Since 2010 Stéphane Matheu (49) has been watching over the fate of Team Pro Winamax. Having become a primarily mental coach of Europe’s best poker team, Francilien were nevertheless promised in their youth to a royal future on the tennis courts. Return to a trajectory as unexpected as it is fascinating.
It all started with a phone call. More exactly a bet. The bet, definitively canceled, was never accepted. Stéphane Matheu (49) therefore did not have to discover tennis on one foot. “As soon as the exchange started, I had to get back on my feet. It wasn’t for lack of training though. “For three months”. On the other hand, that day he had a meeting that changed his life. And the former great hope of world tennis among young people to move to a completely different world: poker. A meeting that this son of the yellow ball owes to a certain Gus Hansen, a Danish poker champion who also played tennis before shining on the tables. Seventeen years later, Matheu, who has become the mental coach of one of the best poker teams in the world (Team Pro Winamax), can still barely believe what fate had in store for him during the summer of 2005. of Las Vegas. “Gus introduced me to the world of poker. I didn’t know anything about it, not even the rules, I didn’t even know there were professional players. When he told me he was a pro, I wondered what discipline he was talking about. From the height of his eighty-five meters, the former great future of tennis who is still large in tonnage will be immediately put on the field. “One night, Gus suggested that I go and see a cash game. We both went to the Bellagio. I’ve seen most of the world. There were all the poker superstars of the time. I didn’t know anyone but it was impressive. “
During his “first career”, he occupies the 286th place in the world
The 35-year-old French student is stung. Tennis? He hadn’t thought about it for a few years, for not having touched the motives on the flop. Then the real estate cards in hand, he prefers to fold rather than try to see and cross poker again in his way. Coach (already) but sportsman only in a reality show focused on his new passion, he met Bertrand Grospellier, aka ElkY, the first French poker star, and accompanied him on the professional circuit. “It was amazing. He made five million in the first year in tournaments. The tandem panics the counters and does not go unnoticed. Winamax approaches the former tennis player, he hesitates, then gives up. We are in 2010.” It was. very difficult to stop working with Bertrand because I enjoyed working with him, it worked well and it was a great life experience. I also thought it was an opportunity to see if what I had done with him was just luck or something I could play on a larger scale, ”says the one who had climbed to 286th place on the ATP rankings at the pinnacle of what he calls his“ first career ”.
Sampras’ sparring partner, matches against Federer and Roddick …
French number 1 among cadets, European reference among juniors, “Steph” preferred to take another trajectory when he understood that he would not be “a great champion”, hampered in particular by a serious knee injury. When he is satisfied, at 27, to become “the best player in Las Vegas behind Andre Agassi” and to coach the “Sin City” teams – “to pay for his studies” – he leaves behind him three participations (in the qualifiers ) at Grand Slam tournaments or training sessions against the monsters of this sport. “I had the opportunity to meet the greatest of the circuit. I was Pete Sampras’ sparring partner at the end of his career, I played against Roger Federer before he turned pro. I also played a match against Andy Roddick … “At the time there was only one thing missing from the current companion of this Team Winamax, which includes the world champion Romain Lewis, the legendary rapper Kool Shen or the Belgian genius. Davidi Kitai: to be able to benefit from a mental coach as valuable as he himself has become today.
He dreamed of himself as Guy Forget, he became … Toni Nadal
“I asked myself a lot of questions, especially why I wasn’t feeling better. And I came to the conclusion that it was the mental aspect that I was missing (…) It is obvious that today’s Stéphane Matheu could have helped the then Stéphane Matheu. Upon arrival, it is the pros of the Winamax poker team who benefit daily in their career (and even more so at the end of the tournaments, “when the stakes become high and the emotions more complicated to manage”) of the one whose l he coach, lulled into poker by Gus Hansen, took “a long time to cry”. Since then, he has lived again and his happiness shines through. You were only supposed to see him last month during the WPO (Winamax Poker Open) in Bratislava or more recently during the WiPT (Winamax Poker Tour) in La Villette as he informed his little proteges with the utmost benevolence before letting them go to fight at the tables. “I lead the group, I’m there when they need me. There is also a lot of logistics and planning, ”says the modest and humble Stéphane Matheu, now 49, and still the same desire as when he still saw himself becoming the future Guy Forget. He never will be. On the other hand, from Toni Nadal of poker, he definitely has it all.
