Mai Vo: “In the field, we are not there to laugh but to win!”

Portrait of a player who could be talked about a lot in the coming weeks: Mai Vo. She is remembered among other things for her feats of arms during the National Padel Cup in 2015 ... But it is starting to date and since then, it has mainly been necessary to repair after a big injury.

Here she is again, left like never before with his quirky humor and his new partner for the French championships of padel : Audrey Casanova.

Portrait.

Line Meites and Mai vo at the National Padel Cup 2015

Before talking about the future, let's talk about your injury. Are you on the return?

Yes ! Good news, everything holds together perfectly and I play again padel Since 1 year.

But in reality I have few padel behind me… I only started this sport in 2015 only to injure myself a year later with forced rest. Since March 2017, I have indeed resumed.

How did you fall in the padel ?

I had landed in Perpignan for studies. But by always playing the same 4 Catalan players in tennis tournaments under 100km / h tram, and after understanding that if I wanted to continue to play sports between noon and 14h with Emmelien Lambregts, I had to change size rackets ...

Coach Alain Henry at the Mas Club in Perpignan

Everything started at the Mas in Perpignan thanks to Alain Henry who invited me warmly to play.

Good May, you have to play with people of your level. You and me against Emmelien and JP. I call you.

So I nodded without daring to flinch. I was a little terrified when I learned that he was the biggest racket racer on the circuit! But that was before.

And finally you got caught up in the game ...

I got on well straight away. The most compared to tennis for me: playing at 2, a new learning, less physical intensity (at least at my level) compared to my 2h30 on average to run on a tennis court (and yes I have not 50 years old but I'm not 20 years old either, you have to retrain) and especially the organization of tournaments on a weekend which has a practical and more convivial aspect than to chain tennis matches every evening of the week.

You have been negative ...

I have been -4 / 6. I am now 3 / 6 because I am only 3 5 matches per year for team games since 3 years. I still love playing but I do not have the courage to go tournaments, it takes a lot of time and it requires too much physical and mental investment especially after work.

But I think that if there had not been a lack of tennis players in Perpignan, I would never have put myself in the padel.

Tennis helps a lot to start in padel. At least for the basics, we quickly manage to get by and especially have fun. Then you have to try to understand the windows and some very different shots, and for that it is better to have the experienced advice of Alain Henry!

In short, I love both sports. For me it's also good to send a vibora or a semblance of vibora than to send a big praline from the baseline offset forehand.

Your opinion on tennis and padel suddenly

I do not have as much hindsight as OLD ones like Gégé (Géraldine Sorel) but I think that the padel will grow enormously although in my opinion it will never replace tennis.

Le padel has a more convivial aspect and is much more accessible than tennis. The fact that there are windows, that the field is smaller, that it is played 2 against 2, requires less technique and physical condition to make exchanges from the start. Take 4 adult “babes” who have never done a racket sport, I think they will do more exchanges with a racket. padel in hand than with a tennis racket.

Adrien Maigret, Benjamin Tison, Mai Vo and Léa Godallier at My Padel Big Tower Padel Bordeaux — Adrien Maigret Benjamin Tison Mai Vo and Léa Godallier at My Padel Big Tower Padel Bordeaux

For development listed competition, it's great. There are more and more tournaments. But for the moment the number of competitors is still low so it is not comparable to tennis.

But how are you doing to train without your Coach Alain Henry?

Uh ... Joker.

I do not train properly. I took several lessons with LE coach Alain when I was in Perpignan. But for 2 and a half years I have been living in Bordeaux and we have no teacher padel.

So we make parties according to our availability and the job, with Léa Godallier in particular and full of great Bordeaux players (big especially by the size). And we hack under the advice of international coach Gregory Monge.

The most and the least in your game?

My favorite part is going to the net as much as possible and catching everything on the fly! With my large build, it is not easy to lob myself down so I (almost) never back down. Hm ...

My favorite position is on the left, for the grid smash and for the against 2 hands tennis way.

What I like least ... the windows that sometimes have to be removed and the dampers. At padel, I have as much touch as Serena Williams. Must say that the strings are missing in the racket!

For these French championships of padel, who will you play with?

With Audrey Casanova!

Her usual partner, Laura Clergue, being in Spain and apparently unavailable for the French Championships, Audrey offered me.

Obviously a proposal like that, it does not refuse. We did 2 tournaments together and as expected, it's a treat to play to the left of Audrey!

To bear it off the pitch is another story ... but I do with 😉. We can not have everything.

Your blow of mouth

My rant also concerns the development of padel female.

Indeed, P500 and P1000 are much rarer in girls compared to guys.

We have fewer games, less bonuses, but the price of registration is the same. And sometimes 20 euros to make 3 or 4 matches of chicken in 9 games with sometimes very heterogeneous levels ...

So this is a budget, and does not necessarily encourage going through tournaments. But the tournaments are better and better organized like the P500 of Nîmes managed by Julien Datchary or tournaments managed in Aix by Tristan Barre.

I think there is also a problem with the ranking of padel, especially the female ranking. There are fewer women's tournaments and some regions are favored over others because they are more provided in number of players and tournaments.

For example, winning a P500 with 10 players in the top 20 against a P500 with 10 girls who play since 2 month award the same number of points, but ultimately the level is it comparable?

So perhaps it would be interesting to award the points not only according to the category of the tournament but also according to the level of the players? After I do not know enough to impose myself.

An anecdote ?

Oh yes, I remember my first racket smashed in the middle after a few months of padel.

My best shot padelally combining technique and power. I closed my trunk on my sieve!

Another beautiful Maïade!

Franck Binisti

Franck Binisti discovers the padel at the Club des Pyramides in 2009 in the Paris region. Since padel is part of his life. You often see him touring France going to cover the major events of padel French.