After having lost by a whisker to Bastien Blanqué and Dylan Guichard at the N1 Interclubs with Damien Bayard, Jérémy Garcia looks back on the key moments of this meeting and on the remaining match. He also shares his objectives and areas of progress, as well as his view on the Spanish influence in N1.

Match points against Blanqué / Guichard…

“It’s still a great performance on our part, even if in the end it doesn’t smile on us in the end. I've played Bastien a lot of times in recent years and it's true that the score was always the same, I didn't score many games. And in the end we were starting with a bit of the same scenario. They led 6-2 4-1 double break and then there was a little relaxation on their part I think. Afterwards we play better and the end is cruel for us. I don't know exactly what we missed. All the points were so close, I think the coin fell the wrong way in the third tie-break, even though we had a good lead.”

guichard blanqué interclubs toulouse
Blanqué and Guichard will have been hot

…to relegation…

“Starting Friday with a big match and a big meeting was not easy, and then it was not only our match which was close in the match against Toulouse. I think we also left a lot of energy the day before, so obviously, it's a little harder to go back into battle the next day even if we did it well. With Damien we were still associated in this meeting against Vence and we also played a good team where honestly I think it was close to 50-50, and unfortunately we lost the first match and then even if we won the first set with Damien, and we're off to a good start, it wasn't necessarily a question of mental or physical progress either.

Opposite, it was Maxime Moreau and Jean-Michel Pequery who always play really well, and when they changed sides it was also a little harder for us. Unfortunately we were unable to turn the tide to have a decisive match against Vence.” 

A fixed partner for 2024

“My partner for this season is going to be Damien. We had already started with the first P2000 in Carquefou mid-January where we had already had a good tournament because it was the very first time we played together. We obviously knew each other, we played each other quite a few times last year.

It's pretty cool for me because I had a good year in 2023 but in the end in the second part of the season, I changed a lot of partners, I didn't really have a fixed partner since June 2023. Find someone fixed on the year 2024 and what's more, it matches really well with our good result too, because we beat Philémon Raichman and Max Joris in Nantes in eighth, for our first for both.

Even with these two defeats in the French Interclub Championships, it still remains very encouraging, notably with the performance against Bastien Blanquet and Dylan Guichard. The season is going to be long but in any case we have good hope of continuing this good dynamic and of offering ourselves, perhaps in the future, matches like we played there and that it turns out in our favor this time - this."

Focus on the French circuit

“For the future I plan to only do the French circuit. Afterwards, I don't know if Damien has a long-term project, but I don't think it's relevant at the moment. For me it is not and it never will be. I prefer to concentrate on the French circuit and on my professional projects which, even if they are linked to padel, are not as a player.” 

Its areas of progress  

“I still have a background where I have been playing for six or seven years padel. I have progressed a lot since then in certain aspects. But afterward, I'm really the purist right-wing player who defends well, who handles the game well, but who perhaps also lacks a little punch from time to time, to accelerate a little bit over the head too. . I think these are areas for improvement for me.” 

Its 2024 objectives

“In terms of ranking, I alternate between 15th and 20th place. In terms of ranking I don't necessarily have an objective. It's more of an overall improvement in level of play that I'm aiming for because my current ranking is my best ranking. Julien Seurin has just entered the ranking so there are the first eleven places which are taken so the best French place is twelfth. Honestly in terms of rankings, as long as I stay in the Top 20 or Top 30 I think it will already be good. I have another objective at the same time, and to be taken seriously, which is to continue to fight so that “sanders” like me can continue in the Top French rankings. Now if I can have the same vibora that Miguel Semmler, that suits me too (laughs).”

His opinion on the N1 

“For now I must admit that before participating in this weekend and seeing all these Spaniards who are clearly better than us, I told myself that it took away a lot of places in certain teams for French players. We also saw it with Romain Coirault who had a very good performance last year and who did not have a place for the interclubs.

Romain Coirault on the N1: “The players represent a club for a weekend”

But in hindsight and after my participation in that weekend, I think it was still very good. We had a spectacle in 100% Spanish confrontations, we really had incredible matches. Taking inspiration from what the Spaniards do, I think it's also good for the development of padel In France. I think that in the end it's good, even if in the future there are perhaps many clubs which will have a squad made up entirely of Spaniards... I don't know what the FFT will plan in terms of regulations . Why wouldn't the best French play in N2? And at the same time the N1 would be worn by foreign players.”

Dorian Massy

New follower of padel, I am fascinated by this dynamic sport which combines strategy and agility. I find in the padel a new passion to explore and share with you on Padel Magazine.

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