The coach of the France team padel, Patrick Fouquet looks back on this big week of padel at the Estoril Tennis Club for the European Championships padel 2017. The good, like the bad times, the coach tells us everything.

Big week in Estoril. A bronze medal. Mission fulfilled?

We fulfilled the mission in Estoril for the Euro Padel 2017.

With Alexis Salles, the captain of the men's team, we announced we wanted at least one bronze medal in our adventure. And it is the girls who have beautifully won this bronze medal.

On the men's side, we were not really far away, but there were two players among the Italians above everyone else: Marcelo Capitani and Andrés Britos. These are two world-class players who did not play together but trained with other Italian players pairs very difficult to beat.

There is no regret to have on this Euro?

Team France Padel gentlemen gave everything, but it was not enough. One of the great strengths of our teams is the homogeneity of the teams. We do not have any major weaknesses, as we have had in previous years.

In the ladies, as in the men we were competitive in all positions and it is very motivating for a coach.

Now we have to be realistic. 2 European nations are undoubtedly ahead of us: Portugal, even if France is getting closer and then obviously the Spaniards who are not ready to be joined before a good generation of padel.

At the men's, we knew that the 3e place would be played against Italy. And that did not disappoint.

Indeed, among the men, Italy loses against all odds against Belgium in a pool match, thus upsetting the table ...

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Indeed, the Euro 2017 in Lisbon was tainted by a big problem of organization and regulation in these European championships.

Italy defeated Belgium in a pool match, going so far as to put aside 1 player Andrés Britos. And Marcelo Capitani, the player 2 had been posted in 3. Not to mention everything else.

Why ? Because the nations knew in advance who they were going to play against in the main draw. This regulation is stupid and criticized every year. But nothing changes at the International Federation of padel.

Italy wanted to avoid Spain she would find in the semifinal if she finished first round. So Italy managed to get to the 2e pool and have a modest chance to reach the semi finals against Portugal. Tactically, we can obviously understand Italy who believes that it is to repair an injustice ... We do not support. But it's human. And nations are trying to circumvent an outdated regulation. This is the case every year in all sports.

How has this affected the French program?

The 1er of our hen had to play Italy (not Belgium), 2e from the other pool ... Do you understand the aberration? French and German players thus found themselves making matches in which the winners would play Italy in 1er round the main draw. Not very motivating for teams that preferred to play this team later in the table.

We can understand the demobilization of players against this masquerade. So we found ourselves in a pool where nobody was motivated enough to fight for this 1ère place, German as French.

The problem is not the players. This is the regulation. With a draw, the deal is settled. Hopefully this time we will get the lines moving for the next international competitions.

Since a few weeks / month, more and more players are performing well on the French circuit ... Could we see a change for next year in Team France?

It is too early to tell because the 2018 season has barely begun.

But the year 2018 will be particularly raised. Perhaps there has never been so much competition, especially among gentlemen.

It is true that among gentlemen, the competition is more and more difficult. But in the ladies too, even if we see that there are fewer players on the French circuit than there are players.

We will make a point in 6 months and see who gets out of the basket. But it's exciting for a coach to have choices.

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.

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