Review of the Open Occitanie 2025: “We broke all the records, and that's a satisfaction”

Vice-president of the Occitanie Region, particularly in charge of Sports, Kamel Chibli was a key man in the continuation of the Open Occitanie in Montpellier last year. He takes stock of the following edition, a success in all respects.

What assessment do you draw from this 15th edition ?

It exceeded all my expectations, and I find that this sign of destiny is quite extraordinary. Because inevitably, in a complicated context for sport, particularly on a budgetary level, we managed to save a tournament that almost went elsewhere. And to think that, a year later, we find ourselves breaking the attendance record for the second year in a row, it is necessarily a superb gratitude. When I had the first figures a month ago, I was quite happy, proud, and content. I had a great personal emotion and satisfaction to say that we were right, collectively, to fight for this tournament.

The numbers prove us right, the number of children proves us right. The first Sunday, it was packed, it's unheard of, the Monday evening was packed… We broke all records, and it's a satisfaction because there are still more and more children and families from all over the region who came to the Sud de France Arena to watch the tournament. Which means that the tournament is totally anchored in its territory.

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It may have taken 15 years for it to be in a sustainable situation, but it's great, for the ecosystem, for the clubs, for the businesses, for the children, for the families, for this territory of Montpellier, of Hérault, and for our region. The public followed our idea and I take it as a message of support.

This success was important, a few months after the Paris 2024 Olympics ?

Yes, it is important because after the Olympic Games, there was a kind of drop in the pace and sporting events, in addition to the budgetary problems that we know. So to think that we are perhaps one of the only territories to have a very big event just after the Olympic and Paralympic Games is still great because it allows us to ride the wave and allows us to create the conditions for passion, for discovering sport, as with Hérault Sport for example. We see that there is a craze for sport, we must keep it. We have talked a lot about the legacy of the Games, there, typically, preserving an event like that and consolidating it is clearly in this sense. What trace do we leave behind ? And what tool do we leave behind so that kids can dream ? We must continue to work, invest in events, in infrastructure, even if the situation is not favorable. But I will fight to protect sports policy, whether it is regional or national.

The new public partners, the Department and the Etang de l’Or, have not regretted their choice, so ?

Yes, clearly. Both are very concerned about tennis, because the number of players compared to the population is the highest in France, in Hérault and in Pays de l’Or, so they are very happy. In addition, Hérault Sport has reached a young audience with its activities. When you see the number of children who were there even though we are not in school holidays… When you see the turnout in this context, it is huge. I think that for some, they are discovering the dimension of this tournament, what it represents, with the entire local ecosystem that is there. I saw President Stéphane Rossignol and the elected officials of the department welcoming young people, some from priority neighborhoods in the city, others from clubs, to introduce them to the athletes, to do autograph sessions, to take photos, to do exchanges. The main thing in the story is to make children dream and to make their eyes shine, and I think that's done, and that's what political action is. We are judged on our actions, and for once, I thank them. With everyone, we managed to perpetuate this tournament for the next three years. And I am very, very, very happy, because I know that the future will be pretty good for this tournament.