A wind of change is blowing through women’s tennis and, in turn, through the National Bank of Canada Open. It is also blowing through the Montreal offices of Tennis Canada, with the arrival on the scene of a new director who wants to ensure the continuity of one of the most popular events in Montreal.
In her mid-thirties, after spending about 10 years with the tournament’s communications team, including the role of director of this service starting in 2018, Valérie Tétreault is preparing feverishly for her first edition of the Omnium National Bank as Director, succeeding Eugène Lapierre who held the position for some 20 years.
It’s not a role she dreamed of as soon as she announced her retirement as a player at the end of 2010. In fact, the idea started to germinate in her mind quite a bit thanks to Lapierre who, skillfully and subtly, up to a point, made her realize that she had a promising future in the offices of Tennis Canada.
It all came together on October 6, at a press conference where she presented herself alongside Lapierre with aplomb, even if she assures that she felt “a big stress comparable to the stress before a big match in my life as a gamer,” she said.
“It touched me a lot that they trusted me, even at a young age too, and let me take the reins of the tournament,” Tétreault said in an interview with La Presse Canadienne, at about a month of the first games of the main leg of the women’s tournament, which will take place from August 7 to 13 at the IGA stadium.
“I feel really privileged, because my great passion in life is tennis. I had the chance to be a player and, more or less, to live my dream. I had the chance to commentate tennis matches on television, which obviously few people have the chance to do. I had the chance to work in communications, which was my desire once I stopped playing. And there, it’s a bit of the pinnacle of taking the direction of a tournament that I love, “she adds.
Tétreault considers herself all the more privileged because she believes she works within an organization whose culture is conducive to success. And according to her, Lapierre had a lot to do with the establishment of this culture through his creativity, his great calm and his generosity.
“His generosity with people made a big impression on me,” she says. I often walked with him on the site (of the tournament) and he always takes the time. However, he has a thousand and one things in his agenda, but he makes time for each person.
“That’s why in Montreal, we really are a big team, a big family,” she adds. There is no sense of hierarchy. And if, in 10 years, the ‘feeling’ of the team is that we have managed to preserve that, then that will probably be my biggest victory. »
In Lapierre’s mind, this change at the helm of the tournament in Montreal was destined to happen. In 2010, Lapierre had noted in Tétreault’s qualities as a communicator during an important press conference to which he had invited her as spokesperson for the players to say a few words in front of many dignitaries, including representatives of the levels of governments.
“She’s the one who stole the ‘show.’ I hadn’t written him a text. It was perfect. I said to myself, there are other things after (her career as a player), ”says Lapierre.
Then, when Tétreault was hired to join the tournament communications team in 2011, Lapierre noted other strengths in her over time.
“The longer it went, the more I saw the quality of his judgment. It’s not that we have very complicated situations in tennis, but situations happen and you have to see how you’re going to respond to that. Valerie, she puts her finger on it. I trust her judgement, and fairly quickly, she showed me that she had it “no worse”, “he illustrates.
“The other thing I saw was how other people reacted to Valerie. She had natural leadership in meetings. Not flamboyant leadership. She’s not the one who’s going to jump on the table,” he continues.
This self-control at Tétreault, Sylvain Bruneau had also noted it when he accompanied her in various tournaments as part of his coaching duties at Tennis Canada.
“Valerie has always been very calm. I remember her when I was young. I traveled with her. I have done several tournaments with her. She must have been 15 or 16 when I traveled with her. She’s always been a very sweet, low profile girl who does her thing. It’s the epitome of calm,” he describes.
Moreover, according to her good friend Marie-Ève Pelletier, who rubbed shoulders with her on the courts, in the studios of TVA Sports and in the offices of Tennis Canada, Tétreault is unanimous around her.
“Everyone who meets Valerie loves Valerie. They adore him. You’re never going to hear anything negative about Valerie. She is kind, approachable, knowledgeable. She’s a professional,” says Pelletier.
The first six months of 2023 have allowed Tétreault to gradually settle into his new role.
“It’s really in the last weeks, the last months where it becomes real because my daily life has changed, my tasks are not the same at all. I’m having a lot of fun doing what I’m doing and continuing to grow,” she says.
“Obviously I want to find my signature in all of this, leave my mark on the tournament a bit. My goal is still to be able to ensure continuity because, in the end, things have been done very well in the past. You don’t change a winning formula just for the sake of changing. It’s a bit what I see in the continuity of things, “she summarizes.
