On the sidelines of its final at FFT Padel Tour Nantes to UrbanPadel Nantes Carquefou, Adrien Maigret spoke during a interview with Mario Cordero. Just before facing the French champions of padel in title, Bastien Blanqué and Thomas Leygue, alongside the Spaniard, Adria Mercadal, Adrien looks back on his semi-final and shares his analysis on the final to come.

“I start to complain and Adria calms me down”

There was obviously a little slack at the end of the first set. We lead 5/4, break in hand, and on the only opportunity to break, Max and Ben break us. Adria's strength in our pair is that he keeps me mentally and that makes me feel good. It's true that in those moments, when I get unplugged and they go back to 5 everywhere, that's when I start to complain a little, to lose a little confidence. Adria was very solid at that time.

mercadal mecadal mental

“Max Forcin is a little underrated”

We had a great tie-break, we quickly took the upper hand in the tie-break, it was a reflection of the first round which we still dominated. It was a very difficult first round, they played very well. Benji who is really coming back into shape, he is returning to his top level and Max Forcin who is for me, I think, a slightly underrated player.

I think he plays very well, he is at the level of the very best. We must not forget that he is a player who is not really professional, he works on the side, he does not necessarily train every day and I find that he has a very high level of play.

“Faithful to the French circuit”

I have never been 100% pro. I have never had a 100% season on the international circuit, training every day, going to Spain. I have never done that.

I've always been semi-pro, let's say. That is to say that I played the international circuit a little bit, I always played the French circuit, I am always faithful to the French circuit. And on the side, I work, now I'm a coach padel. You've probably seen me a little on TV too.

“I beat Tison diagonally”

So, I won't hide from you that since I had a little pain in my wrist last week and I'm teaching a lot at the moment, I haven't played much. I played a game with Benjamin Tison, we played a diagonal, which I won in the diagonal... on the left... (laughing)

“The match will depend a lot on me”

Bastien Blanqué and Thomas Leygue, I lost them recently at the French Championship in Toulouse, with Benjamin Tison. I was very well supported, I am still very well supported, so I think the match will depend a lot on me. I'm going to have to be good. Together, they play very well, especially in France, they are both very effective, they have a really complementary game. They are taking on a fairly impressive dimension. We are not favorites on paper, but we will try to give everything to shake up this hierarchy a little.

I love the conditions, because there is height. Afterwards, it's cold, so it doesn't come out much. It would be nice if it was 10 degrees warmer, so it would stand out a little more. But on the other hand, yes, the conditions, the height, it all changes all the same, for the pleasure of the game.

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.