The French Tennis Federation has officially validated the possibility for a tournament organizer to padel to approve mixed events. From September 2018, clubs will therefore be able to approve mixed events of padel.

A very good thing when you know how it is a type of tournaments much appreciated by the players.

But these tournaments, will they run without a hitch?

Not so obvious for the organizers

With the establishment of tournaments padel mixed homologated, there will certainly be some puzzles for the organizers to solve. Because, as we know, organizing for example 3 P1000 tournaments at the same time (ladies, gentlemen and mixed), is far from obvious.

For the clubs, it will be mainly to know how to get to advance the different events without being too late and without the players playing too much (or not enough for some).

Some play too much, others not enough

Because yes, the French Tennis Federation rightly requires players to rest between their match, and also limits the number of games per day.

On the other hand, in a mixed tournament, the best players and players associate with each other most often. So, we end up with the same players in the last four of all the competitions while other players would have preferred to play more.

Basically, those who play a lot will play even more and those who do not play a lot will not play much more. And for some less, since the mixed tournaments will sometimes be to the detriment of the rankings for the losers ...

How can we ensure that all these matches are played while respecting the specifications of the FFT?

Solutions

There will certainly be problems with organizations and discontented players.

Afterwards, players must also be reasonable and take responsibility. But with a prize money to the key, not obvious.

So, we imagined 2 solutions:

1 / That a mixed pair cannot weigh less than 50 for example. : The French n ° 1 will only be able to play with the n ° 49… etc.

Consequence: The first French pairs of ladies and gentlemen will not be able to play together and this will avoid a number of headaches for the organizers.

2 / In case of players qualifications on 2 tables at the same time starting from ¼, the players will have to make a forfeit on the mixed. A pair of 8e in the mixed will be retrieved.

Indeed the big advantage of mixed tournaments too, is to allow other players than the best to play and participate in the event. The best players often play more than one or two games and do not want to make the ranking matches when possible.

On the other hand, the less good are limited to 2 matches at best (When there are no ranking matches).

The other advantage: More players present on Sunday during the last four. For the club, the organizer and the sponsors, it is much more interesting.

The other reason for these choices finally: There are no French championships of padel mixed for now. Mixed tournaments must therefore remain amateurs. Sure, it's a competition, but you need room for everyone, right?

Do not hesitate to intervene on this subject.

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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