At just 19 years old, Maxime Deloyer is one of the most promising players in the padel Belgian. Player sponsored by Oxdog tells us about his childhood, the discovery of this discipline, his ambitions.

“I tried once and never stopped again”

I started playing tennis when I was 5 and continued for 7-8 years. My father one day discovered the padel through Laurent Montoisy. He took lessons with him, then asked me to come. At the beginning, I was not very reactive because I was very into tennis, but I let myself be tempted afterwards. I was seduced.

Montoisy and Deloyer against GutiérrezTello in Dubai

I quit tennis very early. At 11, I was a Borman Cup finalist. This is the biggest Belgian Championship for young categories. I was in the Belgian top 3-4. But I decided to stop when I was 13-14 years old, because I didn't really like this competition anymore. We had to play in the adult category in order to take the maximum points because all the good young people were no longer playing in juniors. I also chained defeat after defeat. I then decided to do a year without any competition, and during that time I mixed with the padel. A year later, I finally gave up tennis completely in order to devote myself fully to my new discipline. The transition was therefore made between my 12 and 13 years.

A veteran of padel despite his 19 years!

I am one of the only players purely padel in Belgium since many of them started just 3-4 years ago. I took lessons directly with Laurent Montoisy. The Spaniard Sergio Hernandez also taught me a lot about the basics of padel. All of this made me progress.

It was then the manager of my club, Patrick Michot, who tipped the scales as to my desire to professionalize myself. From a young age, he believed in me. It's been 4-5 years since his club opened and I was directly one of his first members. After my studies, he offered to pay me two weeks of training in Spain so that I could improve. It was he who launched me in my progress.

But my father and my mother were also very supportive in making this decision. My father, player padel, never pushed or forced me to follow in his footsteps, but always supported me in my own choices.

“Favor the Cupra FIP Tour”

I started FIPs in April in doha where we reached the final with Clément Geens. I chained tournaments to try to take as many points as possible, but it's complicated when you don't have a fixed partner. In 2023, I decided with Clément to play together. We went to Spain for a week to train in order to create automatisms. We hope to join the Top 2023 FIP at the end of 100.

Deloyer and Geens in Doha

Le World Padel Tour, it s too difficult. You have to go through the pre-qualifications, qualifications, the financial aspect is to be taken into account. Normally we will have Wild-Card for the stage in Belgium so we are going to do it of course!

Afterwards, it's up to the players to choose their options. There are three circuits for the moment, but it is true that for the best players in the world, for example, it is always better for the sport to be a little more recognized and for them to therefore logically earn more money.

An ambitious duo with Clément Geens

Since I'm young, I'm thinking of building a project over several years with Clément, even if we haven't really discussed the duration. If it works great. We will continue. He's 26 and I'm 19. The idea would be to build in Belgium, but also internationally for several years.

The start of the season is off to a very good start since we won a good event at the Club d'Odrimont (2000 points) for the Belgian Padel Round. In the final, we beat the very good team François Azzola / Jérôme Peeters in 2 sets (6/4 6/2)/

Between doubts, disappointments, questioning

I've never really had any doubts, because I've always played padel for pleasure. And it never left me until I was 17-18 years old. It was with Patrick's proposal to go to Spain that I really took a liking to the professional level. I said to myself at that moment that thanks to my past in tennis and my experience in padel, I could do anything if I practiced seriously.

Last year I spent a lot of time in Spain, I try to go there as much as possible to make up for lost time.

Tournaments in France?

We spoke with Clément about this 2 – 3 weeks ago. We are going to take part in the P2000 in Bordeaux at the end of February. We said to ourselves that we would try as much as possible to come and play in France, since the level here is very high. It will make good matches.

A good relationship between Belgian teammates

Last year, I played my season with Jérémy Gala. We finished vice-champion of Belgium. Our main rivals were Clément and Jérôme Peeters. We lost four times and won once but they were great matches. They were our biggest rivals. Now I will play with Clément and we will try to take the title!

A style of play all its own

I've always played on the right padel, because I was quite small and I played with my father who is always on the left, a habit that has not changed over time. I am really very bad on the left, because I have no bearings!

I love everything that is explosive, coming back quickly to the front, the hit smash. I try to be offensive as much as possible, especially since Clément also likes that, so we create this type of game together.

Max Deloyer and his famous vibora

It's a bit hard to play against tall players because they often spike very well. Left-handers also represent a difficulty for me, because I'm not comfortable with their style of play, there aren't many of them in Belgium!

Aim for the Top 4 at the next European Championship with Belgium

A Top 4 would be a very good result. Spain, France, Portugal or even Italy are very large nations. But our team is getting stronger and stronger so we're going to give our all to aim for the highest place in the standings. The top 4 would be a pretty good result but if we can do better, we will.

Find the interview in its entirety, including a Q&A and information on his racquet on video here:

Xan is a fan of padel. But also rugby! And his posts are just as punchy. Physical trainer of several padel, he unearths atypical posts or deals with topical subjects. It also gives you some tips to develop your physique for the padel. Clearly, he imposes his offensive style as on the field of padel !

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