Johan Bergeron: It only took one shot!

The French Champion of padel in title, Johan Bergeron looks back on his adventure in Spain, his expectations, his ambitions, his relations with his partner and friend Bastien Blanqué. “Jo” can no longer backtrack, he goes under the scalp of Padel Magazine. But nothing can stop him, the player on the right, when we know that he won with Bastien 10 P1000 in 10 months, the title of French champion of padel and the number 1 position in France, and all this in 2017.

Only since 4 years ....

I start on padel 4 years ago. All this is linked to the new work of Pierre-Etienne Morillon at Head. THE padel was in the process of launching but we were still far from what we are currently experiencing in France and in Europe.

Pierre-Etienne then discovered this sport and we decided to test ourselves at padel at the Tennis Club d'Ecully (where there is a padel)… And there, it is the immediate crush and we start to make tournaments.

The first will be in Marseille where we even manage to win a match! This is the start of our adventure since then we will string together many tournaments padel especially in Lyon which we won.

Pierre-Etienne Morillon — Pierre Etienne Morillon

Half-volleyed and smashed ...

My background as a former tennis player certainly helped me but not that much I think. I was 1 / 6, but the volley was never my strong point. On the other hand, the balls of the bottom of the court, I manage without problem! 🙂

The other interesting point when it comes to tennis is the ability to cut the trajectories, to perform half-volley or to smasher ... Even if we must be very careful with these achievements of tennis.

At high speed V ...

Le padel evolves at high speed. We see all the players new players of padel in France (and not in France for that matter).

There are now tournaments (from P100 to P1000) every weekend, tracks that are set up every week… The French Tennis Federation which manages the padel, was even obliged to make regulations for the P1000 tournaments, that is to say!

But despite the reports on TF1, BFM and the Sport Reporter on Canal +, I think that there is still a lot to do to promote this sport more.

A primordial competition in France team

It is very important that there is strong competition to be part of the France team. Thanks to that, the level of this team will go up to get closer to the best teams in the world!

New players may arrive in this team, what about the pair Tison / Maigret who wins everything at this time. But beware we have lost the 1ère confrontation, we hope to be able to play against them and get our revenge. 🙂

A training padel professional

Every morning we have training with Ramiro Choya, followed by an individual physical training with Borja (one of the best physical trainers in Madrid).

Then about 3x a week we add a training part in the afternoon.

This year I focused on the physical because I realized that it was one of the important things that I could improve in my training program.

My favorite shots

I have 2 🙂

The first is necessarily the long line smash. I think this is the hit where I enjoy myself the most. I just have to be careful not to abuse it in positions that do not allow me to do it, but hey ... it's good to succeed!

The 2ème and it will be a dedication to my friend Max Moreau galley trying to do it, it is the amortized volley in reverse that goes out the door. I take this interview to propose to Max a little lesson on this one so that he can succeed at least 1 on the 15 he tries in match 🙂

Bastien Blanqué, my "boy" for France

I will obviously play with Bastien Blanqué with the aim of keeping our title of Champions of France!

Heart stroke…

For the French Tennis Federation, which is criticized for not getting involved in the padel, but which allowed us to obtain federal aid this year.

And yes, the FFT decided through its president Bernard GIUDICELLI and its DTN Pierre CHERRET to help us in our project. We are very grateful for their support and this shows their desire to evolve the padel in France and on the international scene!

I do not forget all my sponsors who allow me to carry out this project, Head, Leclerc Voyages, Leclerc Vannes, Leclerc Rouffiac (Yes it's a bit like Team Leclerc haha), Krys, the security company 2AS, Le Gite à JT, Padel Shopping, Dardilly Champagne Tennis Club, Sanset Padel.

Thank you because it is thanks to you that I train in the best conditions in Madrid!

We still have a lot to do

I'll tell you a story that shows that we still have a lot to do on the media.

With Bastien, we were on the plane to go to a tournament in Toulouse, it was hot so we were in shorts, t-shirt and our padel. Our neighbor chats with us and learns about our sport. So we are talking about tournaments, our training in Madrid etc. It lasts about fifteen minutes where she really cares about us. Until that moment when she ruined everything…. She dared to ask us this question:

But where do you train because there is no water in Madrid?

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.