A few minutes before the incredible international mixed padel tournament – ​​Open de France which takes place in one of the most beautiful squares in the world: La Place du Capitole in Toulouse, we inevitably returned to the theme of mixed padel tournaments. A subject that the players of the World Padel Tour...

The FFT does the job

The French Tennis Federation has recently made it possible to approve mixed padel tournaments. Result: We see many clubs applauding this initiative and offering players the opportunity to participate in 2 padel tournaments: the ladies' or gentlemen's Open and the mixed event. A success that the padel players had anticipated because the internal tournaments already showed a strong appeal for this type of event.

And why not a French mixed padel championship as well?

Professional players do not say no

If you World Padel Tour, the professional padel circuit, has not yet officially put this subject on the table, it is the players of the World Padel Tour who talk about this theme among themselves like Javier Ruiz González, the partner of Uri Botello and Patricia Llaguno Zielinski who we will see again tomorrow in this international mixed padel tournament alongside the great Sébastien Gay: A Franco-Spanish pair who hope to be able to make a splash this weekend.

When Padelpro Cup 2019, Patty and Javier returned to this subject. They are unanimous:

We could appreciate that there are on the professional circuit some mixed official stages .

In tennis, we see that mixed events are part of official events. In many sports, mixed events are gaining importance on the professional circuits. Why would it be any different in padel? Especially in padel itself, one might say.

Patty tempers by observing that " the level of boys and girls is not the same. Even if it can be very interesting, especially for the public, we should see if the mayonnaise takes »

For Javier "The girls are playing extremely well. The women's tournaments show that the level has increased enormously. It would be a good thing to see mixed padel tournaments emerge."

Mixed events: show

The mixed padel tournaments that we have seen are often very interesting to watch.

Christophe Lesage, the President of the National Tennis Cup proposes the National Padel Cup for over 5 years. He was one of the forerunners in this type of event:

In tennis, we have been offering mixed tennis events during the final stages for several decades, all week long. And it works very well. 5 years ago, we launched mixed padel sessions and it has always worked.

The fact that the FFT can authorize the approval of mixed padel tournaments is a good opportunity.

Mixed padel tournaments would allow the public to see another type of padel. Imagine on the professional circuit, an official match between Salazar / Lamperti and Marrero / Bela?

It would be very interesting to see how it takes and if the public adheres to this kind of associations.

And then of course, it would also allow players to put a little butter in the spinach in the event of success in these professional padel events and not come for some just for a match in the main draw.

Maybe these professional mixed padel competitions would be accessible only to players beyond the world top 8 to allow others to make themselves known? Maybe the best will not participate in them as in tennis to focus on the classic events…

What is certain: Padel is a perfect sport for mixed events. So long live mixed padel among amateurs and professionals alike!

Franck Binisti

Franck Binisti discovered padel at the Club des Pyramides in 2009 in the Paris region. Since then, padel has been part of his life. You often see him touring France to cover major French padel events.

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