Meet at Z5 Padel, the padel structure of Zinedine ZidaneThe goal is to take Zizou's words and correct them a little. The former professional footballer is a French, and even global, ambassador for padel. It is obviously an honor to be able to count on his support for the development of padel in France.

With great respect, we will therefore decipher what he said in a YouTube video from JustRiadh, on the occasion of an event in one of its centers, at Z5 Padel from Aix-en-Provence.

Zinedine Zidane : “The good thing is that you can still do sports, but you don't have to run too much.”

It's true that for a former professional footballer, the size of the pitch changes enormously. Going from a pitch that's 68 meters wide and 105 meters long to a padel court that's 10 meters wide and 20 meters long is a big change for them.

When it comes to the distance covered during a match, it makes sense that a footballer covers a greater distance than a padel player. A football player in Zidane's time could run up to 10 km per match, and today this can go up to 12/13 km for some midfielders. On the other hand, the padel player covers an average of 2,1 km per match, according to a study by Matthieu Lebourgeois, sports physiotherapist and physical trainer.

Instagram Premier Padel Ale Galan in Bordeaux
Instagram account credit Premier Padel

However, padel is a more intense sport than soccer in terms of movement. When a point is thrown, the legs are bent from start to finish, which really works the muscles. In soccer, the runs are impressive, but there are more moments where you can walk, especially for the attackers. While the distance covered is certainly shorter in padel than in soccer, that doesn't mean padel is any less tiring.

Zinedine Zidane : “In France, there must be between 1500 and 1700 padel courts. In Spain, there are between 15 and 000.”

Maybe Zizou is stuck in 2023, but today in France there are no less than 2917 padel courts, according to the FFT. These tracks are grouped in 959 clubs across France (source FFT).

For your information, the number of fields has increased by 40% compared to 2024. The number of licensees also continues to increase, because recently, the bar of 100 licensees has been exceededAs for Spain, the former Real Madrid player is right: there are between 16 and 000 padel courts.

Zinedine Zidane: “In the Top 100, there are only South Americans or Spaniards, there are no other nationalities, the first Frenchman, he must be around 200th place in the world”

Padel has always been dominated by Spaniards and Argentinians. Even today, the best players in the world don't come from other countries. However, there are different nationalities in the Top 100 and even in the Top 50. The two Deus brothers, Miguel and Nuno, of Portuguese nationality, occupy the 39th place in the world. An Italian is ranked 43rd: Aris Patiniotis.

For France, Thomas Leygue represents us in the Top 100 with his 87th place. If we move a little further, other Frenchmen are part of the Top 200, notably Johan Bergeron and Bastien Blanqué, ranked respectively 106th and 108th in the world. Between the Top 130 and 200, other Frenchmen stand out like Dylan Guichard, Maxime Joris, Julien Seurin and Philémon Raichman.

Visual rankings of the French
Instagram account credit Padel Magazine

In women, Alix Collombon is well established in the Top 30 with her 23rd place in the world. Other European players are in the Top 50, such as: Sofia Araújo (POR, 7th), Ksenia Sharifova (RUS, 30th), Carolina Orsi (ITA, 32nd), etc. Léa Godallier, another French player, is also in the Top 100 and is ranked 57th in the world.

Zizou, a great connoisseur despite everything

We're not going to blame Zizou. He knows padel very well, and he's particularly right about the fact that padel is a "fun and very fun" sport. He also adds that Athe Galán, with whom he played in Aix-en-Provence, is “one of the best players in the world.” He also says that it is possible to have fun playing padel more quickly than tennis, particularly because of the slightly more advanced technique required in tennis. Zizou is a padel expert, although some clarifications should be made about his comments.

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