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14.07.2019

#Wimbledon #2019 #HenriLeconte

Role reversal in the invitation doubles as the umpire shows off his on-court skills - and Henri Leconte has a go in the chair.

Henri Leconte hit the courts with partner Patrick McEnroe on Tuesday at Wimbledon for senior invitation doubles. These exhibition matches are never as serious as the WTA and ATP contests, but things got a little crazy  when Leconte traded places with the umpire. 

Leconte and McEnroe would lose to Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis 6-3, 7-5, but Leconte provided lots of laughs and won the hearts of the No. 3 court crowd. 



 

 

 


 

07.06.2019

#RolandGarros #2019 #FrenchPlayers

After Benoît Paire, Gael Monfils was eliminated Monday in the round of 16 at Roland Garros, beaten in three sets by Dominic Thiem. There are no French Players in the Quarter Final.





 

 

10.05.2019

#hlandco #coaching #rolandgarros #daviscup

Is it true that you never left really the “stage” as you have several careers e.g. professional tennis player, Eurosport commentator, padel ambassador etc. ?

Yes and no. I am always active in sports, tennis and events. You know I am passionate and I like to work and share my experience.  It's very important for me to be able to share my knowledge and to entertain people.  

 

You have a special place in the heart of the French. You have got that special place as a reward for all your titles, great matches and entertainment. Is this true?

Yes I am popular. I have a special relationship with the public. They love me or they do not love me. I always leave the court with a special impression,  It's my character, which is also my strength.      

 

You have also decided to use your career to share your experiences with regards to several areas: . How to handle stress, victory and failure ... What would be the most important lesson, the most important and easy to follow advice?

It is for this purpose that I created HLandCo: my high-level sports career brought me so much and allowed me to forge a competitive mind during all these years, always surpassing myself, that today my greatest wish is to retransmit my experience and to provide the desiring person with the keys that I have been able to access and that we all have in us to succeed our life in all the fields that we wish: professional career or private life.

 

You have been at La Wantzenau on the 10th and 11th of April and you talked about coaching and advice. Do you have a more particular relationship to Alsace?

Alsace is a fantastic region, a very beautiful place that I like very much. We eat well, people are very friendly. I always have a lot of fun coming to your area.

 

The clay season begins soon. I have to ask you a question about the French chances at Roland Garros ... you are the last French finalist, and it goes back to ... more than 30 years now.  We have the feeling that the French tennis is difficult...

As every year we hope to see a French go far in the tournament, reach the last four, the final, win ... We had good results earlier this year with Lucas Pouille and Gael Monfils (which unfortunately got hurt. he had a very good start). For the moment it's too early to predict it ...

 

A last word on the "new" Davis Cup: How do you see it ?

We can not say anything yet. It's a new concept. Let's give the product a chance and we'll talk about it again at the end of November! But for sure, I miss the Davis Cup that I always played and won. The magic will never be the same again.

29.03.2019

#championstour #atp #brodies #gleneagles #henrileconte 2019

After Delray Beach Open that took place in February 2019, the organizers have scheduled the second stop of the ATP Champions Tour for June 13-15 2019 at Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland.

Mark Philippoussis and Greg Rusedski won the previous two editions in 2017 and 2018 and there will be a new champion, with Juan Carlos Ferrero, Tim Henman, Henri Leconte and Thomas Enqvist fighting for the title.

Colin Fleming will defend the colors of Scotland at the Brodies Invitational, together with some promising youngsters who will join the legends on the court.

Juan Carlos Ferrero is a former world no. 1 and the winner of 16 ATP titles, including Roland Garros in 2003 and four Masters 1000 crowns.

Tim Henman was ranked 4th in 2002, advancing into four Wimbledon semi-finals and conquering 11 ATP titles from 28 finals. As the majority of the Scandinavians,

Thomas Enqvist was an excellent indoor player, taking 11 ATP titles under the roof (Paris, Stuttgart, Stockholm among the others) and also Cincinnati 19 years ago.

Ranked in the top-5 back in 1986, Henri Leconte is a proud owner of nine ATP titles and he is one of the biggest entertainers on the court, always making sure to play some fantastic shots and keep the crowd on the edge of their seats.

"The Brodies Invitational is one of the ATP Champions Tour events that I most look forward to. We get such great support in Scotland and the event continues to attract a world-class line-up of players. A real highlight for all the players is the opportunity to take to the court alongside some of Scotland's most promising junior talent.

It's essential to give the rising sports stars a platform like the Brodies Invitational to get a feel for what it is like to play on the big courts at major events," said Henman.

 

15.02.2019

Henri Leconte is confident that good times will come again for Roger Federer. Leconte has a good relationship with the Swiss player. In January 2019 they attended together an event held by Credit Suisse in Melbourne. Henri interviewed Roger many many times. He is the James Bond for me', said Leconte.

'He is unique, able to constantly adapt his game. He even plays ping pong, if necessary. And against younger players like Tsitsipas he needs to change the tactic and strategy again.
Winning two sets is easy for Roger, five sets turns more complicated. He will have to play even more aggressively and he will try to do it. ' Will Federer be willing to change his game again? 'Yes of course. You cannot imagine how much work it takes to be at the same level as Roger at that age", admitted Leconte. The Frenchman also reflected on Federer's decision to play the French Open 2019: "It will be hard for Roger as well. From the other side, it could help him to become even stronger. If you are good on clay, you play better on other surfaces.

I never get worried about James Bond. He always finds a solution to kill."

 

 


 

#AustralianOpen #HenriLeconte #JohnMcEnroe #ToddWoodbridge 2019



Henri Leconte: #RogerFederer #Wimbledon #2018



#Tennis #VideoGame #Fun #Entertainment



04.07.2018

#Wimbledon #London #Scotland #Gleneagles #Murray 2018

Winner of the French Open junior title in 1981, Leconte properly came to Wimbledon's attention four years later when a dazzling win over world No 2 Ivan Lendl fired him to the quarter-finals, although he reckons it was an earlier match which endeared him to the strawberry set.

"This was my first time on the Centre Court, my day. I wanted to do something for the crowd to remember me. I was playing good and then this beautiful white butterfly landed at my feet as I was about to serve. Maybe some guys would have swatted it away and one or two might have stamped on it - you can guess who they might be! I picked up the butterfly and it hopped onto my racket. So I walked it over to the edge of the court and it flew into the stands. The people, they went nuts. I had a good relationship with Wimbledon from that day, a fantastique one. And it still exists."

This was, as we say, a different era when the raciest tabloids showed how important a sport tennis was to them by instituting Top of the Bots polls. Gabriela Sabatini would be No 1 among the women, and Leconte, the men's title-holder, stepped out with the dusky Argentine for a while (can we even say "dusky Argentine" any more, twice in the same paragraph as well?).

By 1986 when Leconte reached the semi-finals at SW19, his best achievement there, he'd acquired a sizeable fan club and a pretty hands-on one as well. "It was, you know, a physical experience getting in and out of the club," he laughs. "You have to be careful when you're famous and not bad-looking. How I turned out I'm very fortunate; my mother did a great job! I had two dreams as a kid. No 1 was to be a tennis player. No 2 was to look like James Bond. I'm still hoping the second one might happen though maybe it's not possible now."

It wasn't only his derriere they liked at the All-England Club; some could appreciate his strokeplay. Leconte is regularly held up as one of the best and most stylish players never to win Wimbledon, maybe third on the list behind Ilie Nastase and, at the top, Ken Rosewall. He is pleased to be appreciated for the finer points of the game as he regards tennis as art. "I play shots that even I don't understand," he once said. He has another go at explaining his aesthetic now: "I'm a leftie and therefore I had to make quick reactions always. Sometimes I would come to the net and give the other guy a shot which was, you know, a little flower. Or a zest of lemon. When you have the talent you are very lucky."

As an elite competitor his sense of fun had to be restricted to pre-Hawkeye gags to dispute line calls when he'd pretend to be blind, tapping his racket in front of him like a white stick. Now, though, he can unleash the full repertoire of silly walks, animal noises, wind-ups and mimicry.

He knows Gleneagles in Scotland is such an occasion where gags and shots all hit their mark.
He's played there before, having been recruited by Judy Murray for a charity event, and is full of admiration for Scotland's grande dame of tennis and her super-talented progeny, while hoping that Andy can beat his injuries and get back on court. "He's a fantastique player and it's sad for Scotland that he's struggling right now. I really hope he can find a solution to play at Wimbledon but it doesn't look great. I don't want him to stop now but sometimes these things you can't control. Sometimes you push the body too hard - and myself I know because of three operations to my back - and eventually it says: 'Enough, fini.'"

 

08.06.2018

#RolandGarros #FrenchPlayers #HenriLeconte

This Tuesday the quarter finals at Roland Garros started without the French Players. On Monday, the last representative of the Tricolor clan, Caroline Garcia, was wiped out by Angelique Kerber. Two small sets and then she went. On the men's side, the story was folded as early as Saturday with the successive eliminations of Gaël Monfils, Lucas Puglia, Richard Gasquet and Pierre-Hugues Herbert. A counter-performance, unprecedented for eight years, which angers the former finalist of Roland Garros, Henri Leconte.

"Everyone needs to wake up," urges the Eurosport consultant in the Parisian columns. They're all on a rolling train, moving quietly. Indeed, the results of the French are more than honourable in junior.  But where it is counting, it's when you have to perform as a pros. "We have good players in the top 15, 20. But not in the top 10 or 5. We don't have any more! I am the only one to open it, to have the courage to say certain things. We're in the fifth Division, he regrets. Already at the Australian Open, the French players disappeared as early as the eighth. The last final of a Frenchman goes back to 2008 for men, 2013 for women.

Getting out of the cocoon

One of the reasons which get articulated by the winner of the Davis Cup 1991 is the mental problem. Look at Thiem, Zverev who are playing three games in five sets. They're here, guys! The French players have to be harder and they have to come out of their little comfort zone. I have had it myself in my career. Henri Leconte invites the Federation to set up "a new device" and to go and see what is done elsewhere to get out of "our cocoon" and remove the "issues". "But let's stop staying here. Serbia, Russia, Spain, Germany, Angleterre  work all the time to get better and to try new things. They are looking for the little trick in addition (...)  It does not have to become a slaughter, he concludes.

In the meantime, the French public will be able to be satisfied with the doubles, a true tricolor specialty: The hexagon placed three of its player pairs in the men's doubles in the quarter finals.