Marie Rondot: “Win a P1000 this year with Steffi”

Marie Rondot gives us a look back on her participation with her partner Steffi Merah in the P1500 in Bordeaux and the FIP Rise Gothenburg II. Also discover the aspirations of these two young people who dream of winning a P1000 in France.

Difficulty managing important points

When for his Bordeaux P1500, I think what we lacked is the management of important points because we tend to be systematically at 30-0, 40-30 or 40-15 in games. I find that we have a good concentration on the first points but when we are on an important point I think that we do not take into account the fact that it is more difficult to manage for those who are finishing games only for those who are losing the game. On this aspect, it is true that our adversaries Melanie Ros et Marie maligo had very simple patterns of play and they were focused on not making a mistake. We tend to lose concentration a little and not be rigorous enough.

Faced with these girls, who have been playing for a long time and who are more experienced than us, I find that we did not necessarily seize the opportunities on the important points given that in the third set we still led 3/1 , then we lead 4/3, we have two balls of 5/3 that we do not finalize, and they come back to 4/4. I think that's a real shame.

Then, in terms of the game, there are times when we try to make things too complicated, particularly when we want to finish too quickly. Knowing that these are two girls who are capable of putting the ball back in the field forty times... They didn't necessarily hurt us very much, we managed to defend, on the other hand, we tend to want to do things too complicated, too quickly. This is something we talk about a lot with Steffi.

Le padel, a sport of patience

Le padel it's a sport of construction and patience, and finishing once again with the conditions we had there is not necessarily easy. I think this is an aspect that they have mastered and are able to maintain over time. We manage to do it, but not over the long term. It's still a bit of ups and downs: we're not necessarily used today to playing 1h30/2h matches, where you have to know, on each point, to put the ball back in the ball fifteen or twenty times. short. It's a very good experience to have experienced this because little by little this is the level we want to have and it's in matches like this that we can see our areas of progress.

It seems stupid but there are a lot of times where for example we do a lob not very well, or a short lob because in fact we are not focused on this ball and we have not necessarily looked at the ball well. , we didn't necessarily put our legs well or raise our arms well to lob well. All these little things for the moment are not necessarily automatic for us and each time we really tell ourselves that on each ball we hit we must be concentrated as much as possible to make the best possible shot and that, that requires concentration and rigor in the game which are enormous.

That's also why, I think, that the match tired us out quite a bit, and for me there are really these two subjects on which we realize that these are girls who have more experience on the management of important points and that we, for our part, really have to work on this management. And secondly, we must be able to be lucid and hold the ball fifteen or twenty times if necessary to win the point. Then we have to work on this mental side, on concentration to prevent our consistency from fluctuating so much during a match.

His feelings about his first international tournament

It was truly incredible! Honestly, I think we were very lucky for our first tournament because we arrived in a setting in Sweden where the people were lovely. The club was magical. I think I have rarely seen a club like this. The experience even before I started playing was truly amazing.

With Steffi, I think we are two competitors. But above all, we are people with a real sporting soul and mentality. Even in France or even in the way we operate on a daily basis, we are very professional and very rigorous people. In all areas, we are always looking for performance and we really found this mentality among the other players in Sweden. There were guys, for example, who lost their match and immediately afterward, they came to rework in pairs what hadn't worked. These were really things that shocked us and we said to ourselves that it was very nice to see people like that, who are a bit like us.

And these are things that I don't find at French tournaments where I find that it's not at all the same states of mind. And the international state of mind, we really loved it at the time, we really felt in our place. On the one hand, the players are nice to each other and on the other, they are each in their own way, focused on their project with the aim of performance and we really appreciated that. I think we really felt at home, on every level.

Then on the field we play our first qualifying match against a pair with a player on the left a little stronger than the one on the right. We really wanted to go all out because it's not because they are Spanish and they are ranked worldwide that we don't have our place. We also work on a daily basis so we're just going to give the maximum of what we know how to do and I think we played very well so far. Mentally we were super strong because in the second set it was tighter, and the girls came back and we tried to understand a little by ourselves what to do. We were in a really good mood and the girls were really adorable, the match was really fair play.

We were very happy to have won the match, it was really a relief at the end. And the next day we faced two girls who really showed us that the padel, it is above all tactics. We realized that for the moment we were a bit of tactical novice. It looked like the girl on the left was playing while walking, but ultimately she was never in trouble.

In fact they were very patient, but at the same time, they were aggressive at the right time when it came to their volleys. For me it was a pretty good lesson in playing padel and tactics which allowed us to see that we have made progress on these subjects, it has enlightened us on many things. Also in terms of attitude, because in the second set, we let go a little in terms of concentration and a little in terms of team strength and that then led to a fairly long discussion between the two of us, which I think will help us move forward.

More and more international tournaments?

We will try to do as much as we can in terms of tournaments. We really aspire to do more and more international tournaments, the FIP and we would potentially like to be able to do some UPT. And then, in France, we have a P1000 there in Angers this weekend. This year we would like to win a P1000 and potentially get 4th or 5th in a P1500 or a P2000, and also get a good result in the French Championship of course.

I know that I'm going to put a big emphasis on the physical because as I can't do everything, for me physical preparation is really a very important part. I train with the coach of Martin Di Nenno and Claudia Jensen, he follows me from Spain and also helps me at the tactical level because he is a former player. I'm really going to put an emphasis on that to really progress physically, because I know that ultimately on the field of padel, there are lots of things I don't do too well. For example the volley, because in fact it is a poor knowledge of my body, and of my body in space, and of how I project myself forward.

I really want to put a strong emphasis on that to try to improve my physical qualities and my movements on the pitch. Otherwise, I am currently in my final year of engineering school at ESILV, I am working in the Orano Innovation Department, in nuclear power, which means that for the moment I am balancing it as best I can. padel and the end of my studies. For next year, I would like to structure a project padel high level for two or three years in order to be able to play internationally and take a step forward. This is something I am working on. I hope it will happen, I believe in it anyway!

Dorian Massy

New follower of padel, I am fascinated by this dynamic sport which combines strategy and agility. I find in the padel a new passion to explore and share with you on Padel Magazine.