To help today’s talents become tomorrow’s champions

Since its creation 9 years ago by Patrick Mouratoglou, world-renowned tennis coach and owner of the Mouratoglou Academy, the foundation helped many young talents to fulfill their potential and achieve their dreams. Alumni of the foundation include 2021 Roland-Garros and 2023 Australian Open runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas, 2022 Roland-Garros finalist Coco Gauff and Denmark’s hope Holger Rune who entered the top 10 at the end of 2022.

Today, it continues to help the next generation of players: the youngest Fruhvirtova sister Brenda Fruhvirtova, who is widely considered the top player in her age category (2007) and the biggest hope of the WTA tour; sensational Ksenia Efremova, who is already achieving outstanding results with just 14 years of age; Svit Suljic, who became the doubles champion at 2023 Les Petits As, the World Cup of tennis for players aged under 14; Thijs Boogaard, who won 6 consecutive Junior ITF titles and became the youngest player to win a Junior ITF J300; Clervie Ngounoue, who won the girls’ doubles title at the 2022 Australian Open; Michaela Laki, who won a Billie Jean King Cup match for Greece at age 17 and who is now working her way to the professional tour one milestone at a time.

At all levels, Champ’seed players have shown their qualities in the world of tennis with tremendous results in the most prestigious tournaments. The foundation helps to make a difference in their future and present careers thanks to the support of our generous contributors and the participation of public figures from around the world.

The future is now.

THE BOARD

Patrick Mouratoglou

Founder & President of the Champ'seed Foundation
(under the aegis of Fondation de Luxembourg)

President of the Mouratoglou Academy

Simona Halep's coach and former long time coach of Serena Williams

TV & Press consultant

Pierre Benichou

Partner Managing Director at Goldman Sachs (New York)

Competitor & Tennis Passionate

Tonika Hirdman

Director General at Fondation de Luxembourg

Anne Kremer

Former professional tennis player (1999-2014)
Former WTA n°18

COO CK Sport & Fitness (Luxembourg)

THE SELECTION COMITTEE

The committee is formed of 6 experienced members whose mission it is to select candidates eligible for the support provided by the foundation.

patrick-mouratoglou
Patrick Mouratoglou

Simona Halep's coach and former long-time coach of Serena Williams

President of the Mouratoglou Academy

Mathis Di Maio

Technical Coordinator of Champ'seed Foundation

Tennis coach and former high-level French tennis player

FRÉDÉRIC LEFEBVRE

Fitness Department Director at Mouratoglou Academy

Fitness coach of Stefanos Tsitsipas

Jérémy Chardy

Professional Tennis Player

Stéphanie Testard

Former Professional Tennis Player

Tennis & School Manager at Mouratoglou Academy

Laurent Rizzo

Former Professionnal Tennis Player

Former Agent for Octagon Agency

Current Wealth Management Advisor

TECHNICAL COORDINATOR

Mathis Di Maio
Missions

Born on November 23rd, 1992, Mathis is a tennis coach and a former high-level French tennis player.

Beginning tennis at the age of 12, he quickly rose through the ranks thanks to his tenacity, his rigor and his love for the sport. He played many national and international tournaments before putting an end to it to devote himself to coaching.

Having worked since 2015 at the Mouratoglou Academy, Mathis quickly gained the trust of Patrick Mouratoglou and became involved in the Champ’seed Foundation as a coach. Over the past years, he helped and trained Champ'seed players such as Holger Rune, Jason Tseng, Lennon Jones, Linda and Brenda Fruhvirtova, Clervie Ngounoue and Michaela Laki. Since 2021, he has been and remains to this day coach consultant of Thijs Boogaard.

Mathis loves getting involved with players and their individual coaches, both on and off the court, to help them perform at their best. He is thrilled to take on this new role at Champ’seed.

In his role, Mathis is responsible for identifying candidates eligible for the support provided by the Champ’seed Foundation and forwarding the files to the selection committee for review and validation.

BOARD OF JUNIOR FUNDING PROGRAM

Aymeric Ferrier

President of Junior Funding Program

Daily Player Services at Mouratoglou Academy

Maryline Mertz

Treasurer of Junior Funding Program

Managing Director at Goldman Sachs (London)

Competitor & Tennis Passionate

Pierre Manessian

Secretary of Junior Funding Program

Associate Director at Osmium Consulting

Tennis aficionado

MODUS OPERANDI

Champ’seed Foundation’s Management Committee, also referred to as the “Board”, will be assisted by a panel of experts called the “Selection Committee”. Members of this Selection Committee are appointed by the Board. The Selection Committee will be comprised of six members, at least one of which will be from the Management Committee.
The members of the Selection Committee are:
  1. Patrick Mouratoglou
  2. Mathis Di Maio
  3. Frédéric Lefebvre
  4. Jérémy Chardy
  5. Stéphanie Testard
  6. Laurent Rizzo
The Selection Committee will meet on a regular basis. Its role is to put forward beneficiaries in accordance with the objectives of the Champ’seed Foundation. The grant proposals will come with a description of the selected beneficiaries and the rationale for the attribution of a grant, its amount and what it is expected to fund.
The proposed grants will be submitted to the Management Committee by a member of the panel of experts by any means of communication including by email. If one of the Board members disagrees on a grant proposed, he or she will be able to convene an extraordinary meeting of the Management Committee where the final decision to allocate the grant will be taken.
A non-profit organization under the law of 1901 was set-up in France under the name Junior Funding Program to manage the administration of the grants. Once the decision is made on who to allocate the grants to, the Fondation de Luxembourg will proceed to the payment of such grants to the non-profit organization which will subsequently distribute the grants to the beneficiaries’ service providers.
The following criteria regarding the selection of the candidates have been ratified by the Management Committee:
  1. Player’s potential: This criterion is critical, aside from the other criteria
  2. Age: Between 10 and 22 years old
  3. Ranking: Be among the 5 to 10 best players in their country for their age category. This criterion will be assessed by taking into consideration the level and the size of the country.
  4. Financial needs and means: The training and travel expenses will be assessed according to the candidate’s family’s financial situation
The panel of experts is able to override certain criteria if a player’s potential is observed, even if the candidate does not fulfill all the listed criteria.