Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, 44, was appointed Minister of Sports as well as the Olympic and Paralympic Games on Friday. Director General of the French Tennis Federation since March 2021, she first led a short career as a tenniswoman before completing brilliant studies which led her to work for very large companies. Even if her passion for sport has never left her.
French sport knows its new representative in the government. This Friday, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra was appointed Minister of Sports (as well as the Olympic and Paralympic Games) in the new team led by Elisabeth Borne. At 44, the one who had been general manager of the French Tennis Federation since March 2021 thus succeeds Roxana Maracineanu, in office for almost two years. If she is perceived by many as the archetype of the technocrat, Amélie Oudéa-Castera nevertheless has a tenuous link with professional sport.
Several Grand Slam semi-finals in juniors
Because seeing her become one of the patrons of French tennis a little over a year ago was nothing surprising. The brand new Minister of Sports notably played in three Grand Slam semi-finals as juniors in the early 1990s: the US Open in 1993 then Roland-Garros and Wimbledon in 1994. In 1992, she also won the Orange Bowl, the youth world championship, in the under-14 category. In all, she played for four seasons on the professional circuit when she was barely out of adolescence.
Former world 251st at the WTA
Finally, she put an end to her career in June 1996, at only 18 years old, on a defeat in doubles at Roland-Garros alongside Amélie Mauresmo. A year earlier, she recorded her best individual ranking in singles with a 251st place in the WTA. When she decides to resume her studies, she keeps a link with the world of the little yellow ball and will in particular experience the coronation of her companion at the time, the Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten, at Roland-Garros in 1997.
In the same class as Macron at ENA
If her short career in tennis did not bring her the expected success, the second life of Amélie Oudéa-Castera will be made of successes. After leaving the world of tennis, she turned to brilliant studies and was admitted to the Sciences Po Paris competition with an average of 16.96, Le Monde reported in June 2021. The former French tennis hopeful continues with the ‘Essec, a master’s degree in law then the ENA. On the benches of the most famous school of administration, she notably meets a certain Emmanuel Macron within the promotion Léopold Sédar Senghor.
A brilliant private career
Once graduated in 2004, she began her new career as a financial auditor at the Court of Auditors before embarking on a brilliant career in the private sector: Société Générale (where she met her future husband, the current Managing Director of the bank, Frédéric Oudea), Axa, Carrefour… The former tennis player held positions of responsibility related to marketing, digital or digital transformation for more than ten years.
She created the Rénovons le sport français association in 2016.
But his passion for sport has always stayed with him. In 2016, she created the association Rénovons le sport français, which presents itself as a citizen movement “whose social purpose is to contribute to the modernization of the French sports model” in terms of governance, sports policies or even economy. . In 2018, her profile led her to be asked to lead the National Sports Agency, then chaired by Jean Castex, but she refused. Four years later, she was visibly persuaded to serve her country.