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 French Interclub Championships: schedules, program and broadcast

 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 .

Adrien Dandois: ambitions, outbursts, change of side...

 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 more The risk is to no longer be  in its usual standards .

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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