Philemon Raichman and Maxime Joris narrowly lost (6/4 7/5) in the last 16 of the FIP Silver Port of Bandol, facing the 8th seed, the Spanish Pol Hernandez / Guillermo Collado, two players in the world's top 100. Despite the defeat, the French showed a promising level of play. Hot interview.

Maxime, how did you feel on the dance floor?
Pretty good overall. I'm happy with our performance. Of course, you're taking us on right after the match, so it's a bit hard to take in. We missed the boat at the start of both sets, that's when we lost the match. Then, we won almost all of our service games. Maybe they relaxed a bit after breaking, but we managed to stick to our strategy. Frankly, it really bothered them.

And yet, you had a break point in the second...
Yes, we believed in it. It's a shame, because we lacked a little boldness in key moments. But I'm happy with the level displayed and also happy to have my "Philou" back on the track!

Philemon, what did you change in this second set to succeed in breaking?
Not much, really. We didn't change our strategy; we just stuck to what we'd planned. Fewer mistakes, more dedication... and it paid off. We managed the break at 40-0, so it was working well. We should have done it sooner...

Raichman / Joris: "A frustrating match... but encouraging for the future"

And now, what's next?

Will there be other tournaments together?
Philemon: Nothing planned yet. Afterwards, we could definitely meet again; it went well. But for now, it's a bit unclear.
Maxime: For my part, I'm playing in two weeks with Dylan Guichard. I'm going to move to the left, then try to build a project from Bordeaux's second division at the end of the season. The idea would be to play with a foreigner. I started the season like that, I'd like to continue in this dynamic. But if it doesn't work out... why not play again with Philemon?

And with Figuerola, is it over?
Yes, we stopped after a tournament in Türkiye. It was a joint decision. We didn't have the same expectations, nor the same rhythm. But we stayed on good terms; we're still friends.

Bordeaux, Narbonne… what are your goals for the future?

Max, you mentioned the P2 in Bordeaux. Invitation or classic table?
I don't know yet. In P2, you can get in without many points. Maybe I'll ask for a wild card, but even without that, I have a chance of getting in. We'll see.

And Narbonne?
It's in the program, yes. It would be great to play in France, especially indoors. But I still need to think about it, take a little time, and see who I could build something coherent with. The ideal would be to play Bordeaux and Narbonne with the same partner.

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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