In Doha, in a tough battle, the Moreau/Sinicropi pair lost 7/6 7/5 against Mendez/Martinez. Defeated but not defeated, Maxime Moreau looks back on this meeting and talks to us about his ambitions and areas for improvement with his Italian partner Riccardo Sinicropi. (video interview)

Relativize and move forward

Padel Magazine: Max, it was a great tournament, arriving in the main draw, it's still a great performance. It's not much 7/6 7/5, what were your impressions of the meeting?

Max : I'm happy with our performance but it's always a bitter taste to lose. We have a set point on the first, I do a weird thing and we lose the set. We don't do a good tie-break and in the second, we win 5-4 serve to follow 30-40 I miss a volley. These are small details that mean that at this level, it does not forgive, we are punished directly. But I'm very happy with what we're offering with Riccardo, a week ago, we were doing a FIP Rise tournament in Jaén and it was catastrophic, for my part I had been completely useless. It's good that we spend time together, we won good games and above all we have a good attitude. I'm happy with what we produced today and we will continue to improve and move forward

With Riccardo, we improve. At the level of the connection already, we mutually know the strengths and weaknesses of the other. We were lucky to have Mariano Córdoba, the father of one of the players we beat but who we know very well, that helped us a lot. We have already progressed in attitude, tactically, so yes, we feel that we are progressing on that. There are still moves to work on, but it's more individual to put them together afterwards.

Mario Cordoba - Maxime Moreau - Riccardo Siricropi - Doha 2023

Padel Magazine : You have a good complementarity, you are two players with a good hand who know how to speed up the game at the right time. Today it is due to two three points which cost you dearly. Do all these good things allow you to consider big tournaments in the future?

Max: For all tournaments, we aim for something interesting. Here it is not possible to say that we come to win the tournament, but we come to win each match and we see what happens. We fight, we progress and afterwards, I try to put things in place with my mental trainer Jean Michel Pequery, who helps me enormously. Each tournament that we will do we will try to win as many matches as possible. We win great, we lose, we go back to work, it's like that all year round. We're still going to lose games, I don't hope too much anyway, but we have to keep our heads up and continue.

For the padel, there is a toll

Padel Magazine : When you are a player padel and that we play in this kind of complex which is still splendid, what does it matter?

Max: When you come with your friends, because there Ricci it's my friend, like Jérôme Inzerillo who lost yesterday in three sets against the number 2 seed - it's still a great performance, I hope the next one will be good. So when I'm with my friends it's great, we have fun. The setting, the environment is incredible. Afterwards, you have to deserve it and people don't realize that last year we went to “rotten” places, to play tournaments to qualify for an event like this. When you play this kind of competition, you have to try to secure and win games to stay there. It grows so behind that you never know, from one tournament to another you may not fit in the list...

Maxime Moreau - Riccardo Sinicropi - Doha 2023

But for the padel, there is a toll. To be a professional player padel it's great, we go to incredible places, we meet people, we play padel, but we don't see our family, we spend our time in airports, in hotels. Well, the hotels here are huge, but we also go to sordid hotels. It's great what we do and as you say, there are big advantages but also disadvantages and mentally it can be hard. My mental coach Jean-Michel Pequery helps me a lot because otherwise you won't hold on, you'll explode in flight.

In the end you come there, you lose in the first round, you want to put yourself a ball but that's part of the game too. There are sacrifices to be made without having the guarantee that you will get there and that is what is the hardest.

Padel Magazine : What helps you keep going on a daily basis?

Max: My wife, Jean-Michel, my trainers from padel and above all, I love what I do. For me it's not work, we are still lucky. We get up in the morning, we go to physical exercise, play padel and again in the afternoon. We still have a certain chance and you have to make the most of it and be happy in what you do. The day you are no longer happy, you stop and do something else.

Padel Magazine : The Marseille jersey could have brought you luck today, hoping that it brings luck to the Marseillais tomorrow against Annecy for the Coupe de France. Too bad for you.

Max: Frankly, I'm very happy with what they're doing. We have already beaten Paris once this year, which is already very good. It's sports stuff like that that I like, you're with your friends you can sleep. Listen, we are supporters of OM and proud of it.

Padel Magazine : Finally, on which tournament will we find you soon?

Max: I do not know yet. We will land with Ricci. We have to do the math but you will see us very soon somewhere!

Vincent Gallie

A fan of oval football, round ball but also racket sports, he was stung by the padel during his adolescence in Galicia. As comfortable in front of the camera as behind a microphone, Vince will be able to bring his vision and expertise as a fan of the little yellow ball.

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