Undoubtedly, these European Championships of padel 2021 in Marbella will not go down in the history of our sport. They will have to be quickly forgotten despite the good results of France.

Flavorless finals

We will not go into details here, because the ordeal is not over. There is in particular on the men's side a 3rd place to go for France against Sweden after a second defeat against Spain which continues its health walk. The French team wants to finish on a good note and show that it is at least the 3rd European nation.

After a beautiful and logical victory against Sweden in the semi-final, the coach of the Italian selection, Gustavo spector, addressed us a few words: “A European Championship without a France vs Italy confrontation is not necessarily a normal European Championship ”.

Even if Italy relishes this final with a team reworked and assumed by the Italian coach, she concedes that the competition would have been more glorious if there had been an Italy vs France confrontation, especially with the absence of Portugal.

Remember, last Wednesday, “Gus” was already hoping for a good France vs Italy. Two nations which have always given rise to great confrontations. The most recent, this magnificent final in Rome in 2019 in front of an Italian audience who were completely upset. Conclusion: superb matches and an incredible atmosphere.

Same story on the girls side. The French have avoided the Italians. We thus find our tricolors in the final against Spain. Beautiful results even if we would have liked so much to see France vs Italy for the girls.

Gustavo Spector: “Our goal is to beat France”

The fault above all to unwritten and vague regulations, not to say contradictory with the regulations posted on the FIP site and which caused a stir ...

Players save the competition

Spain will be European champions as it does every time it participates, for both ladies and gentlemen. Players from all over Europe saved a competition without smell or taste.

Spain will have to completely review its copy in terms of organization for players, spectators and the media. For that, it will have to go through a great questioning. The organizers wanted to control everything: they failed. We will have to take responsibility for these completely failed European Championships which give a poor image of the organization and the values ​​of our sport.

While Spain is undoubtedly the European nation of padel in terms of play, it still has to learn from its counterparts on the organization of major international events.

Yesterday, the semi-final between Spain and France was going to begin without a referee, without an audience, without live, without livescore, in the most total indifference. It took the intervention of Benjamin Tison among others to offer this confrontation a semblance of something. What more can be said ?

Let's come back to the athlete. Among the girls, France will try to win a few sets today against Spain, and maybe even a match if Léa Godallier and Alix Collombon are associated. As for the boys, we will be the favorites against Sweden. But be careful not to lower your guard against dangerous Swedes.

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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