During France 2024, we had the opportunity to interview Francois-Xavier Coninck, recently appointed responsible for competition and ranking within the French Tennis Federation (FFT) for padel. Well known in Occitania and particularly to Toulouse, François-Xavier left his post at 4PADEL of Colomiers to embark on a major national mission.

During this interview, he looks back on his first months at the federation, his main achievements and future projects for the development of the paddle in France. From the creation of the national 2, to the evolution of points systems, through the improvement of player rankings, François-Xavier shares with us a clear and ambitious vision for this rapidly expanding sport.

Here are the key points that emerged from this exchange:

  • The establishment of the National 2 from the 2025-2026 season, an important issue for the balance of competitions.
  • The decline in the National 1 category (P1500) to reduce the gap with the N2.
  • Reflections on the French P3000 Championship, which could see its format evolve slightly.
  • The digitalization of tools to better manage players and competitions.
  • The reform of assimilation grids and scales for a fairer ranking, especially for former tennis players.

The full interview covers these developments in detail.

Francois-Xavier Coninck

Nationale 2 about to be launched

Franck Binisti
For those who don't know you, although many know you especially in Occitania, and mainly in Toulouse, today you occupy a special role within the Federation, a mission that you started a short time ago. Can you tell us more?

Francois-Xavier Coninck
Yes, it's been three months since I started my mission within the padel management, as competition and ranking manager. Before that, I was in Toulouse, at 4PADEL in Colomiers, a great experience. I wanted a change, and this opportunity is really interesting, so I took the chance.

Franck Binisti
Can you tell us in detail what you do, what you have already accomplished, and perhaps what is to come?

Francois-Xavier Coninck
My first missions focused on the guides, which we split into six parts for greater clarity. This was a crucial step, particularly with the integration of the padel chair. We reviewed the internal organization of the guides for greater readability. This was my first task. There was also the writing of the National 2 (N2), which is about to be launched. How this new category will work raises some questions, but this year: with only two relegations this year, these teams will join the N2 for the 2026 season.

Franck Binisti
What you are explaining is already in the guide published a few months ago, in July, for the 2026 season. This means that the changes do not concern this year or 2025, but rather the 2025-2026 season.

Francois-Xavier Coninck
Exactly. From next season, the relegated teams from the N1 will no longer descend into R1, but will switch to N2. The inter-regions and inter-conferences will play a crucial role this year, because these are the clubs that will form the N2. This is a major issue.

Franck Binisti
Another important development: until now, this competition was considered a P2000. From now on, the N1 is classified as a P1500. Why this change?

Francois-Xavier Coninck
We wanted to avoid too big a difference between the N1 and the future N2 (which should be considered a P1000). Team competitions already award a lot of points, but they are slightly less important than pairs competitions. Thus, downgrading N1 to P1500 seemed to us to be a good solution.

Franck Binisti
Since we're talking about points, I'll bring up a topic that has been debated: the French championship, considered a P3000. Some think that this ranking should perhaps be lowered, because the current system qualifies the best players from each league, but this does not always guarantee the presence of the best French players.

Ranking think tank set up

Francois-Xavier Coninck
We have not yet covered this topic in depth. A Ranking Think Tank will be put in place, and we will discuss it. Currently, the qualification system allows each league to be represented, and this corresponds well to the spirit of the France championship. It is true that some pairs may be absent depending on the draws, but the idea is to reward leagues from all over France, including overseas. There are always debates, but the majority of the best players are present.

Franck Binisti
You feel it is important that every league is represented, even if some pairs change leagues to avoid regions deemed too strong.

Francois-Xavier Coninck
At the moment, at least one of the two players must be licensed in the league, but since it is in pairs, there is no major change planned. We will constitute a thinking group, chaired by Laurent Aznar, president of the national padel council. We will discuss issues related to the ranking, and we are open to any discussion. However, for the moment, we are satisfied that all leagues are represented. Moreover, we have not had any forfeits this year, which proves that padel is dynamic in all leagues.

Modernizing digital tools and IT

Franck Binisti
You told us about the missions you have already worked on, such as the guide. What are the next tasks you are focusing on?

Francois-Xavier Coninck
We work a lot on the digital and computing, in particular to improve the attachment of players to clubs. The idea is that a player licensed in a tennis club with a multi-racket license can be attached to a padel club. This is not yet possible by computer, even if players can already be licensed in a tennis club and play for a padel club. The control is still manual, which is complex to manage several thousand players.

We will also discuss the assimilation grids and scalesWe hope to propose a reform of the ranking for players, in particular regarding equivalences for those who have played tennis at a good level.

More representative assimilations…

Franck Binisti
This means that we can expect an evolution of the ranking in the coming months, especially for players who have a good ranking in tennis.

Francois-Xavier Coninck
Exactly, the assimilation is done automatically based on the best ranking obtained in tennis, but it can be based on a ranking 10 years old, which is no longer always representative of the current level.

Franck Binisti
These dates should therefore be re-evaluated so that the ranking is fairer and better corresponds to the real level of the players.

Francois-Xavier Coninck
That's it, we want to adapt the equivalence to the current development of padel.

Franck Binisti
One last topic: will there be a limit control for the big competitions, especially the P1000? There are sometimes several P1000s in the same week. Will you maintain this format or consider organizing fewer of them so that these tournaments retain their elitist character?

Francois-Xavier Coninck
This is a question that we will address in Laurent Aznar's working group. There are 36 federal events to organize, so adding P1000s is not easy. With the P1500, P2000 and the French championships, that's already a lot of events to manage over the year. It's an important subject, and we're working to find the best solution for the players.

Franck Binisti
So we will stick with the 4 P2000s and the 8 P1500s for both men and women. This seems like a good balance. ?

Francois-Xavier Coninck
Yes, in general, these competitions are well distributed among different clubs. There is also the national youth tournament, the Master, the senior championships, and now the padel chair. The first edition was a success this year. Seniors plus, the + 45 years, also started this year. It was a great event. There are also the interconferences, the N1, soon the N2. That's a lot of events to manage.

Franck Binisti
How many people currently work in padel within the Federation?

Francois-Xavier Coninck
There are nine of us at the moment. And four people should join the team soon.

Franck Binisti
Last question: a call for applications has been launched for clubs wishing to organize federal competitions in 2025. Until when can they apply?

Francois-Xavier Coninck
Clubs have until September 27 to respond to the call for applications, which was sent out in early September. We hope to receive many responses from clubs motivated to organize these competitions.

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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