Manuel Vives: “My goal is to participate in Roland-Garros in September”

Manuel Vives, 180th player in the world, speaks to the microphone of Padel Magazine on a start to the season disrupted by injuries that kept him away from the field, his objectives for 2025, his partnership with Black Crown, as well as his opinion on the controversy that has shaken the circuit at the start of the year and led to the boycott of tournaments P2 de Cancún et Gijón.

A start to the season delayed by injuries

Manuel Vives, who finished the 2024 season ranked 143rd in the world (his best ranking) and as the 6th French player, had a great 2024. He won two FIP Rise (London and Sydney), two Fip Promotion (Chiba and Melbourne) and honored his first selection in the French team during the World's Championships. His season had started in Australia on the FIP Tour circuit, but ended with an injury requiring surgery on his left shoulder on December 5. This operation forced him into a long absence at the start of the 2025 season.

“I had surgery on my left shoulder, the one that was repeatedly dislocating, on December 5th, with a minimum of two to two and a half months off work. Right after the operation, I had an MRI of my shoulder, where I had had tendinopathy for a long time. I then discovered that two tendons were torn, I needed to do rehabilitation on them and it was much longer than expected. I have been injured for four months now, and it is my right shoulder that is preventing me from playing.

A gentle return to work after a 4-month absence:

“I'm slowly getting back on the court, but I can only play once or twice a week. I estimate my return to competition in a month and a half, which will mean I'll have missed between five and five and a half months of competition. I've been carrying this tendinopathy around for almost all of 2024, which is eight months straight of playing on it.”

Currently, Manuel Vives is in rehabilitation at National Training Center at French Tennis Federation, in Paris:

“I'm currently in Paris, where I'm taking advantage of the French Tennis Federation's facilities at the CNE to get treatment. I'm doing physiotherapy, rehabilitation, and physical work, but I can't play padel yet.”

Season goals

The Frenchman hopes to return to competition in a few weeks and has set himself three major objectives:

“I no longer have a ranking goal due to the duration of my injury. However, I have three major tournament goals this season, where, fortunately, ranking doesn't matter. I just need to play very well. My goal is to participate in Roland Garros in September, at European Championships and French Championships with Dylan GuichardThese are the three main goals of my season, especially the first two.”

Paris Major – Roland-Garros: September 6-14, 2025
European Championships (FIP Euro Padel Cup 2025) – Madrid: July 7-13, 2025. France is directly qualified for the final stages (the location and dates will be announced soon).
French Championships: September 19-21, 2025

The adventure with Black Crown

The spanish brand Black Crown, specialized in padel rackets, supports Manuel Vives since 2023.

“I am continuing the adventure with Black Crown for two years in Spain, and with padel racket (shop in France). I am very happy, I started my international career with them and we continue together. I am really satisfied with the performance of the racket for two years, especially with the Piton. "

What racket will he play with this season?

“I'm still testing the rackets, it's between three models: the Piton, Epic Energy, which I have liked so far, and the last one, which I have not yet been able to try because it is too heavy on the head and my shoulder does not allow it yet. This is the Xtrem Boss, which everyone tells me is good. In Spain, many players use it.”

Stéphane Penso explores the Black Crown 2025: First impressions and analysis

Looking back at the 2024 season

His best memory:

“Australia at the start of the year with Julien Seurin, where we won two titles in a row. It was one of my best trips. I had family there, and everything was pretty incredible.”

Indeed, Manuel Vives et Julien Seurin have won two FIP titles in Australia:

FIP Rise Australian Open – Sydney (January 3-7, 2024): 6/4 6/4 victory against the Spanish Sergi Guimet Bigas et Nicolai Maniucov.

FIP Promotion Melbourne (January 10-14, 2024): new victory against the same opponents (4/6 6/4 6/3).

VIVES SEURIN CHAMPIONS FIP RISE AUSTRALIAN OPEN

His worst memory:

“Off the field, not having played Roland Garros was a big disappointment, it really hurt me. On the pitch, my worst memory remains a defeat in Sweden, in the middle of the year, in the quarter-finals of a FIP with Julien Seurin salary. Victor Tur et Josep AymerichThe match was very close, and this defeat affected me a lot.”

When for his FIP Rise Sweden – Gothenburg, the French pair Seurin / Vives, seeded 3, was eliminated in three sets (6/7 6/1 6/7) by the Spanish pair seeded no. 5, Josep Aymerich Bellmunt et Victor Tur Checa.

The conflict between players and Premier Padel

The 2025 season began amid tensions between the players of the Top 150 and the instances of the FIP and Premier PadelThe cause: rule changes and broken promises, according to the players, since the creation of the circuit. This led to the boycott of the P2 tournaments in Gijón and Cancún, giving way to lower ranked players, who were able to collect points and progress in the ranking. A situation which has particularly impacted Manuel Vives, who dropped from 143rd place to a lower ranking due to his injury and the rise of players who took advantage of the boycott.

“I haven't been directly confronted with this, because I haven't played. What happens with Premier Padel is really problematic, especially the fact of not respecting what had been announced. It's good that the players managed to unite to try to make things happen, but the problem is that it was poorly managed. They took a long time to speak out, and we didn't hear from the best players for a long time. Afterwards, it's hard to blame them, it's not supposed to be their job.

The movement was a good idea, but it is regrettable what happened with the P2, where there was almost no one, and where many players were able to collect points. On a more personal level, it was mainly the players around 150th place who were penalized the most, while those ranked behind were able to benefit. But in the end, everything will return to normal.”

The new partner for this season

In 2024, Manuel Vives had joined forces with the young Spaniard Eneko Arija Ochoa de Alda (20 years old, currently 213th in the world), with whom he played his first tournament together during the Finland Premier Padel P2 (July 27, 2024), reaching the second round of qualifying before losing (5/7 3/6). Together, they won the FIP Rise London.

“I have no idea. I won't play with the Spaniard again. Eneko Arija Ochoa de Alda, who, obviously, was not going to wait for me for months and resumed the season with another player. I have two or three possible options, but nothing fixed for the moment. The only confirmed partner is Dylan Guichard for French Championships. "

Nicolas Fillaudeau

A big sports enthusiast and former tennis player, I discovered padel a few years ago without really focusing on it. Then I became addicted to this sport by practicing it and watching the premier padel matches. Looking forward to sharing the 2025 news with you!