On the occasion of the Open 4Padel lens, Romain Coirault once again faced Cyril Hanouna after the Bordeaux Open. For the 60th French player, it's a second defeat against the one he calls his "pet peeve".

He looks back on his confrontations with the host who hopes to be part of the top 100 French…

When we play a lot on Cyril, he always comes out

“Another complicated game in Lens where Cyril played very well. We don't realize. But it's not easy to have such an unbalanced opposing pair, with a player who plays very well and another who is very competitive and serious about what he does.

He makes few mistakes and is focused on match strategy with Teo.

We're not having a bad game. We win 6/2 the 1st set, we play very well with Damien (Fave). And in the 2nd set, we miss two games.

During the 1st game of the set, we get broken and we make a few mistakes. We de-break them afterwards at 3/2, and behind we break again at 3/2.

These are the only two games that we missed in the game and then after, it's the super tie-break, it's the lottery!

We get into tactical patterns from which it is not easy to get out and even when we play a lot on Cyril, he always manages. Sometimes it feels like a bit of success, but he repeats the stuff many times.”

zapata hanouna 4padel Bordeaux

Constant progress

“Cyril has made a lot of progress and especially with Zapata. Tactically he knows exactly what he has to do and he does it very well.

After maybe if he plays with another guy than Teo and he has to do something else tactically, I think it can be more complicated.

What he does with Zapata is limited. He has tactical patterns that are quite simple and when he sticks to them, he manages to surprise and stay consistent.

Hanouna is the target

“Certainly, he always plays with top players. Consequence: all opponents target him, which is perfectly normal when there is so much difference in level in a pair. And yet, he puts it back and he is good mentally.

To succeed in beating us twice, to succeed in holding out against Pierre Vincent and Jérémy Garcia… it wasn't a beating they gave them, there was still a match.

So kudos to him. But I fully intend to take my revenge!”

Eleonore Coulibaly

What a pleasure to be a journalist in the middle of the padel, an attractive growing sport. I hope you enjoy the content offered. See you soon perhaps on the slopes!