Loïc Le Panse, a dinosaur from the padel French!

Loïc The Panse is one of the dinosaurs padel French. The 14ᵉ French player looks back on his career in the padel : its ups, its downs and its hopes.

“I bought a racket just after testing”

“I cheated a bit, since my mother is Spanish. I discovered the padel in 2006 in Spain, where he was already very well known. My Spanish cousin invited me to try it out and with my tennis skills, I quickly got used to it. I was recovering from a tennis injury at the time, so I was more in a recovery phase. I quickly liked it padel, and became addicted to it, much to the chagrin of my physio!”

In 2015, the serious things start

“Before that, I was playing about two weeks a year, then came the 4Padel de Champigny, and even though it wasn't near my home, we were so passionate about the sport that we started playing regularly. We had a group of friends with Sylvain Gimenez, Xavi de Benito… Then the Servon club appeared, not far from my home, and it was a real change. We were able to play with a lot of veterans, like Mathieu Lapouge, Fabien Veber and Fabrice Ortiz.”

Places are expensive in Team France

“The France team, I would very much like to be part of it, but I am realistic. I'm 37, I don't train every day. I may not have the physical preparation required, even if since then I have been making efforts at this level, and there are young people who are throwing themselves fully into the padel, with intensive programs and real goals. I don't have too many illusions, but I think I will still be competitive in precise and well-prepared tournaments.

The and Padel arrives in Narbonne

"The Narbonne club project was born three years ago, following my departure from Home Padel in 2019. Someone in Narbonne had a project padel and asked me to join him. Despite some administrative problems and delays related to the construction of the restaurant, the center will open in August with six padel indoor and an ephemeral bar. The restaurant will open later, at the end of the year.”

France can be proud of its international tournaments

“I am delighted to see that young people are becoming a priority for the FFT. This is a great thing even if there is still work to be done in terms of development. There are many offers for leisure, especially private circuits that invest and that's very good. For the competition, it is necessary, in my opinion, to be a little stricter on the specifications, or to create an intermediate category P750.

The P1500, P2000 and the FIP tournaments would then constitute the "elite" circuit of the padel French.

Hats off to the organization of the Bordeaux FIP as well as that of Toulouse WPT. "

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.