Arthur Hugounenq, 22, entered the French top 50 while playing at padel for just over a year. This 1,82 m left-hander, reputed to be powerful, decided to prefer the padel in tennis and dreams of a professional future. Former -4/6 in tennis, he is licensed at Tennis padel palavas club, a very dynamic club in terms of padel.

“My opponents complained in the P500s”

Padel Magazine : Between tennis and padel, did you choose?

“Even though I am a tennis teacher, I give priority to padel, I hardly play tennis anymore. In my club palavas, we will try to put together a team of padel good level to play in N1 next year. I actually started playing padel at the beginning of the year 2022. At the beginning, I was assimilated 1500e, but I was quickly corrected to 600 because my opponents were complaining about the P500s I was doing… Then I started to get decent results, things just happened and here I am 49e, so I'm so happy.

Arthur Hugounenq defense

" I loved it "

It's true that I come from tennis. My best ranking was -4/6 and I was ten points short of being at -15 before the Covid. I played Future tournaments and a few Challengers, I had the idea of ​​becoming a pro. But the recovery after the Covid was not easy, whether in financial terms or even mentally, it would have been necessary to go back abroad, it was complicated.

It was around this time that I discovered the padel near my home in Beaucaire (Gard), with friends. I loved it. Afterwards, I arrived in Montpelier, I started to play a few games at level 6 or 7. I made friends with a lot of people, but in terms of the game, I was a little bored, my partners didn't understand too why I was playing at this level. By doing tournaments, I was able to meet people, get on well and play more and more interesting games with good players from the south. »

What are your ambitions for the future?

“I planned to do a few tournaments with Simon Boissé (ex-n°4 and current 63e French, at 40), which is a legend: I call him “the maestro”. We have already played together this year Bordeaux P2000, ranking 7e for our first tournament. On a daily basis, I train with Yannick Maurel three times a week. It's good, but I want to do more. I don't like to do things by halves, so I really want to go for something professional. »

flight padel fft padel tour Arthur Hugounenq Simon Boissé
victory fft padel tour Arthur Hugounenq Simon Boissé
Arthur Hugounenq smash

"I'm thinking about going to Spain"

“The problem I'm starting to have is that you sometimes have to travel far to make tournaments that earn points. It's like tennis, which cost my parents a lot of money when I was younger. I work but it's complicated and it's expensive to go to tournaments every weekend. I am therefore looking for sponsors to finance travel and accommodation. I will have Adidas equipment, but I need sponsors to flock the clothes. It would allow me to move towards something more professional. I am also considering the idea of ​​going to Spain to train there for a certain number of weeks during the year. And why not eventually go to Barcelona or Madrid…”

Is a powerful left-hander like you courted by left-wing players on the French circuit?

"To tell the truth, not that much, I'm still new in the game, I'm new to tournaments, I don't know many people, I haven't had the opportunity to speak with the French top 20 players. . But I hope that with good results, it will happen more and more. I will be seen playing more and more and if my game interests good players, I hope they will contact me. »

His strengths: volley and smash

What are your strengths in the game?

“I would say it's all about the net: the volley and the spikes. In tennis they already said that I was skilful and I believe that is also the case in padel. My live game is not bad and after the windows, even if I have already improved a lot, I still have to improve against the Spaniards who defend very well. I think I still have room for improvement on all the shots specific to the padelstyle bandeja ou vibora. I am aware that I still have a lot to learn. I obviously don't stop at the French ranking: if my goal is to play internationally, I can't stop at 49e French place, even if it is a good ranking. »

Do you also train physically?

“For the moment, I train alone by doing sessions, but my objective is to have funds as quickly as possible to finance physical training. Because I do not have the means for the moment to pay for both training padel and physical. The idea is to be able to train physically about four times a week, because I have a great trainer with whom we work very well. I'm really into my project around the padel and I can't wait to get the funds and the sponsorship that will allow me to carry it out. »

Arthur Hugounenq simon boisé victory fft padel tour
Arthur Hugounenq Simon Boissé fft padel tour victory
Arthur Hugounenq simon boisé volley smash

“Incredible tournaments”

What is your competition program this year?

“On the competition side, my objective this season is to perform in the big French tournaments, before perhaps also going to play abroad. For example, I am looking for a partner for the FIP Rise in Bordeaux, in April. I will also try to do the Canet FIP, where I had done 8e last year. These are great experiences, incredible tournaments with an organization of madness, a bit like during the P2000. I need to do tournaments of this level, because I've done very little so far: about ten P1000s and two P2000s. Many of these big tournaments take place in the north of France, but I'm in Montpelier and it's often complicated. For example, I would like to go to Liévin, but the train costs 300 € and I have to find accommodation. »

Don't have access to a private jet yet?

“Indeed, it would be a good solution (laughs), but I will have to find very, very big sponsors! »

After 40 years of tennis, Jérôme falls into the pot of padel in 2018. Since then, he thinks about it every morning while shaving… but never shaves pala in hand! Journalist in Alsace, he has no other ambition than to share his passion with you, whether you speak French, Italian, Spanish or English.

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