Exciting discussion with the former French top 10, Pierre-Etienne Morillon. From his cardiac arrest on the track to the news padel, the sales rackets sports attaché Head returned to various topics during the final stages of the Head Padel Open 2023 at My Center Palavas.

“I will play again padel"

“I think I will play again at padel, but I don't know at what level. The level has increased and I am also getting older. I turned 40 this year and I also had a big health problem. So I'm not sure I can play again or have the desire and the courage to play again at a sympathetic level.

I had a cardiac arrest on the track during training in Lyon. Fortunately, I got out of it without sequelae thanks to medical care. I was implanted with a subcutaneous defibrillator to ensure my safety.”

"They saved my life"

“I was training with Johan Bergeron in Lyon (note to Esprit Padel). By chance, a firefighter was playing next to us. When I had my cardiac arrest, this firefighter intervened quickly by performing cardiac massage and using a defibrillator to resuscitate me. I am grateful to these people who saved my life.”

morillon bergeron

“The level of players increases, not the level of tournaments”

“The level of the best players is undeniably increasing. Many players have real projects and young players are more and more involved, some even go to Spain to develop. However, there are too many tournaments, which sometimes dilutes the quality of the competitions.

Even the P500s are not always full. To find quality tournaments, the number of competitions should be reduced to bring together more players.

“We must release the prize money”

“I think we have to release the prize money and allow the organizers who wish to put in more money.

For example, if a P500 tournament wants to offer a reward of 5 euros, I don't see where the problem is. For lower level tournaments like P000 or P100 it is not shocking to have no prize money, as players participate more for fun and points than money. But let the clubs decide freely what they want to offer in terms of rewards.”

Pierre Etienne Morillon

“A category to attract the best”

“I think creating a category with total freedom on the allocation is a good idea depending on the weight of the tournament and the level of the teams. Thus, we could better differentiate the tournaments and attract the best French and foreign players by offering attractive rewards. Perhaps the number of points should be indexed according to the weight of the tournament, in order to better reflect the quality and level of the competition.

“No more big specialist clubs padel"

“The sporting model in Italy, just like in Spain, is different from that of France. In Italy and Spain, many private clubs quickly invested in the padel by converting tennis courts. In France, we are still mainly based on an associative model with tennis clubs which add one or two padel.

Catching up with Italy would require faster development with private clubs specializing in padel. "

team head padel open 2023

“Municipalities could delegate sites to private actors”

“To accelerate the development of padel in France, the municipalities should delegate the sites to private actors who are specifically dedicated to the padel. This would create more land for padel and accelerate the growth of the sport. Association tennis clubs could also consider adding more tennis courts. padel to meet growing demand. It is important to draw inspiration from successful models in Italy and Spain to develop the padel in France."

“The best French people must continue to play French tournaments”

“I think we are still in a development phase of the padel In France. Events such as the Roland-Garros tournament and the WPT in Toulouse are excellent for promoting the sport. However, it is important to have our best French players playing on the national circuit to attract foreigners. We must continue to find innovative ideas and draw inspiration from countries that have succeeded in developing the padel in a significative way."

Franck Binisti

Franck Binisti discovers the padel at the Club des Pyramides in 2009 in the Paris region. Since padel is part of his life. You often see him touring France going to cover the major events of padel French.

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