Jo-Wilfried Tsonga: “Au Padel, we have fun right away unlike tennis ”| Padel Magazine

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is all about tennis. But he keeps an eye on padel. A sport that he likes even if for the moment he remains 100% in tennis. Antoine Sarroste met him at the Tsonga Camp (located at the Tennis Club de Lyon) to talk about padel of course!

Tsonga Camp at the Tennis Club de Lyon, what is it?

First of all, it started with an idea with friends. We said to ourselves what we could do for young people and that we would have loved to do. Then came the idea of the Tsonga Camp: bring together young people of different ages (girls / boys) and give them an intense week of tennis with lots of cool moments, fun, good humor with music where they do a bit of competition too. I find the mixture to be very important and to work very well.

Do the young people play padel during this training?

No, unfortunately, there is no adapted / junior rackets available at the club.

When did you discover the Padel ? Your first impression?

I first discovered padel years ago when I was 12. It wasn't exactly the padel of today. It was a padel that we played in Bressuire. We played on a carpet with our tennis rackets and without the walls. We had a great time. It was a kind of mini-tennis where we used to play in the tennis courts. When we rediscovered it a few years ago, we really got into it. When I say "we", it's the tennis family. We all got into this game because it's fun and you can hold the racket very easily. It's quite simple unlike tennis which is very technical at first, even if tennis then becomes a very fun sport. Whereas padel remains a bit more fun and friendly. You can start having fun very quickly.

We see some players sometimes playing padel like Gaël Monfils and you?

No, I don't play a lot for the simple reason that I already play tennis, I left a lot of feathers there and therefore I try to preserve myself as much as possible for tennis. So I don't play it a lot and so far I've never played it regularly.

Do you see padel growing everywhere?

For me, padel is starting to be very present in the United States. It is obviously very present in Spain and South America. In France, we are starting to get into it. Where I saw the potential of padel is through the United States because they are very good at selling dreams. And so they sell padel with music in it, light shows: the American show. I found it innovative to combine this new sport with a show, to arrive in a universe a little less formal than, for us, tennis, it was more relaxed and we have more fun.

What is your view on the evolution of padel over the past 5 years in France?

I think it has evolved a lot. People who want to create new infrastructures, especially in tennis, can't imagine it without padel courts now. I think that even for young people, for certain sensations, it's good for tennis. I think that we can start with padel first and then move on to tennis, it's a kind of mini-tennis for the youngest.

Can padel compete with tennis? Especially within tennis clubs?

No, I don't think that padel can compete with tennis because quite simply, tennis remains tennis. There is a sensation of the ball in the racket that you don't have with padel. The padel racket remains a full carbon racket and there is a sensation in the racket that is very nice but that will never be as good as with a string or possibly a natural string, a gut.

Is this a good development tool for tennis clubs?

Yes, that's it, it's a good way of development for tennis clubs. I think it will work. There could very well be as many tennis players as padel players.

Like in Spain?

Yes, I think that it is something that can work but the tennis will remain the tennis that is to say that it will remain nevertheless, for me, already the fact that it is a sport even more difficult to see even more picky on the technique, the sensations. That's it, we will not change. It's as if tomorrow, we invented a new golf, it will never be as good as with his iron and hard balls.