“I have always been very proud to be from Strasbourg”

The town hall of Strasbourg had seen the big picture to award the medal of honor of the city to Pierre-Hugues Herbert, winner of the Davis Cup 2017. The decoration was presented to him by the mayor Roland Ries on the occasion of a ceremony of honor at the town hall, this Friday, April 27.

Pierre-Hugues Herbert, 2017 Davis Cup winner but also and mostly pure product of the Alsatian terroir, was ceremoniously welcomed this Friday, April 27 in the Grand Salon of Strasbourg City Hall. The same room where Winston Churchill sat in 1949 (he had just been made an honorary citizen of the city) and where the Dalai Lama gave a speech in 2016. Mayor Roland Ries awarded him city ​​medal of honora distinction that had already received the Saudi human rights activist Raif Badawi… but also Mr. Pokora.

The children are delighted

In the morning, he was at the Alsace tennis league, in Hautepierre, to hit the ball with young members of the club. Once the session was over, multiple autographed tennis balls, and all the children delighted, the one sometimes nicknamed P2H put on her best outfit to be received under the golds of the republic.

The mayor – who is also a tennis player in his spare time – even allowed himself a joke in the introduction to his speech. In it, he specified that he had only come to welcome Pierre-Hugues Herbert because his usual playing partner – who is also called Roland – was not available for his usual part of the Friday morning at the Strasbourg tennis club…

A signature in the guestbook

After Roland Ries, it was Lionel Ollinger, president of the Grand-Est tennis league, who took the floor. Pierre-Hugues Herbert then officially received the medal from the hands of the mayor… and knocked it down – someone in the audience seemed more worried about the century-old prosecution than the medal. The tennis champion (we always talk about Pierre-Hugues Herbert, even if we have no doubts about the excellent level of the mayor) was then invited to leave a trace in the guestbook… two pages from that of Emmanuel Macron.

All this was done a few meters from the Silver salad bowl, a huge solid silver trophy 250 kilograms and 100 years old. There is still room to engrave the results of 22 Davis Cups on it. Two background conveyors flanked him, enforcing the rule “No touch!” literally – even for Pierre-Hugues Herbert. They were also responsible for tending the object: a task almost as physical as ensuring the security of the object, because silver tends to tarnish very quickly.

Tribute to a region

It was then the turn of the Alsatian sportsman of the year 2017 to speak. Quite moved, he wanted to thank many people who allowed him to get where he is today. He also held to celebrate in one’s home region : “I am a proud Alsatian, born in Schiltigheim, passed by the Strasbourg club, having lived in Oberhausbergen and benefited from a Franco-German education: my roots are here.”

And to take the opportunity to pay tribute to… his girlfriend, present in the room. So sorry, girls (or boys…): he’s not single!