Absent from the team selected by Alexis Salles to go to Marbella, Justin Lopes wishes to support the France team while giving his impressions about the course of the internship which he did not always find "fair".

"Thewas supported by players from the France group"

 Padel Magazine : Alexis Salles made its list of selected for Europe. You must be disappointed?

Justin Lopes: Disappointed or not, I have no choice but to accept it! Obviously I'm disappointed, a selection is supposed to be a marathon and not a 3 day sprint. It turned out badly for me… (laughs)

No, honestly, this 3-day “selection” course was a huge frustration whether it was before / during / after.

“Before” because we immediately understood with François that everything we could accomplish in the past would absolutely not count and that we would necessarily be selected in pairs or NOTHING. The programming of the internship says a lot, but I will come back to this.

“During” for several reasons:

  • The first is that I was completely zero at the start of the internship due to a lack of training but above all to a lack of playing time in the tournament (not for lack of trying to do the APT in Beausoleil but they canceled due to Covid). It's hard to exist against pairs in front of us where there was always one of the 5 best over-trained French players and who had the chance to be able to play several official tournaments, so important to gain confidence ...
  • The second, of course we were not at our best level with my partner, but it would have been so much easier to get by for us by playing alongside the best for François as well as for me. Strangely my best match was next to Benjamin Tison while playing on the left while I'm a ball on this side…

Indeed, we played 3 out of 5 matches together when the others who were fighting for the last places played with all the best. I play on the right, but I have not played with Blanqué, nor with Bergeron, nor with Maigret. Isn't that a bit much? Why ? Where is the sports fairness? What reassures me is that we were supported by players from the France group whose names I will obviously not mention.

“Why select a pair?”

Padel Magazine : Justin and François together, it hurts a lot. But there is a lack of visibility when you are apart. Do you agree with this analysis?

Justin Lopes: Indeed with François we have been very regular for a few years and we have even managed to do some great feats, but that means forgetting the moments with Pier Gauthier, Maxime Moreau, Jérémy Ritz, with whom I also had very good results. Ditto for François who was very good with Laurent Boulade. Afterwards with these I did not actually win any "monstrous" pair but in this case which player did? No ! So other players don't know how to play with anyone?

Padel Magazine : We should have selected a constant pair, which performed well against the best French?

Justin Lopes: Why select a pair? Example: if Johan plays with Benjamin and one of the two is injured, we return with François to play our match by firing one of the two survivors when he is 6 times stronger than us? It makes no sense… I believe that Tison / Authier or Bergeron / Lopes is much stronger than a Lopes / Authier, and it is valid with the 3 other essential players!

Justin Lopes clenched fist

Annoy as many teams as possible!

Padel Magazine : How do you see the rest of the season?

Justin Lopes: First beat the big one pair of the moment Joulot / Sanchez to the regional hoping not to sink before Mr. Mario Cordero who has teeth that scratch the floor (Laughs).

We are going to align ourselves with the p2000 which will appear before us until the end of the year and we will see well… I think that we will be competitive and that we will annoy many teams again and then if not is not the case too bad our women will be happy to see us again sooner at home! (Laughter)

Padel Magazine : to finish ? 

I wish the French team good luck. The team is obviously very strong. The competition is tough in France and it shows the quality of the team with players who perform on the WPT. France has second place in sight. But she is not the only one. And we will have to have a little luck and avoid Spain at all costs before the final. There are some great guys. Go the Blues!

Xan is a fan of padel. But also rugby! And his posts are just as punchy. Physical trainer of several padel, he unearths atypical posts or deals with topical subjects. It also gives you some tips to develop your physique for the padel. Clearly, he imposes his offensive style as on the field of padel !

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