While the Australian Open is delighting tennis fans right now in Melbourne, nearly 300 ball collectors from Australia and abroad officiate throughout the day at matches. But did you know that two young players from the Nancy agglomeration took part in the meeting in January 2019? Justine Talot (Nancy Well TC) and Mattéo Boutley (VNTC) had indeed been selected at the end of Roland-Garros 2018 to officiate at the Grand Slam tournament.
A rare privilege since only two young “Frenchies” make the trip to the Australian Open each year as part of an exchange with the Australian tournament, which also sends two young “Aussies” Porte d’Auteuil.
For more than two weeks, Justine Talot (then 15 years old) and Mattéo Boutley (16 years old) had thus collected the balls of the champions. “We spent five hours on the courts every day being replaced every hour” says the young Nancy on the phone, “during the fortnight, I was a picker in a good of fifty matches”.
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Federer, Tsitsipas, Pouille, Osaka
Obviously seeing a host of stars on the courts. “I picked up in the match between (Stefano) Tsitsipas (the Greek player, in the semi-finals this year) and Roger Federer. A big moment. I had also officiated in a Lucas Pouille match. As we have a small flag with our nationality on the cap, he told me ” Ah, you came from France on purpose! ”. Amélie Mauresmo, her trainer, also noticed that I was French. On the women’s side, I also picked up in a match between Naomi Osaka (the Japanese player, who qualified for the final this year). I had also officiated on disabled tennis matches with the Olympic champions ”.
In the end, Justine Talot and Mattéo Boutley had lived an unforgettable fortnight. By measuring the luck of having been the only two French ball collectors during this 2019 edition of the Australian Open …
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