[Lizan]

Originally Posted by delsa

Summary: Guy says that he learned the news from Seb the morning after his Wimbledon QF loss when they had breakfast together, that of course he's disapointed because he likes Seb and he would have liked to continue the DC adventure with him and because the team is weaker without him on paper but that there will be other opportunities to do that again with Seb...
He says that the first thing he asked him to do was to call his friends and teammates to tell them the news and explain his decision to them what Seb did immediately and to manage by himself with the press to announce it. He says he doesn't want to focus on this but on the players who are there, those who have a chance to proove themselves because of Seb's absence and on making all he can so that they could win...

Thank you so much Delsa!!
Gasquet proved that he's a good player.. Maybe they can win without Seb.. its sad that they put so much pressure on Seb to play while he doesnt want to.. I totally understand Sebs decision, I would do the same. He became this good because of himself not because of Guy Forget, so hes allowed to make his own decisions.. BUT I do understand how DC is important for France, and I also think that DC is important for Seb, but he chose to do it differently this time.. I wouldnt understand it if Guy would be mad at Seb (or even dissapointed), that would be childish..

[Marine]

An old interview which explains very well why Seb needs making breaks every 4 weeks...the most lovely and touching interview I ever read (especially from him, so shy !!!)in which he talks about his wife, his children

Marie Pierre, votre femme, était à vos côtés pendant la 1ere semaine de wimbledon, est-ce que ça a influé sur cvos résultats ?
- Normalement quand elle est là je ne gagne pas souvent. Non je rigole ! C'est bien de l'avoir auprès de moi. j'aimerais qu'elle vienne plus souvent mais c'est pas évidemment d'amener les enfants partout. De toute façon quand elle n'est pas là je l'appelle avant chaque match, j'ai besoin d'elle.

Pourquoi précisement ?
- Ben...déjà parce que je l'aime. Elle comprend les sacrifices que je dois faire et puis elle me permet de relativiser un peu sur le tennis. Le fait d'avoir eu 2 enfants m'a fait du bien. Le tennis n'est pas une question de vie ou de mort, c'est finalement rien d tout comparé à la vraie vie, les enfants, l'amour...

Ancienne joueuse de bon niveau, elle pourrait vivre sa crarière à travers vous mais elle semble s'interesser ai tennis que de loin...
- C'est bien elle m'oblige à garder les pieds sur terre, à ne pas me prendre la tête quand je perds...

En caricaturant un peu, les jeunes sportifs, élevés dans le culte de l'image, choisissent des femmes ressemblant à des models, à des gravures de mode. Votre épouse est très belle, mais elle a l'air d'une femme réelle, pas d'une image...
- Oui c'est une femme normale. Enfin, je ne me suis pas posé la question de savoir si elle ressemblait à une image de magazine quand je suis tombé amoureux d'elle ! Tu ne choisis pas, tu tombes amoureux d'une femme. Moi c'est arrivé dès que je l'ai recontrée, à Marseille. Elle rentrait des Etats Unis, sa carrière de joueuse s'achevait, la mienne commençait.

Elle semble avoir de bonnes relations avec le monde du tennis mais pour autant elle donne l'impression de rester en marge.
- Oui...en fait je ne serais pas joueur de tennis, elle serait quand même avec moi. (sourire). Quand elle vient sur les tournois, c'est pour être avec moi. Me voir en match, elle le fait sans doute pour me faire plaisir, mais ce n'est pas une priorité, elle préfère quand on va manger ou se balader. Ce qu'elle aime, c'est qu'on soit ensemble. C'est rassurant.
(I can confirm. During his matches in RG, she's not focused at all on the match, the score, she never applauds etc... well, this year she had to channel Tom the little terror !lol)

John Mac Enroe dit qu'à partir du moment où il a été père il avait du mal à quitter sa famille, est-ce votre cas ?
- C'est dur, vraiment dur. Je suis parti depuis 4 semaines et mes enfants me manquent assez rapidement. A chaque début de tournée je sais que ça va être dur. Régulièrement je pète un peu les plombs et j'ai envie de rentrer de toute lacher juste pour être avec eux.. (I believe him, that's what he did after Wimby ). C'est une organisation à avoir: appeller tous les jours, leur parler, les entendre, ça aide, mais en même temps, ça donne encore plus envie de les serrer dans mes bras. Franchement c'est dur. Je me prépare psychologiquement avant de partir mais le moment où je les quitte est éprouvant.
Après, pendant un temps ça va mieux, je suis bien dans mon truc, je bosse, et en fin de journnée il y a toujours un passage terrible où je ne pense qu'à être avec eux.


Well..after reading that we understand better Seb's personnality.
This interview is a lovely declaration of love to his family, it's the first and the last time he bared his heart to the medias.

[*julie*]

OMG Marine! This interview is incredible! Thanks for posting it. That the kind of things that makes him so special, so different from the other players. I am sad that he won't play the DC but this article help us to understand his decision.
I am amazed by his sincerity.
Where did you find this article? In L'equipe?

[Marine]

Yes, in L'equipe magazine, 2 years ago, something like that. This day the journalist (il l'a précisé en introduction) asked to Seb for being more "opened", because you know, Seb is not a client for the medias, he always says the minimum. So yes this interview is a jewel
I hope Esther or delsa (eh ouai delsa t'es une vraie pro, tu risques d'être sollicitée desormais ! ) will can translate for the others.

[Alison]

Can anyone translate please ?

[Lizan]

Originally Posted by Alison

Can anyone translate please ?

Yes please...

[Hangdog]

Thanks for all interviews and translations!
Well, after I read all the posts of this thread and even that last frank French interview I've felt myself such a USSR's person... I've been always sure that every sportsman does his sport firstly for the country and for the people. But it looks like now everywhere on the first place are only personal interests and money...

[*julie*]

Here is the translation of the interview posted by Marine. I hope you will understand it cos some bits were quite hard to translate

Marie Pierre, your wife was with you during the first week of Wimbledon. Does it help you to get good results?
Usually, when she's here, I don't win very often. No, I am joking! It's good to have her with me. I would like her to come more often but it's not easy to bring the children everywhere. Anyway, when she's not here, I phone her before every match. I need her.

Why precisely?
Well, because I love her. She understands the sacrifices I have to make and she helps me to relativize a little with tennis. Having 2 children is good for me. Tennis isn't a question of life or death. Actually,that's nothing compared with real life, children, love...

As a former women tennis player, she could live her career through you (???) but she doesn't seem to be very interested in tennis...
That's good. She helps me to keep down to earth and not to get mad when I loose...

Caricaturing a little, young sportsmen, who were brought up in the cult of image, choose women looking like models and fashion victims. Your wife is very beautiful but she looks like a real woman, not a picture.
Yes, she's a normal woman. I didn't ask myself if she looked like the pictures in magazines when I fell in love with her. You don't choose, you fall in love with a woman. It happened to me as soon as I met her in Marseille. She was coming back from the United States, her career was ending and mine was beginning.

She seems to have good relationships with the world of tennis though she gives the impression to stay on the fringe.
Yes...Actually, if I wasn't a tennis player, she would be with me all the same. (laugh) When she comes to tournaments, it's to be with me. She sees my matches to please me but it's not a priority. She prefers going to the resaturant or for a walk. What she likes is when we are together. That's rassuring.

John Mc Enroe says that from the moment he was a father, it was hard for him to leave his family. Is it the same for you?
That's hard, very hard. I have left for 4 weeks now and I miss my children quite rapidly. Everytime a new season begins I know it's gonna be hard. Regularly, it drives me mad and I want to leave everything just to be with them. That's a real organisation to have: calling them everyday, talking to them, hearing them...It helps but at the same time, I am dying for hugging them. Honestly, that's very hard. Before leaving them I prepare myself psychologically, but the moment I leave them is still painful. After that, it gets better for a while, I do my things, I work and at the end of the day, there is always this terrible moment when I only think about being with them.

[french-guru]

From reading the interview, it seems that Sebastien is suffering a lot from not being able to see his family (wife, children, eg.)

[delsa]

Thank you for the perfect translation, Julie!

[Alison]

Thanks *julie*

what a great interview

[Lizan]

awwww Seb , I really do feel bad for him.. Aww I can imagine its soooo hard for him to not see his children and wife for so long.. He's allowed to take some time off (what he does during DC) to see them, isnt he..

[esther]

thanks for posting that again, Marine. He's been married for so long, yet he still talks about love like that! Sooooo sweet

[delsa]

Well, now I believe the French will be even more angry against Seb because they'll think France could have won the quarterfinal tie with him (or at least have more chances of winning it)! He's not out of the inn, yet with these DC withdrawals problems... (I bet he won't be so high in the top 30 of the French sportsmen popularity ranking next year! )

[Marine]

Originally Posted by delsa

Well, now I believe the French will be even more angry against Seb because they'll think France could have won the quarterfinal tie with him (or at least have more chances of winning it)! He's not out of the inn, yet with these DC withdrawals problems... (I bet he won't be so high in the top 30 of the French sportsmen popularity ranking next year! )

Ouai, à moins de faire un exploit d'ici là en solo...d'ailleurs y'a intéret, sinon je vais me facher.