No resumption of padel May 11

No recovery for the padel as part of phase 1 of de-containment planned from May 11. The French Tennis Federation believes that the practice of padel is not compatible with the health requirements of the first phase of release from containment.

It's not a surprise, for several days, we had seen leak a lot of information going in this direction. If many players and clubs hoped for an evolution of the protocol, the FFT remained on its line of conduct namely: The resumption for tennis and paratennis. The other disciplines represented by the FFT will have to wait before the resumption.

This non-return is “almost” good news for clubs. padel. Indeed, the financial cost to reopen the club and respect all government requirements seemed very / too important.

It must be said that between the padel, beach tennis and tennis, there are indeed some differences with tennis. The FFT believed that the government announcements in recent days allowed tennis to resume but not its other sports. There are strong chances that players and clubs will step up to show their dissatisfaction.

Can the FFT really do otherwise? In reality, even the resumption of tennis is not obvious when you read the de-containment protocol. Reality shows that it will be very difficult for clubs and players to follow this protocol to the letter. We already know that tennis players will not be able to follow everything.

Furthermore, the cost to allow tennis clubs to open and the cost to allow tennis players to train will be significant.

At this point, this protocol only concerns the resumption of tennis and paratennis. Several characteristics specific to other associated disciplines (padel, beach tennis and tennis) are not compatible with the health requirements of the first phase of release from confinement. Their resumption will be considered later, at a deadline and according to terms to be defined in application of the next government announcements. The French Tennis Federation works there in conjunction with the relevant public authorities.

The good news, however, is that the FFT is on the go regarding the padel. At the same time, she ttherefore works on the resumption of group lessons and on the practice of double tennis.

This work thus makes it possible to envisage a way out of the crisis for the other disciplines of the FFT. The padel and beach tennis are sports most often played in doubles. And if the doubles recovery for tennis is successful, it will certainly be very good news for the sports associated with the FFT.

Note, however, that in the padel, we hoped to see some flexibility in FFT to at least allow the possibility of practicing the padel in 1 vs 1 as in tennis. But contrary to the rumors that we have heard on social networks, it is simply forbidden to play padel, even at 2 and even if indeed in Belgium or Portugal, the resumption of padel in 1 on 1 will be effective.

For more information, here in detail the de-containment protocol implemented by the FFT.

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.