The former tennis champion accuses his ex-wife of moral harassment.
The former tennis champion, tournament director Roland Garros since 2021, is currently in the middle of criminal proceedings with her ex-wife, Marie-Bénédicte Hurel, from whom she filed for divorce in 2023. The former world number 1 in women’s tennis became a civil party during the trial which took place took place behind closed doors on January 23 before the criminal chamber of the Bayonne judicial court.
This trial took place behind closed doors due to the private nature of the case and the public personality of Amélie Mauresmo. As a couple and with two children, the two women had been in a relationship since 2014 and got married in 2021. The former winner of Wimbledon and the Australian Open filed a complaint a few months ago, accusing his ex-partner of humiliation, blackmail, insults, including by SMS. According to the defense, the defendant made denigrating and insulting remarks, enough to characterize moral harassment.
The illness being profound, a total incapacity for work (ITT) of ten days was prescribed to him a few months ago while Marie-Bénédicte Hurel was placed in police custody at the Biarritz police station last September.
The disputed facts
According to Marie-Bénédicte Hurel’s lawyers, “the disputed SMS messages do not constitute harassment at all, but a simple discussion on daily management.” As for verbal insults: “no one has heard such remarks”. Lawyer Thierry Sagardoytho goes even further by denouncing a “instrumentalization of an artificial complaint in the perspective of divorce”.
A conviction required
Despite the defense, the public prosecutor Jean-Claude Belota requested a ten-month suspended prison sentence against Marie-Bénédicte Hurel. The judgment will be pronounced on February 13.