Do you know Elena Levenez? This 19-year-old player managed, in just ten months, to reach the French top 50 and obtain a 22nd place at the 2022 French padel championships.
The licensee of Let Padel, In the Centre-Val de Loire league, tells us about his adventure.
Stopping sport for six years
“My padel adventure started ten months ago. But I already had a past in the racket since I first started tennis at the age of 6. I was even spotted by my Centre-Val de Loire league.
Competition, I've been used to it since I was little. I traveled the European U12 circuit and I climbed to 2/6 when I was 12 years old.
But a back injury forced me to stop playing tennis and sport for six years.
No physical pain in padel
“During the fall of 2021, my uncles made me play padel with them at the Garden in Rennes.
Incredible: I can practice a racket sport without back pain!
I immediately find this game very fun and friendly, and above all I don't feel any physical pain when playing padel.
So I suggest to my mom at the beginning of January to start playing together at Let Padel of Saint-Pryvé-Saint-Mesmin. At the end of January, we start our 1st P100.”
Certain aptitudes – Operation French championships
“I have always been a good volleyball player in tennis. I also think I have an interesting hand for padel. I was quickly positioned on the left because of my offensive style.
Quickly, I chained a few tournaments, a few courses. And I get my first ranking in March 2022 (500th).
Since I like competition and there aren't that many players in the league, why not take part in the 2022 French championships? I had some time by November to train.
My mother decides to set up a women's team at Let Padel in March 2022 to participate in the regional team phases in April 2022, with several high-ranked players from tennis.
At the beginning of April, we were regional team champions and qualified for the French national championship 2 West conference, which took place in Béziers in mid-October. There, we became vice-champions of France by losing in the final against TC Agen padel.”
A 22nd place in France
“So I decide as a team and individually to join forces with Emilie Thauvin (ranked 74th in November and ex -4/6 in tennis) and we become at the beginning of July 2022 regional champions in pairs at the Loire Valley Padel of Blois. This qualifies us for the French championship in pairs, which took place from October 21 to 23 in Toulouse Padel Club. For our first participation, we finished at the 22th place. "
The hope of integrating the French team
“I took part in several women's tournaments during these few months: P500 de Rennes, P500 des Pyramides, P1000 de Besançon and a lot of P250 with male players. This reinforced my idea of moving up the rankings quickly and above all of training thoroughly at the start of the 2022 school year, with the objective of reaching the top 20 quickly and why not one day being able to join the beautiful French team that I have sustained during the Dubai World Cup.
Since the beginning of September, I have been trained by my coach, Quentin de la Selle, who is responsible for the Let Padel (in Saint-Pryvé-Saint-Mesmin, near Orléans), and Régis Dargery, sports teacher for physics. I'm doing training matches with players from my club, I just got my best ranking in ten months of practice on November 8, 2022, with 50th place. For 2023, I also obtained an ambassador contract at Head. "
I am looking for a partner for this adventure
“For the moment, I don't have a regular partner for the big women's tournaments: I'm looking for a good right-wing player in the long term to do the four P2023s and some women's P2000s and P1000s in 500. At the beginning of December, I hope to enter the table for the last P2000 of the season, in Colomiers, with my partner Céline Authenac.
I am currently in BTS GPME and I would like to prepare a HR master's degree. But going to spend a year in Barcelona on Erasmus, like Manu Vives or Dylan Guichard, would also please me. I will already go there in April 2023 to do a week of training with Paula Eyheraguibel, who was a great Argentinian padel champion.”
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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