Cédric Faudier is an actor in the world of padel in the south of France. He wears many hats: tournament organizer, active member of the CD13 development committee, and dedicated enthusiast. However, a recurring problem tarnishes this sport that he loves so much: the “too many forfeits for ranking matches” during tournaments.

Cédric sounds the alarm on repeated forfeits in tournaments.

Le padel : a passion that came by chance

Cédric Faudier was not always a man of padel. Unlike many, he never played tennis before taking up the sport. But the padel quickly won him over. “I practice padel for a short time, without ever having played tennis, and I quickly took a liking to it!”, he says.

A road accident temporarily put an end to his sporting practice, but not to his passion for it. padel. Forced to step away from the field for a year, Cédric used this time to invest even more in this sport: “This allowed me to integrate the CD13 into the development commission, to organize the departmental championships and also to be present at almost all the local tournaments (P100 to P1500, F & H).”

A practice pollutes tournaments

Cédric Faudier notices a worrying trend: some players refuse to play their ranking matches. “I noticed that there are more and more tournaments where some players do not play their ranking matches“, he laments.

This phenomenon, which he observed during the 2022/23 and current seasons, particularly affects tournaments from the P500 level. “I haven't noticed it yet on a P100. On the other hand, rarely on a 250, and from the 500, it starts to be a mess.”

For Cédric, this practice is not only unfair to the players who respect the rules, but it is also deeply disrespectful to partners, opponents, spectators, referees, and host clubs. He cites three recent examples during P1000 where ranking matches were not played, all due to frustration.

Solutions? Sanctions and collective reflection?

Faced with this situation, Cédric Faudier proposes a broader reflection within the community of padel. “We will have to consider a round table with representatives of the federation and regional representatives to talk about this injustice and why not establish a sanction,” he suggests.

As for the nature of the sanction, he proposes a dissuasive measure: “Why not a non-authorization of registration for two, or even three tournaments, which could lead to a loss of places in the ranking since you do not take points.”

Except that in general, players who withdraw are protected from these losses of points due to the regulations which only take into account the 12 best results over the last 12 months.

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.

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