Padel Magazine had the pain of learning of the death of Jérôme Golmard as a result of Charcot's disease which forced him in 2013 to stop the padel.

Jérôme Golmard, an extraordinary tennis player, certainly one of the most gifted of his generation, had become at the end of his career a padel for almost 10 years. He left an image of a generous player who was appreciated by all who had the chance to share a game or a beer with him.

Who better than Nicolas Bourdarel could tell us about Jerome and pay him homage.

Jérôme and Nicolas played 5 seasons on the French circuit. The pair will repeatedly hit the French 10 top between 2006 and 2011 and will even manage to reach the quarter-finals of L'Open International in Aix-en-Provence.

Nicolas, How did you meet with Jérôme?

A return to school day in 2005 before the lists of students in the class.

The names of our 2 children follow each other on the sheet and Jérôme is there next to me. We are discussing back to school but I know who he is of course, tennis being my first passion. The next morning I meet him again in front of the school at 9am and what a surprise to find him the same evening at the Set Club where Jean-Marc Lenoir had invited him to an initiation of padel.

We are the same age, our children in the same school, we live at 500 meters from each other and we share the same passion of racket sports ... everything would contribute to that we become a friend.

How did you become partners?

I got hold of him! (Laughter) Selfishly when you see a player of this talent arrive, you prefer him to be on your team than opposite, and if he is left-handed, it's the Jackpot.

I had been playing for 3 years and our association allowed me to take a step forward. On the court, he took a crazy place with his wingspan. An albatross! He was bouncing everywhere and loving all balls. His past on the ATP circuit had given him an extraordinary mentality: match point, break point, he never trembled.

We played 5 years on the circuit and got some nice results, we especially had a good time. In the padel, going to a tournament on weekends with a friend is an experience in itself.

Can you tell us which man Jerome was?

When someone dies everyone finds him qualities. This state of affairs could mislead my words. But everyone who has been around Jerome will confirm.

Jérôme is a great guy, of great humility. In sport we often meet guys who have not proven anything and who have the bowler. Jérôme was the opposite. He was 22nd in the world in tennis, number 1 in France, beat Agassi, Rios, Moya, won 2 ATP tournaments and wherever he went he was absolutely discreet. The Class!

Behind his shyness hid a warrior; deep down he was an Apache Indian. He had a passion for Geronimo materialized by the tattoos he had on his body. I think that's where he got his strength and courage. He looked the disease straight in the eye. He fought her with all his might.

I, behind this robust appearance also gave off a great sensitivity and fragility that made him a friend to listen.

Jérôme was "A MONSIEUR!" ". It was our expression on the court when we scored a nice point “YES Sir! We exclaimed!

What memories do you keep of your journey padel with Jérôme?

This is unfortunately a bad memory. During our last game, I think it was 2013, he fell for no apparent reason going to bang against the rear window and dislocate the shoulder. We spent the evening in the emergency room where we laughed at this trivial incident for a sportsman. A few weeks later his illness was diagnosed and afterwards Jerome admitted that his fall was one of the warning signs that his muscles were under attack.

The players of padel all know it, it is difficult to be 100% compatible with a partner in the complementarity of games and characters. When we have one with whom it matches thoroughly, we form a pair for several years. The 2 names are always associated on the tournament tables. "The 2 are the pair"

It situates you the relationship. In 12 years of padel, I had 2 partners Boissac and Golmard.

Since the onset of Jérôme's illness, I have felt a deep wound, I have had a hard time replaying, associating with another partner. I feel a lot of sadness to be on a short sometimes even of suffering; I miss Jerome and will miss me even more.

Interview by Franck Binisti
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.

On the same subject