the Wembanyama madness ignited Roland-Garros, for the last of the prodigy in France

It has never been so hot on the Philippe-Chatrier. No matter the mercury, the rays of the sun that heat the clay, the center court of Roland-Garros has never sang as it did on Thursday June 15, for a little over two hours… for basketball . For one evening, the neighbors of the Boulogne-Levallois Metropolitans 92 took over the temple of French tennis, converted into a playground for the occasion. A red carpet of circumstance for the last in France of Victor Wembanyama, before the flight of the prodigy for the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA.

If 15,000 people came to fill the stands at Le Chatrier, it was not just to admire Wemby’s gestures. Opposite, the Roca Team of Monaco was counting on this third match of the Betclic Elite finals to lift the title, after their two home victories to launch the finals. Accustomed to the supercharged rooms in the four corners of Europe, the Monegasques were probably not disappointed with the welcome in a white-hot arena, which did everything for this meeting will not be the last of Wembanyama in France. Which was almost successful, since the Metropolitans led the proceedings before collapsing five minutes from the end (85-92).

An unsinkable rock

The title of champion of France of Monaco, nobody really cared about it, to tell the truth, around the greenhouses of Auteuil. But everyone dreamed of a victory for the Mets to relaunch these finals, and attend a match 4 on Saturday, still in the den of tennis. At 6:30 p.m., there was still a scent of Roland-Garros, whether it was the posters in the metro, or the presence of the last volunteers harnessed to storage more than four days after the end of the Parisian Grand Slam. Still, it was basketball time, as the countless NBA franchise jerseys pilgrimaged to the grounds in the late afternoon sun suggested. But, for once, it was a French club that was popular: the Metropolitans 92. With, systematically, the same flocking on the back: Victor Wembanyama’s number 1.

After a season playing in the modest Marcel-Cerdan hall in Levallois (2,800 seats), and apart from two matches played at Bercy, the club from western Paris invested the Philippe-Chatrier court, transformed into a space three days, under its closed roof, the delicate beaten earth having been covered with a parquet floor. Ocher, there remained only on the wall adjoining the Philippe-Chatrier, in front of which many spectators, dressed in basketball jerseys, posed: a perfect summary of the evening.

As the public invaded the aisles, the most confused were the usual championship followers. Some brothers and sisters were thus lost in the underground passages of Chatrier: “How do we get to the field? Where are the locker rooms?”. In the middle, Victor, a young radio reporter, was smiling: “At the start of the season, it was already crazy when we were 20 at Marcel-Cerdan, but now it’s huge. We are in another dimension“. At his side, Sami, feather of the teamweighed his words: “It’s quite simply, from a context point of view, the biggest match in the history of the French basketball championship”. If the attendance record for an elite Betclic match has not been beaten, the setting and the stakes of this Metropolitans-Monaco were indeed extraordinary. The wide eyes of every person entering the arena didn’t say otherwise.

One room, two atmospheres

Another clue: the presence of a team from NBC, the American channel, reporting behind the scenes of the last evening home Sweet Home for Wembanyama. Even Japanese TV was there, in the middle of the 180 accredited journalists, that is to say as many as for the last NBA match organized in Paris, that is to say. The gratin present in the stands, including the Minister of Sports, also testified to the prestige of the poster. The question that remained unanswered, however, was whether the atmosphere would be there.s. “You need 15,000 fans, not 15,000 spectators, so it’s up to us to do things that allow the stadium to catch fire“, called Vincent Collet, the coach of the Mets 92, before the meeting. And he was heard.

As soon as the players entered, the decibel counter exploded, with a victory by the applause meter for Victor Wembanyama, of course. His dunk to kick off the evening had the audience roaring, who remixed a Barcelona chant dedicated to Lionel Messi for his ‘Wemby’. A volcanic fervor that contrasted with the usual tranquility of Roland-Garros, even if we found some “popopopoooo, ole!”. This time no silence, no call for calm from the referee, or the speakers. The last quarter, which saw Monaco pick up again before taking the lead for the first time, came close to collective hysteria, especially when Victor Wembanyama breathed new life into his team.

Eventually, the Metropolitans bowed out, putting an end to these Betclic Elite finals after three defeats in as many games. Monaco could savor their title of champion of France, and Boulogne-Levallois only had to say goodbye to their jewel, promised to a brilliant future on the other side of the Atlantic. “I didn’t think it was the last game because I wanted to win it. But in the end, frankly, it was special. I tell myself that with the France team, I will play others in France. Especially next year (with the Olympics). I tell myself that it’s only goodbye”pointed out the pivot next.

The time to install the podium for the winners, a few last songs came to greet “Wemby”. At one corner of the field, the future San Antonio Spurs player watched the Monegasques lift the trophy. A look in the air, too, to admire one last time the public come to wish him a good trip. Then the giant of the Mets engulfed his two meters twenty-one in the locker room of Philippe-Chatrier. “I feel like I’m closing part of my life. I’m made for that, I have no worries. I knew I would go to the NBA but I also know that there will be hardships. Each defeat is more a lesson than a failure. If I lost today, I know it will serve me in five or ten years“, took date the one who should settle in Texas from this summer.

Victor Wembanyama has not added a French championship title to his list (he won one in 2022 with Asvel), but whatever, the party was great. And gives ideas to the Basketball League, which intends to surf on the dynamics of this historic season (35% sold-out matches). In the bowels of Roland-Garros, the director of the LNB, Fabrice Jouhaud, dreamed out loud: “The ambition of the League must be to play at the Parc des Princes, at the Stade de France. You have to want to do things like that. There was indeed hockey in Lyon… What happened this season shows that we can push the walls a little, literally and figuratively”. Given the enthusiasm around him Thursday at Porte d’Auteuil, Victor Wembanyama could actually fill a stadium on his own. After all, the boy, it seems, has no limits.