- BNP Paribas is launching, in collaboration with the French Tennis Federation (FFT), an initiative designed to assist the most promising young French tennis talent, and their families. Announced at the occasion of the French Open tennis championships Roland-Garros, the support programme is intended to give those young players the best possible chance of reaching the highest levels of competition and becoming the champions of tomorrow.
- 20 young players will be selected to join the ‘BNP Paribas Young Talent Team’, mentored by French player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
- BNP Paribas, which has made engagement with the younger generation a central plank in its Company Engagement policy, will be providing both financial and human resources to support the progress of the ‘BNP Paribas Young Talent Team’ members.
- This initiative is one of a number of partnerships forged by BNP Paribas to promote equal opportunities for young people in the world of business, education and sport.
BNP Paribas, a loyal partner to French and world tennis since 1973, is keen to help develop the tennis of tomorrow. If they are to be able to compete with the best in the world one day, young tennis hopefuls in France face a major challenge – the cost of their training, which adds up to tens of thousands of euros.
The ‘BNP Paribas Young Talent Team’ programme will be backed by an operating budget of €1 million during the first three years, the aim being to prepare promising young players for the demands of top international competition. With this financial envelope, BNP Paribas is complementing the support provided by the French Tennis Federation to young French hopefuls between the ages of 12 and 18.
20 young players – 10 girls and 10 boys, two of them wheelchair tennis players – will join the team over time. The first selection of 10 players to join the ‘BNP Paribas Young Talent Team’ will be made in September this year.
The players will be chosen by a Selection Committee made up of:
- Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Mentor of the ‘BNP Paribas Young Talent Team’
- Thierry Champion, High-Level Director of the French Tennis Federation
- Thierry Ascione, former player, now a leading coach
- Emilie Loit, former player with a world ranking of 27 in 2004
- Vincent-Baptiste Closon, Head of Tennis Engagement at BNP Paribas
The young players will be selected on the basis of both sports criteria (results and future potential) and more general criteria, including attitude, team-involvement and academic results.
The ‘BNP Paribas Young Talent Team’ members will receive two kinds of support:
- Financial assistance to be able to train and play the sport;
- Personal assistance in preparing for the high demands of the professional tennis world, including image management, fluency in the English language, education in the history of the game, etc.
The Selection Committee will ensure regular follow-up with the young players throughout the tennis season. The players will also be able to draw benefit from the BNP Paribas Group’s involvement in local communities. Group staff will call on their professional contacts all over France to complement the educational side of the programme.
Each player will receive support for one year, renewable each year until s/he reaches the age of 18.
BNP Paribas is today the number one partner to tennis worldwide, with a commitment, unrivalled in sport, which goes back all the way to 1973. The Group’s support covers all levels and dimensions of the game all over the world, including singles, doubles, team tennis, wheelchair tennis and family tennis, ranging from beginners’ training to the top professional tournaments.
- Professional Tennis: Official sponsor of the French Open at Roland Garros; title sponsor of the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas and the Fed Cup by BNP Paribas; title sponsor of three ATP Masters 1000 tournaments – the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters, the Internazionali BNL d’Italia (Italian Open) in Rome; title sponsor of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals in Singapore; partner to the Bank of the West Classic (Stanford), the Open 13 (Marseilles), the Moselle Open, the BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open and the Fever-Tree Championships (Queen’s Club, London)
- Exhibition Tennis: The BNP Paribas Showdown in New York City
- Wheelchair Tennis: BNP Paribas Open de France; BNP Paribas World Team Cup
- Junior & University Tennis and Academies: The Junior Davis Cup by BNP Paribas and Junior Fed Cup by BNP Paribas; the Master’U BNP Paribas; the BNP Paribas Cup; the BNP Paribas National Tennis Academy of Dublin (Ireland)
- Amateur Tennis: Sponsor of the BNP Paribas Family Trophy; providing support to over 1,000 amateur tournaments around the world through partnerships with more than 20 national tennis federations; also working with dozens of tennis-based charities such as Yannick Noah’s charity organisation ‘Fête le mur’; as well as being the mainspring of a number of ground-breaking social projects linked to tennis.
Having entered into all these partnerships, BNP Paribas set up in 2011 a programme called We Are Tennis, whose purpose is to promote interest in the game of tennis all over the world. The wearetennis.com website and its social network accounts bring together a community of tennis lovers and dedicated fans from all continents who are keen to obtain the latest news from the ATP, WTA and ITF circuits. In addition, in 2015 BNP Paribas created the We Are Tennis Fan Academy, which enables fans to express their passion for tennis as never before. BNP Paribas also supports local tennis through crowdfunding campaigns designed to finance projects. Also in 2015, the Group initiated a charity programme called ‘Aces of the Heart’ to assist young hospital in-patients and their families. The programme seeks to improve the daily lives and reception facilities at children’s hospitals and arranges for the children to attend tennis tournaments sponsored by the Bank.
More information: wearetennis.bnpparibas
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