With a first title in P1000 and constant progression, Adrien Dandois had a promising year in 2024. A few hours before his entry into the track alongside TC Douai in these Interclub Nationale 1 at 4PADEL Strasbourg, he discusses his ambitions, his vision of the competition and his expectations for the 2025 season.
2024 Review: Between Progress and Areas for Improvement
In 2024, I reached my best ranking (43rd) and won my first P1000, which were my two main goals. So it was a successful year. However, I also became aware of the progress that needs to be made, particularly in terms of mental and physical.
Who are you and how do you prepare for your padel goals?
I am 28 years old and my friends from Douai Tennis Club and Padel Campus Arena nickname me “Capi”. I am dentist in the North, married to Céline and father of a little girl Victoire, who just turned 2.
For the past few months, I have been trying to surround myself better for preparation physical and mental, which is a real challenge juggling my different roles. Fortunately, my freelance work and support from my wife allow me to reconcile these aspects. I have neither the potential nor the ambition to aim much higher, but I like learn and progress.
Objectives for National 1: ambition and team composition
With the club of Douai, we are proud to be in National 1 for the fourth consecutive season. We finished 9th in 2022, 8th in 2023 and 7th in 2024. Logically, aim for the Top 6 would be the goal, but everything will depend on the print, because the level is very high.
I am delighted that Padel Campus Arena, a club dynamic and friendly where I train, also represents the Hauts-de-France.
Regarding the team of Douai, we have an core of local players from the North with Pierre Destombes, Lilian Fouré and myself, surrounded by Julien Seurin and Florian Hue, who have ties to the region. Andrés Britos joins us for a third consecutive season, bringing his A1 circuit experience. Finally, our two new recruits are Pierre Perez Le Tiec and Damien Lozano, two of 2024 revelations in France.
La League of Hauts-de-France supports us with a grant, complementing that of the FFT, which helps us to partially finance the week of national 1. Apart from that, we only operate with private funds.
2025 Objectives: Continuity and new experiences
In 2025, I especially want progress physically and better manage my matches. The ranking allows to be first in the series in some tournaments, but it does not always reflect the real level of a player. I would like become less attached to it.
With Paul Forichon, we played many tournaments together in 2023 and 2024. We will continue to play some tournaments in 2025, but more occasionally, in order to have other experiences each on our side.
Rant: P1000 management
There are improvements to be made regarding management and computerization of P1000s. Currently, several P1000s are taking place same week, which results in levels heterogeneous and a lack of teams in qualification.
Registration 14 days before without seeing the list of registered people is a real problem. This leads to situations like Troyes, or one direct final table had to be put in place with a devalued scale and many packages.
I think that tournaments from P500 to P2000 should assign a stable scale of points, regardless of the number of teams involved, by promoting the perfs and devaluing the underperformance.

Counting interclubs as a P1500 is surprising
The idea is not to criticize for the sake of criticizing. I am rather reserved and, obviously, a great lover of this sport. But I like the competition, and perhaps even more the fact of playing in a team, with your friends, for a club. There is really a side Davis Cup which I appreciate very much.
On the other hand, I have difficulty understanding why the interclubs have been reclassified as a P1500. However, this is a competition that brings together the best French players. We can even say that the level is even higher with the presence of many foreign players, mainly Spanish, and not the least, which brings an international touch to this tournament. And yet, the FFT decided to award fewer points to players in this competition. After all, it's a P1500 instead of a P2000, why not. But what really shocks me is the scale that I find hard for teams that finish behind the big teams.
I find it a shame. It's obviously not dramatic, but symbolically, it's not a very rewarding decision. Of course, foreigners and the best French players don't really care about it. But for players like me, who play a lot and travel often, it's not necessarily the best way to reward their investment and commitment.
Obviously, I understand the ulterior motive: “It is not normal to award 2000 points to a player from a team who does not really deserve them given his level.” But honestly, how many players does this really concern? Who exactly are we talking about?
Due to a few cases – and again, these players did not do anything prohibited – we end up with National Interclub 1, which nevertheless bring together the best teams, ranked at the same level as a P1500...
Playing on the right: an option?
I have the regularity and gameplay style to evolve to right, but you don't realize how much the change of sides can change everything. I've played right in P500, and I like this position, but to be competitive in P1000 and above, we should practice much moreThe risk is to no longer be in its usual standards.

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.