Having reached the eighth final of the Bordeaux P2, French number 1 Alix Collombon took the time to look back with us on the first half of the 2025 season. She discusses her performances, her partnership with Araceli Martínez, the difficulty of making progress against the best players in the world, but also her vision of the calendar, her technical progress, her pleasure of playing in France... and even football. A rich, sincere, and straightforward interview.

Start of the 2025 season: “rather good and positive”

"Overall, it's been pretty good and positive so far. We've won the right matches, the ones we needed to win, and we've won them. We've managed to bother some pretty strong teams. The content is good, and improving. What we're doing today is more interesting than what we were doing in September when we started together. So it's interesting. The start of the season has been positive, even if, obviously, we always want better and more. But we feel like we've passed some small milestones, and that we're not far from perhaps passing an important one."

Reaching a milestone against the world’s top? “It comes down to details”

“These are matches that really come down to details. That's what we experienced yesterday against Sofia Araujo and Andrea Ustero. You have to be in the game from the start, start well, and know how to hold onto the break when you have it. There are times when we don't play very well, or the others raise their level, tighten up their game. At this level, we're really talking about details. And to beat these top pairs, you have to play very complete matches, even near-perfect ones, for an hour and a half, two hours, two and a half hours. We can't just be good at times. That's what we're still lacking. But we're closer to getting there than we were a few months ago, and that's what's important.”

Alix Collombon: "We feel like we're not far from reaching an important milestone"

Playing in France: “It’s really nice”

“It’s always a pleasure to play in France. I play away from home all year round, so being able to play at home is definitely nice. The French crowd was very nice yesterday, it was cool. I would have liked to give them a small victory, that would have been nice. But hey… I hope it will be for next year. In any case, I love coming to Bordeaux every year, or to Roland-Garros in September. I try to enjoy these moments and these tournaments.”

FIP in France: management to be done on a case-by-case basis

“Why not do some FIP Silvers, yes. The idea is to play a few with Araceli. But it's true that the schedule is very busy. We're reaching a time where we really have to choose our tournaments, our recovery times too, which are essential to avoid injuries. We have to manage. At the beginning of the year, we played a lot because we wanted to be seeded at the Qatar Major. We played a lot in a row. Now, we've somewhat secured our position in the top 16, so doing FIPs is perhaps a little less of a priority right now. But we can't neglect them either, because others are doing them. And then we have to deal with sponsor events, the PPL for Araceli... so we're pooling our schedules and trying to decide together. But yes, we want to do them from time to time.”

A strong relationship with Araceli Martínez: “we complement each other well”

“Things are going well between us. We get along very well on the field, but also off it, and I think that's important. This stability comes from both my work and her game. We complement each other well. Stability has always been my strong point. My area for improvement is to bring more creativity, to do more things, more aggressively. We're working on it. It's better. But we have to find the right moments to do it, not rush. I'm in a process of improvement, and I'm happy with the progress. And obviously, having a partner like Araceli, who isn't going to yell at you if you make a mistake, helps you have a little more courage to try. So it's a bit of both: my work, and her presence.”

Strokes of genius… instinctive

“The shot I made in Valladolid was a survival instinct. I’d never done it, even in training. It was Paola’s left-handed spin coming back at me, so I had a reflex to hit behind my back. It was completely instinctive. It’s not a shot I work on. But it’s cool, because I would never have tried them before. Today, I have more stability, therefore more confidence, therefore more lucidity. And when the ball arrives, you sometimes have that moment of improvisation. Before, I was more in a panic. Now, I’m more calm, my head a little freer.”

The future with Araceli? “It’s the goal to continue”

"We don't talk about it specifically, because we know that in padel, things can go very quickly. But yes, the goal is to continue together at least until the end of the year. After that, I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. In the past, I said it would last, and two tournaments later, it was over. So I'm not saying anything anymore! But it's going well. We're playing well. A lot of top pairs tell us that we're playing really well. We're in a good phase, and we feel like we have a lot of room for improvement, which is important. So I hope we'll give ourselves time, and why not continue next year? We haven't talked about it yet, but right now, that's my idea. And I think it's his too. After all... padel goes quickly."

Three words to describe Araceli Martínez?

"As a person, I would say she's ultra-sociable. She gets along well with everyone, she's always smiling, and she's very pleasant to be around. As a player, I would say she's competitive: she loves matches and challenges. And finally, she's a fighter. She doesn't like to lose, like me. We really agree on that."

A big hit soon on the circuit?

"We hope so. We work for it every day. Yesterday, against Araujo and Ustero, we had the opportunity. We didn't take it. 6/4 6/4 isn't that far off, but it's still a bit far off. We have to keep working, keep this consistency from start to finish. Against top pairs, if you drop at any point, it's over. They get into you, the match turns. But if we continue on this path, I think we can achieve some good results."

To allow you to play with your feet too, since you play football very well?

"Oh, that's Francky's question. Playing with your feet? No! With your hands, that's already very good. We have a racket, that's enough."

The FIP Silver of Narbonne… without Alix Collombon

“I won’t be able to be there, even though I would have loved to. It wasn’t originally planned for that date. I’m committed to an event in Montpellier on July 11 and 12, at the Arènes du Crès. And I don’t want to go back on my word. I’ll be there. But yes, if I hadn’t had that, I would have gone 100%. It’s a shame that the tournament announcement came out so late, but I imagine they have their reasons. I hope it’s only postponed, and that I’ll be able to participate next year. I just hope the tournament comes out earlier in the calendar, that way I can better organize myself.”

And what’s next?

"What can you wish for me? To continue to progress. To have those wins against the top pairs that I've been waiting for. That's what we're working for. To continue to have fun with Araceli. We love fighting together. I hope we'll be rewarded with one or more great wins at the end of the season."

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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