Amelie Mauresmo named first ever female director of the French Open

Amelie Mauresmo (Richard Fisher, Wikimedia Commons)

According to ESPN on Thursday, Amelie Mauresmo has been named the first female director of the French Open. Mauresmo replaces Guy Forget, who resigned a week ago. Forget’s contract was set to expire at the end of the calendar year.

Mauresmo was one of the best female tennis players in the first decade of the 21st century. In 2006, she won two major titles. Mauresmo defeated Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium, 6-1, 2-0, in the final of the 2006 Australian Open, after Henin-Hardenne had to pull out with stomach pain she claimed was caused by an anti-inflammatory she used to treat a shoulder injury. Then in the Wimbledon final of 2006, Mauresmo beat Henin-Hardenne again. This time on grass, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Since retiring in 2009, Mauresmo has been very active in tennis as a coach. One might expect that Mauresmo’s focus would be women’s tennis. However, that is not completely the case. From 2014 to 2016, she coached British tennis star Andy Murray. During their partnership, Murray had some outstanding results on clay. He defeated the clay court specialist Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-2 in the final of the Madrid Open (the one clay court event where Nadal has shown some degree of vulnerability over the years), and then reached the semifinals of the 2015 French Open. Also in 2015, Mauresmo was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island.

Among the other players Mauresmo has coached include Michael Llodra, Victoria Azarenka and Marion Bartoli. In 2013, Bartoli won Wimbledon, as she beat Sabine Lisicki of Germany, 6-1, 6-4.

Forget had been the French Open tournament director since 2016. A former player on the ATP Tour, Forget reached five grand slam quarterfinals. There was some controversy surrounding the 2020 French Open, as the date was moved to late September because of coronavirus before official consultation with the players.

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