Gilles Moretton: “Tennis clubs have once again become places to live thanks to the padel”| Padel Magazine

This Thursday, a press conference was held in Aubervilliers to present the Greenweez Paris Major Premier Padel second edition. The novelties of the tournament and the progress of the padel within the federation were mentioned during this event. Relive the highlights of the press conference with Arnaud Di Pasquale, tournament director, and Gilles Moretton, president of the FFT.

The novelties of the tournament with the added bonus of the presence of a women's draw

As Luigi Carraro, President of the FIP, explained last February, the objective of the federation was to set up a women's table for the next tournaments. Arnaud Di Pasquale, director of the Paris Major Premier Padel, confirmed the presence of women at Roland-Garros.

Arnaud Di Pasquale : “Last year, we made every effort to have the presence of women at Roland-Garros in order to represent the padel. Today, the Premier Padel takes the lead and the women finally join the circuit. There will be a slightly reduced women's draw, with 48 pairs for the ladies and 56 for the men. Logically, the prize-money increases with an endowment that now exceeds one million euros.”

Gilles Moretton - Arnaud Di Pasquale Greenwez Paris Major Premier Padel

“We also have three new partners: Isdin, Veolia, and RTL 2/Fun Radio.”

“We are fully booked for Saturday and Sunday, which is very good news. The capacity on the Philippe Chatrier center court will be 8 people, with some surprises that we will reveal during the tournament. Since people work in September and it will be back to school, there will be two games in night session (one match at 18 p.m., one match at 20 p.m. from Monday to Saturday). Matches will start at 13 p.m.

“Our goal was to fill the last days. This does not mean that we can open the upper part. This year it won't be possible, but those are thoughts we will have after the tournament.”

"We also want to strengthen the activities around the Jardin des Mousquetaires with the regular presence of a DJ. We will also have more land padel around center court. The idea is to introduce this practice to those who do not know it, with teachers available, many clinics and programs. We are expecting a great week. It's the back-to-school event and we can't wait to be there.”

Considerable progress within the FFT

Gilles Moreton "The primary mission of the federation is to develop the notoriety of the padel. For us, it was obvious to associate ourselves with an international federation such as the FIP. We want to make people want to play padel and provide them with the necessary means.

"This is a major activity for the FFT. Little by little, we are catching up, with about 36 licensees and an estimate of more than 400 practitioners in France.”

“Today, if we let the padel grow alone, like what Spain did, le padel would be among the top five federations in France. One can imagine the potential behind it. This is why Arnaud's teams decided to create this event “Padel Experience". We know that we have significant development potential.”

"Tennis clubs have once again become places of life thanks to the padel"

Gilles Moreton : “There was initially a certain reluctance among some veterans to integrate a new discipline into the FFT. I'll be honest, we were very tennis-focused at the start. But we have evolved. The tennis clubs had a certain mistrust at first. We released the padel shade and little by little it grew.”

"We succeeded in bringing together those who resisted this sport and those who were opposed to the integration of padel in the federation. Today, we are one, organizing thee Greenweez Paris Major and in increasing ADCP (Club and Practice Development Assistance), it shows that we are on the move.”

"We still have work to do, but the facts are there: our tennis clubs, which offer padel see an increase in the number of licensees. Within the federation, there is no cleavage between tennis and padel, we move forward together.”

Gilles Moretton - Arnaud Di PASquale GPMPP

Arnaud Di Pasquale : “It is possible to practice the padel and tennis, there is a link between the two disciplines, and vice versa. The path exists. At first there was the fear that the padel cannibalize tennis. If at the beginning, the momentum of the padel was given by former tennis players, today more than 60% of the players of padel don't come from tennis, and this trend will increase. That fear has been put aside now.”

Gilles Moreton "Tennis clubs have once again become places of life thanks to the padel. Le padel promotes social bonding. In tennis, during the first years of licensing, we recorded a high dropout rate. The reason for this is often the lack of partners. At padel, it's different. People book a court without knowing who they are going to play against, and it adapts according to 10 levels. So we have to learn from padel. We need to recreate those elements of usability.”

Paris Major Premier Padel journalists press conference

There is still a long way

Gilles Moreton : "Today, we have 83% of men who play padel et 17% women. In tennis the proportions are different (70% M and 30% F). So there is work to be done there.”

“We have a lot of positives. With padel we have recreated social ties and conviviality in the tennis clubs. Le padel brings us this additional element. We have a real challenge in the federation, it is to support this development. We will perhaps be able for the year 2024 to announce a certain number of development measures, new tracks, tournaments, schools of padel. We are all mobilized. We have a lot of ambition, we are motivated and very demanding.”

Vincent Gallie

A fan of oval football, round ball but also racket sports, he was stung by the padel during his adolescence in Galicia. As comfortable in front of the camera as behind a microphone, Vince will be able to bring his vision and expertise as a fan of the little yellow ball.