Philippe Werts is one of the pillars of padel global. Passionate and entrepreneur, he succeeds in launching a real dynamic around padel. The former President of the Belgian Federation of Padel for nearly 10 years, has lost none of its splendor: President of ALL4PADEL, he organized the first two editions of World Padel Tour Brussels (2017 and 2018) and this year the exhibition of padel Liege.

Focus on one of the great gentlemen of our sport.

 Can you tell us about your beginnings at padel ?

In 1993, my tennis club, the RTC Amicale in Brussels, hosted the first tennis courts. padel installed in Belgium. I was Serie B in tennis, I had an offensive game, so as soon as I discovered the padel, I immediately joined and wanted to invest myself 100% in this sport.
Yet at the time, snowshoes were wooden, concrete courts and rules a little different, we could not do the service-volley!
We did everything to make people discover padel to the greatest number but without social networks and with only a few press articles per year, it was necessarily very slow!
From 1993, we were also able to participate, in Blagnac, in our first international competition, the 1st French Open run by my friend Claude Baigts. (see pj: Belgium and France team at the time) Then thanks to Claude's initiatives, I had the chance to play, almost every year, Place du Capitole which was a great source of motivation.
 

We can say that you are part of the furniture?

If we take into account the record at the level of participation in the World and European Championships, that's for sure!

I had the chance to participate in 5 World Championships  (Madrid 1996 (Spain), Toulouse 2000 (France), Murcia 2006 (Spain), Calgary 2008 (Canada) and Palma de Mallorca 2014 (Spain) and 8 European Championships including the one organized here in 1999, Waterloo, there is just 20 years!

Among my many tournaments abroad, I remember my two finals at the European Padel Tour, international competitions of the time, during the Italian Open 1999 (Bologna) and during the Austrian Open 1999 (Graz) with another precursor of the padel Belgian, Alec De Laet.

At the time, there were things that you liked more than today?

At the time? Certainly ! … Starting with the legs and the explosiveness of my 23 years old! More seriously, at that time, we were aware of being forerunners, we were naive and enthusiastic, sometimes a little “mocked” too… but we didn't care because above all we were passionate. Moreover, it is not by chance to find in your home, in France, guys of the same generation, my friends Alexis Salles and Laurent Imbert continue, with this same passion, to play an important role in the development of padel. They don't cheat.

And today, it's not bad either ...

For sure. Le padel increasingly internationalized and achieved exceptional progress in Europe. There is a clear interest in this sport around the world.

I again advised, a few days ago a friend who wants to install the padel in the Democratic Republic of Congo! This is all very positive!

At the institutional level, it is less obvious. Institutions are important and essential to develop and give credibility to a sport. I am also convinced that the padel will be an Olympic sport and although it will still take time, I think I will see it in my lifetime.

However, I must admit that I sometimes wonder about the real motivations of some who occupy important positions in these institutions. Are they there just to profit from the success of the sport? To put the cup back? Where only for the photo? They must ask themselves simple questions ... what am I doing to develop or support the development of the padel ? what added value do I bring to padel ?

Whatever the country, the real locomotives of this sport, within institutions or not, are the enthusiasts!

This year, you have again set up an exceptional competition: The International Padel Exhibition (IPE). And we could have padel on TV…

Since the main objective is to promote the padel, it's already a total

success from the moment I have the chance to have convinced the world of television broadcast live the final of the Championship of Belgium 2019 which was incorporated in this exhibition.

Despite the absence of retransmission (apart from via the internet) in the Flemish part of the country, to which I had also offered this broadcasting, it is all the same practically all of Wallonia that could potentially discover the padel or 3.500.000 inhabitants!

During the week, nearly 300 people tried and discovered the padel. A lot of positive also in relation to the city of Liège, the Province of Liège and the Minister of Sports, Rachid Madrane, who fully supported me in this project. There were negatives too but I keep it to myself because I have always refused to make enemies in my passion!

And then it's so unimportant compared to the double infarction that a member of my team had at the start of the event! There will probably be a new exhibition in 2020, I do not yet know in what format, whether it is Belgian Championship, Belgian Open or European Padel Cup, the name is ultimately of little importance as long as it participates in the development of padel !

I will certainly talk about it Padel Magazine.

We know that you are a breeding ground of anecdotes. Tell us the most beautiful of your anecdotes ... the worst of your anecdotes.

There have been so many in 25 years ... The biggest of the beautiful or worst (?) Anecdotes is the one told a few months ago on Padel Magazinewe had to play in the semifinals of the 1997 European Championship against Spain.

The meeting took place in the tennis stadium where the Olympic Games were held in Barcelona. The morning was scheduled training and when we arrived at the club, there was 3-4 cars-tv of the Spanish TV TVE ... We never imagined that it was to film our meeting!

In the afternoon, when going to play the three games, one of our players, completely panicked, locked himself in his hotel room ... (laughs) and impossible to persuade him to come!

Given the presence of the TV, it was necessary to quickly find a solution ... and this is how Laurent Imbert obtained the single and only selection of a French player in the Belgian national team. There was also my meeting at the 1996 World Championship with the big Diego Maradona in the toilets of the Campo de Madrid club.

But maybe the worst is the day I attended Barcelona, ​​as President, at a meeting of nearly 6 hours to determine whether or not to increase the size of the doors ...

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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