Find Julien Seurin and Manuel Vives, the French pair who went the furthest during the previews of the WPT Human Padel Open. After brilliantly passing the first round, the second round proved to be more difficult for our Frenchmen.

The task against the Spanish-Chilean pair, Javier Valdés González / José David Sánchez Serrano, was still too difficult for our French at this stage. Let's go back to this great experience.

Fail to come back stronger

Manual: “We loved it, it was really great and at the same time, we're not that far away. These are details, but these guys, they go all the way. We had some shortcomings in defense, we see our limits because, for once, they played really well.

Julien played very well, me too, but we sometimes see my limits in defense. We do not always manage to anticipate like them to take back the net, it requires experience, practice of padel… but we are getting closer and closer. But we are happy with our match, frustrated not to do better, but it was a great experience. It was a pure pleasure to play with Julien and to play at this level!”

Seurin / Vives: a possible long-term association?

Julien: “I am lucky to have received a proposal from Bastien Blanqué to participate in FIP tournaments, and for the moment, this remains valid. These are opportunities that are hard to turn down. At the start, Manu also had his usual partner, but for my part, I have actually changed since the beginning of the year.

I hope that this collaboration with Bastien will continue, because he brings me a lot of experience. I know that he has much more experience than me, that he is better and that he can bring me a lot on the pitch, especially on the international circuit. So for the moment, I am engaged in this project.

However, Manu and I played well together, and we have a good string of tournaments to come. We will participate together in an FIP tournament next week in Italy, then we have the regional championships. There is a good plan for 3-4 tournaments, and then we will see what happens in the future.

Julien Seurin
Manu Vives

The little extra that is missing...

Julien: “What I appreciate is that before we went into these games thinking we're going to get experience, we're going to have fun… but now we're thinking we can win. When we step onto the pitch, we know we can get through it, so we play hard.

However, it is the small details that make the difference. Opponents always manage to make the right choice at the right time, they know how to slow down the game when necessary. As for us, when the situation becomes tense, we may tend to rush a little, to have difficulty in slowing down the game, which is nevertheless crucial at this level, especially in conditions where the game is takes place mainly at the bottom, where you have to know how to temporize, make drop shots.

These are things they do very well and above all, they don't complain from start to finish. We get broken almost twice on shutouts, each time because of a mistake or two in our game, and those are things they just don't do.

Looking for the official partner

Manu: “As Julien mentioned, I initially had a long-term partner, but changes have since taken place. Personally, I really feel like I have a lot of room for improvement and I'm behind in some aspects of the padel, which gives me a great desire to train more outside of tournaments. Since the circuit requires playing, I played with a Spaniard, then another Spaniard.

However, at the moment, I have nothing planned with anyone. I don't plan for the long term, I take the tournaments as they come and maybe an opportunity will arise with a French partner. For now, my main goal is to progress individually, and then the right wins and the right partners will come naturally.”

Eleonore Coulibaly

What a pleasure to be a journalist in the middle of the padel, an attractive growing sport. I hope you enjoy the content offered. See you soon perhaps on the slopes!

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