The French Championships Padel continue at 4PADEL Strasbourg. Damien Lozano and Pierre Perez Le Tiec could not do much in the face of Thomas Leygue and Bastien Blanqué.

The opportunity for the Parisian pair to look back on their careers and their current affairs.

“A complicated draw from the start”

Damien Lozano and Pierre Perez Le Tiec had set the tone before even setting foot on the court: facing Bastien Blanqué and Thomas Leygue meant playing against the tournament favourites. After the match, Damien Lozano did not hide his disappointment: “We are a little disappointed to have drawn them in the first round. We had put a tactic in place after playing against them again in Carquefou, but it didn’t work.”

A difficult strategy to implement

Faced with an unwavering defense from their opponents, the strategy envisaged by the two players failed to make the difference. “We tried to play more in my diagonal and to make sure that Damien locked Bastien, but they defended really well. It was difficult to put in place,” explained Pierre Perez Le Tiec.

The first games were tight, however, as Lozano pointed out: “We had chances in the first set, but errors in return cost us dearly. We had game points on our serves, but we made bad choices. The final score of 6/3 6/2 is a bit harsh in my opinion, we could have done better.”

Prospects for improvement

For the Lozano/Perez Le Tiec pair, the goal remains to continue to progress on the French circuit, with regular participation in P1000 tournaments. However, for the time being, participation in the FIP international circuit still seems premature. “Before going on the FIP circuit, we need to progress in national tournaments,” explains Lozano. Perez Le Tiec adds: “We must first win P1500 or P2000 tournaments before launching into the international arena.”

The need for training as a priority

To reach a higher level, both players know that they must first train more. “We don’t train enough, that’s already our first problem,” admits Damien Lozano. “We have to work on everything: the volley, the returns, the smashes, the lobs… There is no major weak point, but everything can be improved.”

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A qualification system to be reviewed?

Regarding the format of the French Championship, the players discussed the issue of qualifications. “I think it’s normal that there is one champion per league, even if some leagues don’t have pairs in the French top 20 or top 30,” Lozano confided. However, he suggested an improvement: “Perhaps we could imagine a repechage system based on the level of the leagues, to avoid pairs in the top 20 being eliminated.”

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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