Louis Jover, a young hopeful of French padel, is an essential face of the P1000, P1500 and P2000 tournaments. Present at the P2000 of Impact Stadium in La Rochelle, he looks back on his 2024 results, his strategic choices and his ambitions for the future.

A mixed assessment for 2024

"I started the year a little bad, especially during the winter of 2024 when I didn't play very well. But from spring and summer onwards, my results were much better."

"With Joshua Schbeir (his partner at the time), we really weren't good. After thinking about it, we decided to play a little less together. And then, it went better. (Laughs: Thanks Josh, if you're listening to us!) But this summer, I played better with Raphaël Rubio. We also got some good results in the P1500 with Julien Biron, especially in Bandol. These performances gave me back my confidence and I found better sensations.

"I also took my baccalaureate via the CNED this year, and I passed. Now that this stage is behind me, I decided to go and live in Barcelona to continue my progression."

Why Barcelona?

“In Palavas, where I was playing this year, there was a lack of diversity in training partners. Thomas (Seux) also wanted to leave, so only Arthur (Hugounenq) was left as an adult player. The rest were mostly youngsters. So we decided to go to Barcelona, ​​where Julien (Biron) was already living for his studies and where he trained a little. After discussing it, we agreed to share an apartment.”

"We train twice a day. In the morning, we do physical training with Thomas Seux, who is also our nutritional and life coach. Then, we work on our padel with Nicolas Gavino and A2 Padel Pro Academy at Barbera Padel, where players like Ari Sánchez also train."

What are your goals for 2024?

"This season is going to be expensive. I'm going to try to limit my travels in France to only participate in the P1500 and P2000 close to the border. The idea is to play more FIP tournaments to start accumulating points internationally. I could either play with Julien Biron or with Spaniards I met in training."

Ambitions with the French team

"The French team is an ambition. I am well placed compared to the best French players. It is not a huge gap, but I still lack consistency and rhythm. Rigorous physical and technical preparation should help me to fill in these details."

"It might be complicated for this year, because I'm going to have to prove my worth in FIP tournaments, and that takes time. But in the next two or three years, it's a clear objective."

Playing left or right: a strategic asset

"I normally play on the left, but this summer I played a few tournaments on the right, especially with Jérémy Robert, and it went well. In Barcelona, ​​we work a lot on both sides, which could open doors for me for a future selection."

"Because places in the French team are expensive. On the right, I think that the places are already all taken with Johan Bergeron, Thomas Leygue and Dylan Guichard. And there are a lot of them who could post for this 4th place on the right. On the other hand, on the left, apart from Bastien Blanqué, it is less obvious, because we can see that the levels are very tight and we can see it very clearly during this P2000 in La Rochelle. There are also a lot of talented young players who are arriving like Thomas Basso or Olivier Guy de Chamisso. The goal is to become the best, no matter the position."

"This first year in Spain is for learning. The second year will be for putting it into practice."

Franck Binisti

Franck Binisti discovered padel at the Club des Pyramides in 2009 in the Paris region. Since then, padel has been part of his life. You often see him touring France to cover major French padel events.