains chairman, Julien Boutter remains director.
But voices are raised against this takeoverwhich was not carried out in accordance with all the rules of law, according to Eric Lucas, one of the minority shareholders, who filed a lawsuit: “To be a majority shareholder, you must have the validation of certain bodies, in this case the ATP [l’instance internationale du tennis masculin, ndlr]. In addition, the rules were reinvented during the extraordinary general meeting [qui a acté le rachat de la plupart des actions par Tsonga et Ascione, en juillet dernier].” The minority shareholders (16% of the capital) therefore filed a summary appeal, which will be examined on October 18 by the commercial chamber of the court of Metz.
According to Eric Lucas, the risk is the probable departure from the Moselle Open in Lyon. Argument brushed aside by Thierry Ascione, new majority shareholder with Tsonga: “Fears are more of a lie. There was never any question of putting the Moselle Open in Lyon. Yes, I am from Lyon. Yes, we created a great Country Club [centre de formation de tennis de haut niveau, ndlr] In Lyon. Yes, we already have a 250 tournament in Lyon, which works very well. We are here, we are trusted. We reassured people here, in particular the Eurometropolis of Metz. We don’t do all this to be hated by a quarter of France.“
Jo, he didn’t build his image for twenty years, to do hara-kiri for a tennis tournament!
Until 2029 in Moselle… In Metz or Amnéville?
The Department of Moselle announced, last June, to invest 20 million euros, to renovate and enlarge the Galaxy of Amnéville. The objective is to host world-class sporting events… including the Moselle Open. “This is a track under study“, recognizes Yves Henry, the president of the tournament. “But these investments are not only made for the Moselle Open“. In the meantime, according to him, there is no advanced date, except the maintenance of the tournament “in Moselle, until 2029“.