Le Bquet, a competitor of padel ?

Once is not custom, this month I investigated another sport: the Bquet. You know ? Well done.

Never heard of it? read on, and, if you feel like it, check out the videos linked at the end of this article.

Le Bquet: owhere? What ? How ?

Mix of tennis and padel, le Bquet (pronounce " Bkette ”) Comes from Spain. It was invented by Fernando Moli in 2014. In France, it is the company OnePadel which represents and markets these lands.

A field measures 24x11m (at padel it is 20x10m)
The sides are 4m high (at padel it is either 3m or 4m)
The surfaces are the same as padel
The service is done as in padel, forehand, after rebound.
The balls are those used in padel.

The biggest difference, with the padel, comes from the racket. At Bquet, we play with a mini-tennis racket, with strings. This allows tennis aficionados to rediscover the effects of tennis, as well as the cushioning!

For the rest, the bquet is played with the same rules as padel. But beware of the “Australian” game! The ground being slightly larger, it is not necessarily advisable to stay in a single diagonal, as in padel. Just like in tennis, bquet players often change diagonals at each point when they are part of the serving team.

A tactic specific to the Bquet ?

Between the tennis racket, small of course but with ropes, and a bigger field, the strategy of game must obligatorily adapt.

There are, among other things, many more winning shots from the baseline than padel. This is explained by the larger spaces between the players, in length and width.

There is also a greater use of effects than padel, thanks to the strings of the racket. The lift * is more used, but especially the "slice *" becomes important to master! Damping is a much easier shot to use at bquet than padel. Any player from padel has already tried, without much success, to attempt padel. The blow is risky and the ground not long enough for the cushioned blow to be effective, often.

In Bquet, the strings of the racket make it easier to perform this stroke, on the one hand; on the other hand, the terrain being longer, the path for the opponent to take takes longer. CQFD.

Several professional players from padel and tennis (JC Ferrero, Juan Martin Diaz, Guttierez…) tested the bquet. All are unanimous, you can imagine!

So, for when the Bquet in France ?

Until now, the priority was to develop the padel, to a large audience. The machine is now switched on. “The year 2019 will be the year of Padel », Tells us the French Tennis Federation.

Many players came to offer their skills and know-how, in all sectors of the padel : land builders, sports equipment (textiles, snowshoes, shoes, luggage, etc.), education, training, clubs, players, etc. Today the padel is well and truly launched, even if, economically, it is always difficult to make a living, for all these actors.

Regarding the Bquet, the horizon is flat, for the moment. One companyPadel, which has the exclusivity of this sport for France, has not yet launched the major festivities. It's coming soon, according to Rachid Benhedach (CEO OnePadel).

The goal for One Padel is to launch this new sport also in Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Italy…

People are more and more receptive and open to testing new things: the famous zapping society… “It's time”, for Rachid. OnePadel wants to become the essential reference of Bquet in France, and in Europe. From 2019, he announces, people will hear about the bquet, and have the opportunity to test it. Rachid has land that he makes available on request, and under certain conditions.

As we can see, the will and passion are great on One's sidePadel. But what about the public? Can the Bquet compete with the growth of padel today in France, and more widely in Europe and in the world? Are the players going to move towards this sport? Is there room for the padel and the bquet to the public and federal authorities? Are clubs going to want to invest in this new sport? Can it be a retraining for tennis players who have not found their happiness in padel ?

So many questions for few answers, for the moment ... We take stock in 1 year?

Links :

* Lift: effect given to the ball. We say that the ball "squirts" after bounce (or after the glass). This means the ball has a bigger bounce and goes upward to Rafa's famous forehand ...

* Slice: effect given to the ball. We say that the ball is cut and "crashes" to the ground after bounce (or after the glass). This means that the rebound is low, and often the ball goes from one side or the other (depending on the effect given), after rebound to the famous game of Santoro… or Monica Niculescu (of which I am a big fan ! The one who will manage to make her play padel will have won everything… but I am moving away I think).

Line Meites

Line Meites is one of the best French players in padel. It's the voice of your live on Padel Magazine. But not only, she also hosts the column “Investigations of the Swiss Army Knife”. Every month, she will come back to a controversy or a theme that is close to her heart.