Jérôme Bécasset and Jean-Marc Herard will carry out daily a zoom on a league and its representatives for the French championships of padel au Padel Lyon Club (Padel Central).  The league Tennis Picardie is under siege.

picardie boy

1 / Fitness trail

Benjamin KOSIR (BK): I started tennis at the age of 7, reached the 3/6 ranking and made this passion my job since I now work for the Picardy Tennis League and the Committee de la Somme de Tennis as a Territorial Sports Advisor. I also regularly practice mountain biking, running ... and padel Of course !!

Eric QUILLET MONCHIET (EQM): I started tennis at the age of 2 with my father, then at the age of 5 in a club. My best ranking was -15.

2 / The discovery of Padel

BK: We started on padel with Eric QUILLET (my partner) in October 2014 at the Multiball center in Amiens (the only padel on Amiens).

EQM: With Benjamin (my partner), we discovered the padel in October 2014, in particular thanks to the advertising made by the FFT. Luckily, there is a field in Amiens (Multiball, with our friend JP Chevrier).

3 / Experience and Goals

BK: It's been a short year now that we have been playing Padel. We started competing in January 2015. I would say that compared to a lot of teams, we are still “young” in the world of Padel, we are very motivated and I think we have a good margin of progress in front of us. Today the padel holds an important place in my sporting life insofar as regardless of the result, it gives me a lot of pleasure (and I think that's the main thing).

EQM: We only have a few months of experience at padel, but being a tennis player makes it easier to learn the game.
Le padel has become “THE” sport that I like to practice, with inevitably the desire to achieve some results.

4 / Which club?

BK: We play at the Multiball center in Amiens which is managed by our friend (and coach…) JP Chevrier

EQM: We are in Amiens, at the MULTIBALL club, a multi-racket center created and managed by Jean-Pierre CHEVRIER, a fan of padel. He's the one who taught us the basics of the game, he's become a friend now.

5 / Your partner?

BK: We started the competition in January 2015. Why did you choose Eric? good question… I'm still looking 😉 No I'm kidding of course !! First of all Eric and I work together for the Picardy Tennis League, we are friends and above all our styles of play complement each other perfectly well… but I will not say more on this point.

EQM: We have been playing seriously since January 2015, competing when our professional schedule allows it.
Why did you choose Benjamin KOSIR as a partner? Very good question, I don't know myself (Laughs). More seriously, because we are work colleagues, friends, and we discovered this sport together, at the same time. We each have our own style of play, and luck does things well, we complement each other well for this sport. It's a real pleasure to play with Benj, and I hope to be able to play with him for as long as possible.

6 / Course during the regional qualifications

Everything went very well. We qualified relatively easily. To regret that there were not more teams but it was a first and there is no doubt that there will be more teams in the years to come!

EQM: The regional phases took place in Amiens, at the MULTIBALL center. About ten teams were registered. First a group stage then a final table.

7 / Ambitions and prognosis for the finals

BK: For me, the priority is to have fun and it is by taking pleasure in playing padel that we can hope to have results… and not the other way around !! Overall, we have much less experience and experience than most teams. Perhaps we will be able to surprise?

We're brand new to the business padel and therefore we only know a few players… but we fear no one! I think that the title will be played between the teams which already have a strong experience in the padel… We know that there is no logic in sport, but it is an experienced team that should prevail.

EQM: It's hard to say, it's an emerging sport, with differences in the time of existence depending on the region. Frankly, we'll see, the goal is to have fun, give everything, play our best padel, we will take stock at the end of the championship. Thanks to the various tournaments that we have played, we are starting to know some good players, but we are not afraid of anyone. Our experience in the tennis world allows us to have a fairly calm approach. The padel is a sport in which anyone can beat anyone.

For the prognosis, no idea, Picardy maybe (Laughs). No, probably a team from the South East, where we practice padel for a few years now.

8 / Message for opponents

BK: Caution

EQM: Watch out for you guys, the grocer and the butcher are coming!

Jerome Becasset

Jérôme Béasset is the Paquito Navarro of the team Padel Magazine. Offensive on all subjects of the world of padel, he returns to many subjects with an always discerning eye.