We return today with Tony Parker and Robin Haziza on the2023 edition of the Human Padel Open, the French WPT event which we learned last week that it would take place again this year in Toulouse, from June 12 to 18.

Robin Haziza, Director of WPT Human Padel Open, gives us a foretaste of the tournament and its developments, along with ex-basketball player Tony Parker, with whom he is associated within T&T Padel, also with judoka Teddy Riner.

■ The return to Toulouse

Robin Haziza: “Building on the success of the 2022 tournament, we of course wanted to come back to Toulouse. We worked with the communities to have a device that will be even more exceptional than last year. And we are very happy to be able to promote the padel in France and welcome the best male and female players to Toulouse next June.”

■ New for 2023

Robin Haziza: “First of all, we hope not to have the heat wave this year, which takes place every 72 years (!) in Toulouse in June. We promise an even better spectator experience than last year, with an improved village. Probably also a bigger gauge for the public – and we know how much the padel is evolving in France at high speed. Last year, we were lucky to be sold out on Saturday and Sunday, with a capacity of 3000 people, which we dared not hope for. This year, we're going to bet on going a little further, doing a little more and probably removing one of the two courts at the Palais des sports to have a huge central court and live an experience padel in my opinion quite magnificent.”

■ What formula?

Robin Haziza: The format of the tournament is likely to change, especially in the size of the final table, which will surely be a little bigger, with qualifiers a little smaller than last year. A priori, there should be four qualifying rounds instead of the usual six. And the final draw may start on Tuesday rather than Wednesday, depending on the size of the draw. The tournament will take place on the site of the Palais des Sports de Toulouse. We will also probably host two fields of padel additional facilities in the “small” Sports Palace which is right next door. The idea is to be able to organize the qualifications on one site and the whole final table on another site. This means that the women will all play on the same site, whereas last year, part of the draw took place at 4Padel in Colombiers. This time, we will really try to have a unity of place and to be able to offer a show that is 100% padel at the Sports Palace and at the small Sports Palace.

Two qualifying rounds should take place on 4Padel and the other two qualifying rounds will take place at the Petit Palais des Sports and at the Palais des Sports. Obviously, we will open these matches to the general public. And of course, the tournament will be broadcast exclusively on Canal+, which is a strong partner for us. We will have a comment post on site and maybe more. We want to do beautiful things and we promise an even better experience than last year.

Human Padel Open 2023

■ Tony Parker, player padel

Tony Parker: My first feeling is that I love this sport, playing makes you want to play even more, it's very addictive: we start playing every weekend with my friends. And I'm glad that, last year, Robin came to present his project to me. After a great first edition in Toulouse, I'm happy to go back there, everyone is motivated, we want to make the event grow. So I can't wait to see what's next, it's the sport that is number 1 in the whole world in terms of progression and in France, it's really starting to gain momentum.

■ Which personalities in Toulouse?

Tony Parler: Me, the big news I've seen lately is that Roger is playing padel (laughs). People talk to me about basketball players, but I say rather Roger. It's true that we see a lot of footballers, starting with Zizou, whom I often play for you. But for me, Roger, it's too strong!

Robin Haziza: What is certain is that we will do the All Star again Padel Game, won last year by Thierry Omeyer, associated with Benjamin Tison. We will try this year to have a new formula, to also make the event grow on that side, to have athletes from all walks of life, who will both enjoy the spectacle offered by the best players in the world and participate at the competition, battling to lift the All Star trophy. This year, Tony is signed up and that's why he's training hard… and why not go for the win?

■ A Parker / Riner pair?

Tony Parker: No, my teammate is Robin, I don't change my teammate. It's true that I played once with Teddy, but his presence will depend on his program, which is busy, especially one year before the Olympics. We'll see…

■ T&T projects Padel in 2023.

Robin Haziza: The T&T Agency Padel, which we created with Tony, Teddy and me, accompanies (Editor's note: as an agent) a lot of players from padel French, we want to help them and ensure that this high level of padel French is developing, so we are doing a lot of work with them. We also do a lot of consulting work with a lot of clubs, brands and institutions that want to enter the market and ask us for advice. Today, these are the objectives of the company, with of course this big behemoth that is the World Padel Tour, which is somewhat the flagship of the agency. Subsequently, the development of padel is so incredible in France that we don't forbid anything and we'll see what happens.

Watch this video interview:

After 40 years of tennis, Jérôme falls into the pot of padel in 2018. Since then, he thinks about it every morning while shaving… but never shaves pala in hand! Journalist in Alsace, he has no other ambition than to share his passion with you, whether you speak French, Italian, Spanish or English.

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