Laura Dupont and Stéphanie Ollivaud qualified for the French Championships of padel 2022. The pair hailing from New Caledonia will travel to mainland France to achieve the best possible result. Padel Magazine meet the two players.

childhood friends

Padel Magazine : Laura and Stéphanie, how did you discover the padel ?

Laura and Stephanie : “We are two childhood friends, having both played tennis from an early age. We have known each other forever, but it had been years since we had met on the pitch!”

"We had both heard of the sport but had never touched a tennis racquet. padel before the first women's competition organized by the Caledonian Tennis League in May 2022."

Padel Magazine : How was the qualifying phase for the French championships?

Laura and Stephanie: “It was a nice surprise! We reached the final of the women's territorial championship, without succeeding in winning it. The victorious cannot go to Metropolitan France on these dates, we go there in their place! What luck !"

Fight for New Caledonia!

Padel Magazine : In a few weeks you will travel to France to participate in the national championships. What is your feeling?

Laura and Stephanie: "First of all, we consider ourselves really lucky to be able to participate in the French championships. Coming from the other side of the world to confront the best French women in the discipline is a unique experience!”

“We hope to be up to the challenge, we train to play the best we can and we will fight for New Caledonia and make the most of it.”

"We are aware that the level of competition in New Caledonia is not the same as for the other teams that will be present at this championship, but we can't wait to meet them, see them play and progress in this sport that we find exciting. "

Padel Magazine : What will be the objective?

Laura and Stephanie: “To have fun, to represent New Caledonia with dignity and to promote the practice of padel on the territory. It's still very recent, the discipline arrived in April 2021 in Noumea but it is booming.

On the men's side, Nicolas Lamontagne and Jordan Bouchez will represent New Caledonia. To find out more about them, discover the interview we did a few weeks ago!

New Caledonia – Nicolas Lamontagne & Jordan Bouchez: cross interview!

From his names, we can guess his Spanish and Italian origins. Lorenzo is a multilingual passionate about sports: journalism by vocation and events by worship are his two legs. He is the international gentleman of Padel Magazine. You will often see it on the various international competitions, but also on the major French events. @eyeofpadel on Instagram to see his best photos of padel !

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