Stéphane Houdet: “I have excellent memories in Tokyo”

Stéphane Houdet, already double Paralympic champion, can become a little more legendary of his sport during the Tokyo Paralympic Games. The 50-year-old tennis player, who is still one of the best in the world in singles and doubles, has also had a great experience in the Japanese capital.

He’s French, and he’s won more Grand Slam tournaments than Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal. Hard to believe, so much the tricolor tennis is suffering at the moment, but in wheelchair tennis, Stéphane Houdet carries the colors of France high. The 50-year-old tennis player also has two Paralympic titles in doubles, in Beijing in 2008 and in Rio in 2016. At the Paralympic Games in London, he was on the podium twice (silver medal in singles, medal of bronze in duplicate). Stéphane Houdet will aim for the pass of five in Tokyo in a few weeks, not disturbed by the postponement and the health crisis. “Regarding the fact of not being able to play at the start of the health crisis, it was a gift for me because I was injured for the first time in my career. The beginning was therefore recovery, and then the discovery of different activities. I had fun doing a lot of other things, especially painting. I liked it so much that I continue. It also made it possible to train a little more ”, he explains. Always positive, Stéphane Houdet lived some exceptional moments during the resumption of competitions, especially at the US Open: “The resumption took place in New York, for the US Open, in a stadium empty of spectators, but with fantastic conditions for the players. Each player had a dressing room, and we could attend everyone’s games. I was next to Daniil Medvedev, opposite Alexander Zverev. A little further there was Dominic Thiem, Naomi Osaka… I saw everyone’s training. We had really very privileged conditions. “