The 9th French pair have reason to be unhappy, and we can understand why. The Toulouse pair composed of Benoît Théard and Thibaud Pech had the misfortune of facing Timéo Fonteny and Yoan Boronad during the Occitanie regional phases. Their defeat in the semi-final against the number 3 seed deprives them of a qualification for the final stages of the 2024 French Championships in Strasbourg.

However, if we analyze the situation, the final stages of the French Championships will take place without the 9th French pair, based on the qualified pairs. Benoît Théard, 18th French player with 15 tournaments to his name (which is still not a lot on average in the top 100), obviously does not want to “complain about their fate”, but rather wishes to highlight a problem in the repechage system which, according to him, does not sufficiently protect the best pairs playing in leagues deemed “strong”.

Abandonment Theard Pech

“We had a very good run in the regional, but during the draw, we came up against the number 3 seed while we were number 1 seed. In the semi-final, we faced Timéo and Yo. We played a great match, but they ended up winning, they were better, there is no debate. We easily won the match for 3rd place.

Then we were told that the repechages would not be done according to the French ranking, but that all the second-placed teams in the leagues would go ahead of us for qualification. We asked for a wildcard (WC) because I had been injured a month before the regionals, and with the season we had, we deserved to be there. But we simply received an email informing us that it was not possible.

It's hard to accept, because this tournament represents the culmination of many things for us: a P3000 where we face players that we don't usually meet. We make many sacrifices every day to be 18th and 24th French, while having a family life and a job. And hearing that we won't be able to defend our chances, despite the season we've had, disgusts me a little. For me, in the biggest tournament in France, the best should face each other, without politics interfering.

I hope things will change to make this sport evolve in the right direction. For us, that's how it is, we're trying to turn the page quickly and get back to training, even more motivated for this new season.”

Franck Binisti

Franck Binisti discovered padel at the Club des Pyramides in 2009 in the Paris region. Since then, padel has been part of his life. You often see him touring France to cover major French padel events.

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