Hubert PICQUIER, Member of the Executive Committee in charge of padel for the FFT looks back on the development of padel in France, the padel at Roland Garros and the ambitions of the French Tennis Federation on its development.

  • At Roland Garros, we had a Baby Padel instead of a plot of padel...

As you know, the Roland Garros Stadium is under construction and changing. This year again, for security and reception reasons, we ran out of space to be able to set up real sports grounds. Padel, Mini-Tennis or Beach Tennis. We hope that next year, following the destruction of Court N ° 1 and the provision of a large space for circulation and relaxation for the public, we will be able to present real courts, but the decision final has not yet been taken.

  • Can we take stock of the contribution of this Baby Padel during RG?

This Baby Padel allowed to present and explain what the Padel to thousands of children and adults (we had more than 1.000 visits per day to the Ten'Up space!). In fact, this "prototype" was very useful since thousands of people were able to discover the Padel, or hold a racket in your hand, which is no small feat.

Baby Padel at Roland Garros

  • CNE: Where are we?

The CNE project PADEL going well. We hope to be able to communicate on this file soon. The place is indeed almost secret ... But the project is beautiful, with the creation of 14 courts of Padel available to Ile-de-France residents.

  • Some players would like to be able to represent a different league depending on the sport they practice (Tennis, Beach tennis or padel). Will it be possible next year?

Unfortunately, our federal applications will not allow this starting next year. At the end of April, we launched our new mobile and web application “Ten'Up”, which is now very popular and used by a majority of our licensees. We are currently working on the evolution of our federal license, which will eventually allow a licensee to be attached to 2 or 3 different clubs, depending on his practices.

  • What is the position of the FFT on the Open de France?

The Federation has a very good relationship with the organizers of the French Open. I personally made the trip to Perpignan to share with them. The French Open organizes many stages in the city center and this greatly contributes to the promotion of Padel in France. We have the common will to collaborate more closely in the future, in particular for the calendar of our various stages.

  • What is the next FFT agenda / theme for the coming months?

The 5, 6 and 7 next July, we have our 1st “Town Center” stage of the FFT PADEL TOUR in Bordeaux, on the quays. We hope that this will be an opportunity for a wide audience to discover this fantastic and addictive game that is Padel. Then we will continue with a “Club” stage at the Aix Country Club in mid-July.

At the end of August, we will have our first interregional phases of the French U18 Team Championship. The final phase will take place in Toulouse Padel Club on September 14 and 15. And the Federation will send, for the 1st French World Youth Teams will be held in Castellon (Valencia, Spain), from 14 to 20 next October.

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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