Spain's hand in the International Tournament of padel of Aix

What a tournament! What a showcase! At the Set Club of Aix-en-Provence, Jean-Marc Lenoir, the manager of the club, gave the cover with certainly the most side of the French tournaments in number of participants and levels: The International Tournament of padel from Aix-en-Provence.

It has been held every year at the same time for nearly ten years and has become the unmissable event of the padel French.

Spain, Portugal, Italy, Brazil, Argentina, Monaco and players from all over France came to participate in this big tournament and it was Spain and Brazil who came out on top.

Brave Frenchmen but ...

… They fell against a tenacious and technical Hispano-Brazilian pair. It must be said that Sonia and Paula Miranda are experienced players. They make very few mistakes and exploit the possible inaccuracies of their opponents.

First in the semifinal, they had fallen to one of the best French pairs: Audrey Casanova and Laura Clergue. For a good year now, they train together at the club Set in Aix under the advice of coach Jerome Shaoffer. We have seen the tremendous progress they have made in recent times. Despite a defeat that hurts (match lost in the super tie-break 10 / 8), they do not have to blush their good performance announcing good omens.

In the final, another French pair known for their consistency and fighting spirit on the women's circuit will face the Spanish pair: Sandy Godard and Geraldine Sorel. A little more complicated match for the French, who will have to face a certainly sharper Spanish technique. However, they no longer have, do not have to be ashamed of their journey. Remember that they had to come out with a big match against Pironneau / Gillet to emerge victorious from this confrontation (10/5 in the super tie-break).

French 1 in the final square

David Luke and Jordi Juan, both 234th players in the world (at World Padel Tour) were too strong in the final against the mixed pair composed of the French Nallé Grinda, one of the very best French players in padel associated with the Argentinian, Dario Gauna, former world No. 35 (Currently 85th).

And yet, if on paper, the 100% Catalan pair seemed to be a bit more complete, the match was far from easy. While leading 1 set to 0 (6/2), Nallé Grinda and Dario Gauna managed to lead them to the tie-break of the second set. The public very divided between the Spanish pair and the Franco-Spanish pair was therefore heard more and more with the French flag bearer, Robin Haziza, who had swapped his racquet padel by the microphone of the sound system after having lost earlier in the day with his partner Jérémy Scatena against the finalists in 2 small sets.

In the tie-break, Nallé Grinda was tall. He succeeds in high class shots. Dario Gauna was imperial in the smash where he caused a lot of damage in the opposing ranks. But not enough.

The technique of the former world No. 35 is quite special, with a loose racket for each smash. Some pro players use a fairly similar technique, but it's still pretty surprising to see it. (See photos of the album)

Some small mistakes in the tie-break of the last set were too many for the French-Spanish pair.

The Catalans win after a magnificent match in 3 sets.

The big star of padel international was of course Cristian Gutierrez, world n ° 11 and former n ° 3. He was the partner of Fabrice Pastor, former world n ° 85 and owner of the World Padel Tour of Monaco. They could have gone further in this tournament, but they fell against the future winners of the Open d'Aix. Remember that they came out of a very complicated match in the quarter-finals against a very dangerous Hispano-Portuguese pair: Maros del Pilar and Tiago Santos (Portuguese n ° 1).

A silver category also raised with more Spanish

We know the padel it's a mainly Spanish sport and they are making it known with this time a 100% Spanish square. Pablo Majadas and Rodolpho Arribas therefore won the silver category over the other Spanish pair Keko and Camison in two sets 6/4 6/2.

In conclusion, the tournament turned out to be a great success, with every year in this tournament a lot of surprises and actions. Sponsors like BMW seem to be more and more active in the industry. padel. Remember that Jaguar is already involved through the National Tennis Cup. Given the scale of the phenomenon padel, it is obvious that brands have every interest in getting into a sport like this.

Franck Binisti - Padel Magazine

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.