When Michel Willems took charge of J300 Charleroi-Marcinelle for the first time, Jimmy Carter was US President, Elvis Presley was still wowing crowds with his live performances and Pele remained a powerhouse within the football world. Quite incredibly, the year was 1977.

Every May since, except for 2020 when the tennis calendar was paused due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Willems has rocked up at the Royal Astrid Tennis Club in his hometown of Charleroi and performed his role of tournament referee with distinction.

This year will be no different and for the 46th time in his long officiating career, Willems will oversee the esteemed clay-court junior event, which acts as a precursor to the Roland Garros Junior Championships.

The 80-year-old is already on site preparing for qualifying, which gets underway on Friday, ahead of the main draw starting on Monday when a host of top juniors will follow in some illustrious footsteps (more about them later).

For Willems, the tournament holds a nostalgic place in his heart. He has proceeded to officiate at Davis Cup ties as well as ATP, WTA and ITF World Tennis Tour events, but his journey started at J300 Charleroi-Marcinelle.

“I have so much affection and emotion for this tournament,” Willems tells itftennis.com. “I have had the opportunity to work at numerous events but, to me, this one is the most important. It is special.

“This tournament was the starting point of my officiating career and since the beginning I have always tried to make this event climb the ladder and, by maintaining standards, make this as popular an event as possible.

“I try my utmost to make sure the tournament runs smoothly and, while I might not have expected to still be doing it now when I first did it in 1977, I have enjoyed the challenge. It is hard work, but I enjoy the challenge.”

A keen player himself, Willems became a member of the Royal Astrid Tennis Club in 1970 and immediately became fascinated by the annual J300 Charleroi-Marcinelle event, which was first held in 1964.

The tournament regularly attracts competitors from more than 40 nations, and with English frequently spoken, this appealed to Willems’ two great passions – tennis and the English language. After all, he worked at Charleroi’s L’Université du Travail as a Professor of English.

Indeed, there are distinct parallels to be drawn between Willems witnessing the rise of emerging tennis talent through his officiating role and him also nurturing the next generation in a professional capacity.

“I always enjoyed being around youngsters and helping them during my work as a professor,” said Willems. “By organising tournaments in a way that players can play their best tennis in the best conditions, I feel I am still helping young people.”

The prodigious talent which has passed through J300 Charleroi-Marcinelle over the years is impressive to say the least, with 12 future world No. 1s competing there as part of their journey to the big time.

Martina Navratilova, Jennifer Capriati, Roger Federer, Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters, Gustavo Kuerten, Lleyton Hewitt, Thomas Muster, Marcelo Rios, Angelique Kerber, Victoria Azarenka and Ashleigh Barty have all graced the Royal Astrid Tennis Club.

While this no doubt provides enormous motivation and indeed inspiration for the modern-day vintage as they prepare to contest J300 Charleroi-Marcinelle, for Willems it is an enormous sense of pride.

“Probably the main reason why so many great players have played here is that the tournament is a warm-up for Roland Garros, but I like to think they also enjoy the atmosphere here in Charleroi and the way the event is organised,” added Willems.

“With all the top players who have played here, you could see they were good players and had really good potential, but the route from junior tennis to professional tennis is not an easy gap to cross. Some manage very well, but for others it is not easy.

“All the players who have played here before going onto great things, the best I can say is they had good potential. Take Roger Federer, he competed here in 1998 but lost to Denmark’s Bob Borella in the quarter-finals, retiring with a back problem after losing the first set 6-4.

“I had noticed he was playing very well and had great potential, yet I could not imagine what would follow.”

There are too many reminiscences for Willems to mention, but one of the most treasured memories from his near half-century of officiating at J300 Charleroi-Marcinelle came in 1984, at the 20th anniversary of the event.

J300 Charleroi-Marcinelle is also known to as the Astrid Bowl, named after Queen Astrid who reigned over Belgium from February 1934 until her death a year later. In 1984, Queen Astrid’s granddaughter, Princess Astrid of Belgium, attended the finals of the event.

“This was a lovely moment and most definitely one of my favourites from all the years I have been coming here,” said Willems. “But there have been many lovely moments and it is tough to pick out just a few. Each year has its specific characteristics.”

The onus is now very much on the class of 2023 to provide a fresh wave of memories for this intrepid octogenarian.