Just days before the Paris Major, the figures tell two stories. France is now approaching one million players and boasts over 4,000 courts, yet no French players are among the 39 men's pairs directly admitted to Roland-Garros. This contrast doesn't reflect a lack of progress, but rather highlights the difficulty of quickly translating mass participation into top-level results. 

Le  Paris Major  must once again offer French padel its greatest showcase.  6 13 in September The best players in the world will meet at  Roland Garros  for one of the four Majors of the season. The FIP is planning a men's draw of 48 pairs, including  39 directly admitted .

In the stands, the tournament should once again gauge the public's enthusiasm. On the slopes, it will also allow for a more objective assessment of the...  top French level Because behind the spectacular rise of the discipline, the French presence in the major draws remains fragile, particularly among men.

 Growth that has become difficult to ignore 

France is no longer simply in the discovery phase of padel. The report published by the  FFT  at the end of 2025 it was estimated  850,000 is the number of practitioners  in France in November.

The infrastructure followed the same trajectory. The FFT was counting  4,000 tracks by 2025 , or a progression of  118% in three years and 1,027 clubs or facilities offering padel. Its main page dedicated to the sport now displays  4,050 courts, 1,240 clubs and 134,000 padel licenses issued .

This last total should not be confused with the  272 licensees  mentioned in the December 2025 report. The Federation distinguishes between licenses specifically dedicated to padel and FFT license holders who also practice the sport with a multi-racket license. It already explained this difference in June 2025, when it announced it had exceeded  100,000 padel licenses to which were added approximately  150,000 multi-racket padel players .

Regardless of the indicator used, the trend is clear: the talent pool is expanding and competition is intensifying. France thus had  over 120,000 competitors and 33,310 events in 2025 , against only  274 events in 2018 .

 No Frenchmen directly admitted to the men's section 

The male list of  Paris Major  However, it offers a striking contrast:  No French players are among the 39 pairs directly admitted to the main draw .

 Dylan Guichard , associated with the Belgian  Clement Geens , and  Thomas Leygue , registered with the Spaniard  Jesus Moya appear in the qualifying rounds. However, it would be premature to say that no French players will compete in the main draw: the format still allows for...  three wildcards to which may be added  two special exempt places .

For women, the situation is more favorable.  Alix Collombon / Ksenia Sharifova  et  Léa Godallier / Daiara Valenzuela  are included directly in the main table, while  Carla Touly / Xenia Clascà  must go through the qualifying rounds.

This assessment therefore needs to be qualified. France already has representatives capable of directly entering the major women's rankings.  On the men's side, however, it still does not have a player ranked high enough to guarantee its direct presence in its own Major. 

 Mass production does not instantly create the very highest level 

This discrepancy is ultimately not illogical.  Building tracks and attracting hundreds of thousands of players can be done in a few years. Developing players capable of establishing themselves permanently among the world elite takes much longer. 

A large part of the current French elite was actually trained before the recent surge in padel's popularity in France. They now have to compete with players coming from the Spanish and Argentinian systems, which have been structured around high-level competition for much longer.

French progress is nonetheless evident. According to the federal report, the proportion of French players among the players of the  world top 300  went from  2,5% to 2023 to 5,8% to 2025 The density is therefore increasing, even if it does not yet translate into a comparable presence in the  top 30 or top 50 in the world .

 Vichy, an investment for future generations 

It is precisely to reduce this gap that the FFT created its  National Padel Training Center in Vichy .

Active since September 2025 and officially inaugurated on  7 October The CNE has  twelve lanes, six indoor and six outdoor Its first graduating class comprised  twelve young people, eight boys and four girls, aged 13 to 16 years old , supported in an environment specifically geared towards high-level performance.

The Federation's stated objective is precisely to to increase the presence of French players in the world elite by structuring their training and access to the international circuit earlier. But the first residents of the CNE obviously cannot yet provide an answer to the lists of the Paris Major 2026: the effects of such a system will be measured over several seasons.

 Roland-Garros will therefore be both a celebration and a revelation.  France has already succeeded in building a market, an audience, infrastructure, and a particularly dense national calendar. Its next challenge is now to transform this depth into  players, both men and women, capable of qualifying for the biggest tournaments based on their ranking, and then establishing themselves permanently among the world elite .

Padel in France no longer lacks players.  It now remains for him to translate this growth into a sporting performance commensurate with his development. 

Antoine Tricolet

I discovered the Padel I stumbled into Spain at a campsite. I was instantly hooked; passionate about padel, I follow international and regional news with the same excitement as the sport itself.

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