For the end of 2022 and part of next year, we will have to count without one of the best French players: Dorian de Meyer. Hit in the hip, the Big player Padel Mérignac decides to suspend its season to solve a health problem.

He tells us.

“The same injury as Andy Murray”

Padel Magazine (PM) – You have an injury that forces you to leave the field. Tell us.

Dorian de Meyer (DDM) – Five months ago, when we were playing our first tournament on the international circuit with Thomas Vanbauce at the FIP Star in Trani, I felt severe pain in the crease of my groin, on the right side. 

When I returned to France, I was diagnosed with a hip impingement, a serious bone pathology due to a birth defect which causes very early cartilage wear (which is my case). It is a disease that affects many top athletes. Among the best known, Andy Murray who, after multiple attempts at conservative surgery, ended up having a hip prosthesis (he is still the 43rd player in the world).

Five months later, I decided to have surgery to try to solve the problem. The fact of not having been taken for the internship of the France team only hastened my decision.

Dorian deMeyer

“I lied to my team”

PM – What impact has this pain had on your matches? Who knew?

MDD – Having never hurt myself before, I had a hard time accepting that I could be affected by such a pathology at first and therefore refused to face it. 

We decided with my coach Jean-Thomas Peyrou to stop physical training because we thought it could be the cause of the pain.

I kept playing and since the pains didn't go away, I lied to my team. I said that I had no more pain since stopping physical and that I could play.

The reality is that the pains were always present, they never stopped. Sometimes I had less pain (without rational explanation) and sometimes they came back very strongly. It was very cyclical.

I've gritted my teeth in a lot of matches since… It's unthinkable to justify our recent defeats with these pains, but it certainly played a role. I realized that even if my movements were not affected, the pain reached my mind and my lucidity. Recently, Thomas did not recognize me on my sporting values ​​such as fighting spirit on the field, I tended to "let go" when the matches became difficult and that would have been unthinkable before.

Dorian deMeyer

“I could have my place”

PM – You tell us in preview that you weren't taken for the extended Team France internship, unlike your partner. How did you take the news?

MDD – It's complicated, what I can say is that I don't feel less strong (nor stronger) than some players who were taken. I think I could also have my place. But our latest results have not been up to our level and therefore the decision is understandable and in itself even justified.

Inevitably, I see an injustice in the fact that Thomas is there and not me because we started the padel together, we have evolved from "unclassified" to 10th place in France together for five years and all our best results we have had as a team.

But I accept the decision, I pushed my hip thinking I was caught in the camp, I finally decide to stop my season now and get emergency treatment.

The objective is to come back as soon as possible, to develop my game, to gain in aggressiveness in order to be able to integrate the group in the long term. 

We talked a lot with Thomas and JT and for my own good and to optimize my return as quickly as possible, we decided not to play the French Championships or the last P2000. 

meyer vanbauce

PM – In the end, maybe it's a chance to recover your health and even come back potentially stronger?

MDD – That's exactly how I see things. We can say that everything was aligned for me to have surgery: not being taken to the camp and the fact that we are at the end of the season.

I don't know if I will be stronger but what is certain is that I will do everything possible to come back as soon as possible and try to be better.

Taking a step back on my game, on my qualities, on my faults, this is what will dictate my daily life for the next 6 to 8 months. 

I really want to put this “stop” at the service of my team. In particular, I will intensify my work with our mental trainer, I really need it.

peyrou meyer vanbauce

PM – It's the end of French “Tello / Chingotto” ?

MDD – I don't doubt for a second that Thomas will manage to play without me.

Thomas is a brilliant player, with quite exceptional qualities and I would never have reached this level without him. So he will (very) easily find someone to replace me during my convalescence, I don't worry.

However, we talked for a long time and there is no question of separating. 

We first started this project for the human adventure together and that's what makes us vibrate. He is counting on me to intensify my rehabilitation like a professional sportsman and I intend to prove to him that I want to come back.

I also plan to integrate the CERS (European Center for Sports Rehabilitation) in Cape Breton in order to be surrounded by professionals specializing in high-level athletes and thus be able to benefit from the best possible framework to return to 100% and as soon as possible.

If my recovery goes badly or if one or two years after my return, the results are not there, we will consider making good decisions but for the moment, it is not in question, it is still only the beginning of the French Tello/Chingotto (laughs).

[Successfully operated on Friday, Dorian is now beginning his convalescence.]

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.

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