Theo Arribagé, a professional tennis doubles player, surprised everyone by winning the P1000 from 4PADEL Toulouse Colomiers with his partner Joris Moret. An unexpected victory for someone who plays padel occasionally, but who shows his full potential thanks to his physical and tactical qualities inherited from tennis.

Théo Arribagé, can you tell us about your relationship with padel?
My name is Théo Arribagé, I am 24 years old and I play Stade Toulousain Tennis Club as a professional player of doubles in tennis. I've always loved padel. When I was younger, I preferred to play padel rather than do physical training sessions. Between 15 and 18 years, I was playing 2-3 times a week. Today, I hardly train anymore: this year, I must have played about ten games.

Ce P1000 from 4PADEL Toulouse Colomiers, this is my first tournament of the year. Last year I had already played two tournaments, one P1000 where we finished fourth and one P500 that I had won. As soon as I have the opportunity to play, I jump on it because I love this sport. For me, the tennis and padel are very linked, especially when playing in double.

Did your tennis skills make your victory easier?
There are many similarities between the doubles in tennis and padel: the stolen, reflexes, and even the to the defense. With Joris, who also plays padel very little, we try to take everything from above to climb the net. That's where we are the best. But of course, I don't play like a real padel player: for example, everything that is trays or bullets after the windows, I can still make a lot of progress.

Our opponents often tell us that we play “like tennis players”. But this aggressive style suits us. We rely on our strengths: the net and physical intensity.

Were you prepared to win this tournament?
When I play a tournament, it's for win it. Joris and I had talked about it before the start of the tournament: we would play the win, even though we knew it would be complicated. The semi final salary. Manarino and Cancel has been very hard. They put us 6-2 in the first set, clearly they played better than us at padel. But physically, we held on.

I knew that the beginning of the second set would be crucial: it was necessary hold our games. We managed to snatch the set 7 - 6 and I felt that they were starting to draw physically. In the third set, we do Double Break to lead 5 - 2, but they come back 5 - 4. Finally, we end up at 6 - 4. This match is not won in padel or tennis, but to the physical. I'm proud to have won a match in this way.

How do you combine tennis and padel?
I play about 45 weeks per year in tennis tournaments, which makes it difficult to participate in padel tournaments. But whenever I can, I play because I love this sport. Today, I am ranked around 600 in padel, so I have to go through qualifications for P1000 ou P1500. It's not easy, but if I lose early in a tennis tournament, I try to follow it up with a padel tournament.

What do you like so much about padel?
It's a sport hyper tactical. There are so many things to reflect, right shots to play. I love it. I watch a lot of world best players to learn. It's a sport incredibly rich. The problem is that with my tennis career, I don't have enough time. But if I could, I would play more often.

A final word on your state of mind after this tournament?
I come out of the tournament with nice aches ! I realize what a sport it is physical. For example, our semi-final lasted 2h20, whereas in doubles tennis, matches last no longer than1h15. It was a real combat, and I think it's great. That's what I like about padel: the strategy, the physicality, and the intensity. As soon as I have an opportunity to play, I grab it.

Franck Binisti

Franck Binisti discovered padel at the Club des Pyramides in 2009 in the Paris region. Since then, padel has been part of his life. You often see him touring France to cover major French padel events.

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