Monfils: “Padel is a physical sport”

While Gaël Monfils was taking part in his first padel tournament at Padel Club de Lyon, the French number 1 tennis player returned to padel, a sport he practices " regularly appear "He participated in this tournament alongside Robin Haziza, French padel champion in 2015 and 2016.

Gael, was it in the United States that you discovered padel?

Gael: The real story is that Robin and I discovered padel 10-12 years ago in France.

Comfortable with windows?

Gaël: In tennis, we're relaxed about that. So in padel, I try to adapt. During this tournament, the players spin the balls a lot, so we don't really know what to expect. But the reflexes come. And then I'm lucky to have a partner in this tournament (Robin Haziza) who talks to me a lot, even if I think he loses concentration at times by talking to me so much.

Talking, do you get bogged down Robin?

Robin: not too much. I used to talk during games. I am a communicator. It's a great added value to play with Gaël because he's unpredictable, but it's true that sometimes he plays a bit backwards. But the fun is to play together.

How do you feel to go from Jeremy Scatena to Gael Monfils in your game?

Robin: Gael, paradoxically, gets the balls out a lot less and he smashes a lot less well than Jeremy. But I have a guy next to me who is a lot faster than him, who plays less padel, with whom I have a bond… Jeremy, we've been playing padel for 10 years and this is the 1^er tournament that we do together but in the 2 case I'm having fun with both players. We would not have played the same way with Jeremy it's obvious but I'm not here to shine, what I want is to have fun with my friend in any conditions.

How do you approach a competitive padel match?

Gael: What is very hard for me is that I don't know anyone, I don't know how they play so it's always Robin who tells me and what is good. For me, even if the player is very strong, I don't know who he is so when I come on the court I'm the same as my 1^er match while in front of me it is maybe 10 times stronger.

Robin: Do you prefer to play Roger Federer who has played padel twice or play Garcia?

Gael: Of course I prefer to play Roger Federer who has played twice and again… I think I prefer Hector Garcia! J

3 games is a lot?

Gael: It's a lot of three games, we just played 2:15, replay immediately behind it is physical ...

Robin: it's good that he testifies to that because there are a lot of gossips who say that padel is not a very physical sport and we imagine that Gaël Monfils who is perhaps the best physical tennis player on the world circuit and who says that playing padel for 2 hours and 15 minutes and playing after that is still complicated, proves that it is a real sport in its own right with its qualities and its own types of games.

Gael: For tennis players, there are other muscles that work, it's another effort. Moving is much more like moving on grass, you have to be low on your legs.

What condition do you think you are at the end of the tournament?

Gael: I'm going to be very tired. Above all, I was not prepared. We were among friends last night, we had a good meal, we did not go to bed very early either. It's going to be a weekend where I'm going to go out tired. Monday recovery jogging for sure and can be quiet in training.

Aren't you afraid of having padel reflexes during your tennis training?

Gael: Exactly, every time I play padel and then play tennis again I like it because I don't have a great volley in tennis and it helps me. In padel you always have to take a little step forward, that's often what I lack in tennis, that little step.

Robin: I think that in this case it is complementary. I was a tennis player, even if I was not at his level, the rare times I play tennis again I have the impression that I read the trajectory a little better, that I am less surprised because in padel the balls go fast, you have to chain 3,4,5, XNUMX, XNUMX shots quickly, in tennis you have a little time to come and see the ball and for the volley and little footwork it is quite complementary.

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.