Fabrice Pastor, the owner of the A1 Padel, questioned the behavior of number 1 ranked Gonza Alfonso following his withdrawal due to “unplayable conditions” during the Master Final in Venezuela. The controversy has since taken on significant importance.

The next day (Friday), during the broadcast of the A1 tournament itself Padel, Fabrice Pastor returned to this episode without detours:

“I want to clarify two very important points. You told me that on social networks there is a lot of criticism, asking why we played yesterday, and why the circuit forces players to play yesterday. Let's be clear: yesterday there was a vote among 15 of the 17 players, because two of them were not present.

The result was 12 votes to play against 3, and that, under the same conditions. It is therefore a decision taken by the players themselves to play all the matches yesterday. That clarifies the first point.

The second point is that yesterday we unfortunately witnessed a match that, in my opinion, was quite unpleasant. I think the players' behaviour was disastrous. What happened yesterday with Gonzalo Alfonso is, in my opinion, totally unacceptable. It reflects a serious error by the referee and an equally serious error by the sporting management of this circuit.

You have to know how to say it when things are done very badly. A mistake that obviously affects all players. In my opinion, Gonzalo Alfonso should have been disqualified yesterday for his behavior. But beyond that, when a player addresses the referee and mentions discomfort or any kind of discomfort, a doctor should be called if it is a health problem, or a physiotherapist if it is an injury.

The referee did neither. We cannot intervene, because the referee is the highest authority during the match, and we cannot challenge that decision. And I say that unfortunately.”

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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