Following the last update of the competition guide of padel, many players wished to express their dissatisfaction and thus offer ideas to return according to the players to “uno more normal situation“. In order not to distort the comments of the players, we suggest that you read the letter addressed to the speakers of the padel, players and clubs.

Hello everyone.
As you know, the FFT made some changes regarding the competition. These changes are intended to upgrade the P500 who were abandoned, but also to no longer "protect" players returning seeded P1000 directly taking 480 points. The FFT has chosen to apply the scale of the ATP, but let's not forget that for us it is a circuit amateur and unprofessional!
After talking with a lot of players, the following points emerge:
- The scale proposed by the FFT has been revised too much downwards (today a half finalist of P1000 earns less points than a winner of a p500, a quarter finalist earns less points than a winner of P250 etc ...).
The number of participants on the p1000 will therefore seriously decrease because with the exception of certain pairs that are very well known to all, planning trips far enough not to gain points will not be of interest. We're going to lose the user-friendliness of the p1000s and most importantly, many of us will favor the regional P500s, and we'll level the levels down.
- The retroactive side of the ranking : the September ranking will be calculated with the new scale, which means that all our investment on this year's P1000 circuit will not be valued!
- The number of P1000 : possibility to make 2 tournaments on the same Weekend provided that they are not in the same league, there will be too many P1000 all year long and we will really lose the important competition side for which we must prepare.
Thus, with several players we propose the following readjustment:
- Modification of the scale: 350 points in 8th of a P1000; 500 in quarter; 650 in half; 800 in the final; 1000 Winners
With this scale, players losing in 8ème are no longer protected because there will be fewer points than on a p500 and to have 500 points or more, it will go to the fight and get a quarter or better.
With this scale we also solve the problem of retroactivity: instead of losing 4000 points at once because we all made the P1000 circuit, the gap will be smaller and therefore easier to digest if the FFT can not do anything to do otherwise.
- Make a “cut” on the P1000 : a top 100 player can no longer do P250, it would seem normal that a player below 800 can no longer do P1000. This would make it possible not to have turns that are too unbalanced during tournaments with a fairly homogeneous level (which today remains the means of raising the level of players upwards)
- Limit the number of P500 and P1000 : The goal is to pull everyone up. The FFT wants to be based on the ATP circuit, so as they limit the number of P1000. Not being a professional circuit, we propose to limit to 18 P1000 in the year in the structures proposing the best facilities for the players. This corresponds to a P1000 every 3 weeks.
It is also necessary to limit the number of P500: one P500 per week maximum on France so that all the players can participate there. If we do not limit, each club can organize a P500 per week in his club and we will have tournaments that will not be represented by the best players.
- We hear about a new category P2000 : This would of course be a real breakthrough for the players. They should be limited to 6 per year with well-established specifications to make these “elite” competitions very qualitative.
- Ban tournaments at special events : do not organize important tournaments type P1000 or P500 during events such as regional championships or French championships, Setteo etc. Indeed if the “best” players are concerned by an event, organizing a p1000 in parallel would not be not representative of a “high level”. It is also necessary to harmonize the dates for all regional championships with a ban on doing a tournament that weekend.
You understand, this email is not a personal step but transcribed the exchanges I have had with a certain number of players in recent weeks.
Please tell me by return email if you would agree to this readjustment before 15/08 so that I can prepare a letter to the FFT to suggest these changes.
Remember, the more we will be, the more we will have weight to make things happen. We count on you !
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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