Robin Haziza: “our French are progressing, but so are the others”

Robin Haziza, director of Human Padel Open, looks back on the start of the tournament and the very attacking style of play seen since the start of the competition. He expresses a clear opinion on the subject.

9 months of work for 10 days

“The Human Padel Open represents nearly 9 months of work to organize 10 days of tournaments, including qualifications and the main draw.

This intense week will pass at breakneck speed. We will do our best to take full advantage of it, even if the time flies quickly.

Compared to the previous year, we have reached a new milestone. Our goal was to offer even more and better. The organization wanted to provide an improved experience for both spectators and players. I sincerely hope that viewers will enjoy the improvements and novelties we have prepared.”

We count on our French women

“We had a good first day. Obviously, we would have liked a French player to be present for this second day, which corresponds to the third qualifying round.

Despite this, we were treated to magnificent matches, in particular thanks to the French pair composed of Manuel Vives and Julien Seurin, who delivered great performances by winning the first qualifying round. They finally lost against formidable opponents, the Chilean Valdes and the Spaniard Joseta (Sanchez), whom we know well.

The players are satisfied, as are the fans. We hope that the French players will be there this Monday to allow us to dream a little more.

The French players are progressing. Wendy Barsotti and Elodie Invernon had an excellent tournament during the Monaco Master – A1Padel, while Charlotte Soubrié shone last year. We can therefore hope that, with Carla Touly, our French players will manage to pass the rounds.

The French are not favorites, but…

“Competition is intensifying with other nations also training and playing very well.

I think the French players in qualifications will not necessarily be favorites to qualify. However, we know it can come down to very little. Sometimes there is only 10% to 15% difference. On a good day, with the support of the public, anything is possible. In any case, I sincerely wish them to take advantage of this event and perhaps create a surprise in these qualifications.

For Jessica Ginier and Lucile Pothier, they will have a difficult first round. They will have the honor of opening the ball on the central track of the Palais des Sports, next Wednesday. Then will follow this great day of the French with Alix Collombon and Léa Godallier, then it will be the turn of the gentlemen, with Benjamin Tison, Bastien Blanqué and Thomas Leygue, to play on this same central track.

We will have fought for this big day on Wednesday

“We had to work hard and even struggle at times with the WPT (World Padel Tour) so that the circuit accepts that all our French players can play on the central track. I didn't want some French players to play on Tuesdays and others on Wednesdays.

Finally, we will have 7 matches on the central track instead of the 6 originally planned. But I sincerely believe it's worth it, and I'm glad to see it turn out this way.

We close this day of the French with the match of Bastien Blanqué and Thomas Leygue. Bastien is the local player for the stage, and we will certainly have a great atmosphere on this central track to end the day in style.”

The meaning of history: an ever faster game, even if…

“The tournament takes place at 4Padel from Toulouse Colomiers, a place that hosts many competitions, including the French championships. The conditions here are fast, especially due to the height of the roof which facilitates attacking plays.

However, even if we could observe Valdes playing in a very calm way against our French players (Julien Seurin and Manu Vives), it shows that there is nevertheless room for other styles of play.

I think the type of game depends a lot on the playing conditions. That has been clear since the start of the season on the professional circuit, with sometimes very slow conditions which favor defenders, and sometimes very fast conditions which favor big spikers.

Moreover, when we observe players like Martin Di Nenno, we can see that he is certainly very aggressive, but his style of play has nothing to do with that of Arturo Coello, for example. This is also the case for Fede Chingotto.

But yes, it is the natural evolution of a sport that is becoming more professional. The matches will become even faster, more physical, with an even earlier grip, which will make the spikers even better.

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.