Grand Est Regionals: Macchi / Bayard thwart the forecasts

The hierarchy was shaken up this weekend during the regional championships of padel the Grand Est League, which took place in Jarville, in the suburbs of Nancy. The challenge was a qualifying place for the 2023 French championships, for women and men.

Among the men, we expected a final duel between two Alsatian pairs: on the one hand, the one formed for several years by Mulhouse residents Teri Groll and Diego Garcia, ranked 59th in France; on the other, the young people of Strasbourg Yanis Muesser (29th) and Simon Wagner (30th), already winners of two P1000s this year, at Strasbourg et Besançon.

A player from the Loire

In the semi-finals, Groll and Garcia have already had to fight hard against Valentin Toussaint (109th) and Mathis Pottelette (163rd), two Lorraine players born in 2002, who sold their skin dearly in three sets. In the other semi-final, Muesser and Wagner were struggling with an old acquaintance: Messin Jérémy Macchi (43rd), who sometimes coaches them during their tournaments. At his side a licensed player in the Loire, which the regulations allow: Damien Bayard, 93rd French in padel and former French No. 79 in tennis (still ranked -4/6).

the 2023 champions of the big one is Clara Bellussi and Marie-Julie Barbier (right) — Julie Simon and Morgane Zowczak (left) were dominated in the final by Marie-Julie Barbier and Clara Bellussi. Photo Vincent Dole

champions-grand-est-2023 Macchi Barbier (left) — Julie Simon and Morgane Zowczak (left) were dominated in the final by Marie-Julie Barbier and Clara Bellussi. Photo Vincent Dole

The No. 1 seed is surprised

And the least we can say is that this pair formed this year sparked, thanks to the precise game of Macchi and the explosive power of Bayard, who has been playing for less than two years but is training at the All In Padel with Johan Bergeron. Over the matches, their pair grew in strength, to the point of surprising the seeded n°1 Muesser / Wagner in the half, beaten 6-4 6-4. In his defense, Simon Wagner had injured his back during the day on Saturday…

In the final, Groll and Garcia were warned and tried to impose a fast pace, as Macchi tells us below. But they couldn't avoid suffering a break in each set and conceding the same score of 6-4 6-4 as Muesser and Wagner.

Macchi and Bayard, who were only seeded No. 3, are therefore guaranteed to compete in the French championships next fall. Groll and Garcia can hope that two teams will be retained, like last year, while Muesser and Wagner will have to rely on their good rankings to obtain a pass from the FFT.

Ladies: Clara Bellussi's revenge

Among the ladies too, the past hierarchy has also been undermined. Julie Simon (200th) and Morgane Zowczak (150th) had won in 2021 in this same championship by beating Clara Bellussi in the final, then associated with Carmelle Vial. This year, the same Bellussi (131st) took revenge alongside Marie-Julie Barbier (154th), winning 6-3 7-5.

Jérémy Macchi: "We knew how to be strong when necessary"

“It's true that we weren't seeded 1 or 2, but with Damien, we had prepared well for these championships, says Jérémy Macchi. We recently made a final in P1000 in Lens and a semi-final in Marville. The last time we played against Yanis and Simon, we beat them in the quarter-finals of a P1000 two months ago. We therefore remained on this victory, in much slower conditions than at Jarville. What changed the game is that Simon injured his back on Saturday and this Sunday, the pain was intense for him, and therefore inevitably, we took advantage of it.
And in the final, we were solid, even if we had trouble against Teri and Diego who imposed a fast game but we knew how to be strong when needed. »
“Damien [Bayard] is someone I have known since he was little, through tennis. We are both from Saint-Etienne and when I was 15 and he was 10, we played against each other in tennis tournaments. Afterwards, he progressed very quickly in tennis, he rose to 79th place in France. But after several injuries, he had to put an end to his career and started the padel a little over a year and a half ago. We met at a tournament eight months ago, I said to him “what if we did a tournament together?”. He was very willing and at the end of December, I was looking for a permanent partner to give me new objectives: we talked about it and we decided to do the season together. Damien is passionate about padel, he trains two or three times a week at the All In in Lyon with Bergeron. And physically too. Thus, he was able to catch up, he has quite an impressive overhead power and he is also improving in defense and tactics. »

Jerome Arnoux

After 40 years of tennis, Jérôme falls into the pot of padel in 2018. Since then, he thinks about it every morning while shaving… but never shaves pala in hand! Journalist in Alsace, he has no other ambition than to share his passion with you, whether you speak French, Italian, Spanish or English.