Yanis Muesser: his “love at first sight for the padel "| Padel Magazine

Yanis Muesser, 24, created a surprise last January by winning the Strasbourg P1000 alongside his Alsatian friend Simon Wagner. Facing them, however, there was a very solid pair: the one formed by Yann Auradou and Maxime Forcin.

Just before he left to train for a week in Barcelona, Yanis, now the 29th French player and responsible for the development of the padel to the Grand Est League in civilian life, confided in Padel Magazine. This former tennis player ranked 0 tells us about his love at first sight for the padel, his plans for the future and, why not, his dream of rubbing shoulders with the professional world…

In two years in the top 100

Padel Magazine : Can you tell us about your beginnings in the padel ?

Yanis Muesser : I started on padel in September 2019. I started with a friend, Florian Hue. We were quickly stopped by the Covid. In two years, despite a year of Covid, I climbed into the French top 100, so in the equivalent of a year of tournaments.

In 2019 and 2020 I was still playing tennis, trying to do 50% tennis and 50% padel. But I quickly got caught up in the game of padel. After a while, it became difficult to reconcile the two, so I had to make a choice.

“You progress very quickly at the beginning”

Padel Magazine : Why did you choose the padel ?

Yanis Muesser : I realized that in tennis, I had reached the maximum of what I could do in relation to the investment that was mine and the training that I produced. Because being 0, it is very very hard to go negative while staying in Alsace. So we would have had to move, do it during the week, which is complicated when you study – I was in a bachelor's degree at that time...

The advantage of padel, is that the tournaments take place on weekends, so I could reconcile studies and padel. I got caught up in the game, I quickly progressed, that's why I threw myself into the padel. And then I had a big crush on the padel.

And I admit that I was getting more and more frustrated in tennis. I was on my own, I didn't feel like I was progressing yet. I went up from 0 to 18 and then until 22, not much happened, so obviously it's a bit frustrating. And at padel, there is this very playful side, you are in pairs and you progress very quickly at the beginning.

Padel Magazine : How often do you train?

Yanis Muesser : I play three times a week on average, in addition to tournaments. Twice practice by doing the basket or the diagonal and I try to play a game of four. I do two to three tournaments a month. The next will be the P1000 in Metz, on April 29, which I will play with Arthur Hugounenq. Simon (Wagner), my usual partner, is not available at this time. And I like to play with lefties…. With Arthur, we are a year apart. We met in tennis tournaments when we were 11 or 12 years old.

Padel Magazine : Can you tell us about Simon, your partner?

Yanis Muesser : With Simon, we've been playing together for a little over a year. We are a year apart, things are going well between us, we had good results, in particular by winning the P1000 in Strasbourg. It was also a bet to play both. When we started playing together, Simon – who started playing about a year after me – was ranked between 150^e and 200^e place and we managed to make it go up to 31^e place in no time.

What we have set with Simon is to go to all the tournaments together. We both have the same mentality. If you want to build something in the pair, it's better to think things together, with a pair that gets along well on the pitch. This allows connections to be made more quickly. And we are lucky to be both from Strasbourg, it allows us to train together.

But we also know that a team of padel it's like a couple… We've always said to each other that if, for example, a top 10 or top 15 offered to play, you can't refuse. You don't have to be closed. If it allows us to progress, we will seize the opportunity. And if one of us is unavailable or injured, it's normal for the other to play with another. This is what will happen at the end of April in Metz: Simon plays the tennis team matches with his club, I don't have this obligation so I play with Arthur in Metz.

“Tennis and padel are two completely different sports”

Padel Magazine : Do you still play tennis?

Yanis Muesser : To be honest, I haven't played since last July. I will still make one or two team matches with my club, because I like it. I love clay, it's my favorite surface. When I was still playing tennis and I started padel, it allowed me to progress a lot in terms of volleys and transition phases. When I hit a forehand in tennis and go to the net, I feel more confident. It brings some automatisms, but despite that, they are two completely different sports and when you start practicing both at a fairly high intensity and at a high level, it is no longer compatible at all, each one ends up harming the other. . So it forces you to choose between the two practices.

Windows and defence: “we are behind in France”

Padel Magazine : What are your strengths in the game? And what would you like to improve?

Yanis Muesser : Like any French coming from tennis, my weakness is the windows and the defense. We are clearly behind in France compared to Spain. It remains true even though I'm working on it and I've made really good progress in this area. I'm much more comfortable than before, I feel good when I let the balls pass. When I started, I couldn't even get the ball back past the glass. Now I'm able to turn, defend balls with the glass, use it as a friend when before it was an enemy.

I also have to improve tactically when I'm at the bottom. Positioning when you're at the bottom is something we have to work on, Simon and me. Knowing which ball you have to move on to retake the net, knowing when you have to lob, etc.

We are in a phase where we have both made good progress in defense, but suddenly, we have the impression of having lost the offensive side a little. This is the phase where you are well behind because you know that you can put back several times but when you have a slightly easy ball, you will perhaps put a little less than before, when we were more biting.

Conversely, the smash is my strong point, especially the straight flat smash, which I feel really good. I have a good explosiveness which allows me to often outrun opponents. Then, I think I have good qualities in the volley-volley game.

I slow down the game a lot more than before, especially after the windows. Live, I still have a little trouble doing it. It's one of the things I work on. Know how to better manage this little game, know how to slow down when necessary, speed up. The idea is not to constantly go “boom – boom – boom”.

Internship in Spain: “If you change everything at the same time, you no longer know how to play”

Padel Magazine : Going to train in Spain, is that part of your plans?

Yanis Muesser : Well I'm going there tomorrow [the interview was done on April 2, Editor's note], training in Barcelona for almost a week in the academy where Seurin, Guichard, Vives train… We had already done it in December and we really enjoyed it. Going to train in Spain does not make you someone different, but it allows you to have lots of little “tips” and advice that you will apply to progress when you return to train in France. Because you can't do it all at once. The big plus is that they see you play and in 5 or 10 minutes they are able to tell you “you will have to correct this, this and this”. But you can't do everything at the same time: if you try to change everything at the same time as we wanted to do on the first day, well then you don't know how to play anymore. We were dumb, but really dumb.

The idea when you go to Spain is to write everything down and then you come back and you work on all that in the basket and you apply it in your training matches. We plan to have a little week like that every three or four months: a week where you combine the internship and matches with players of your level.

Padel Magazine : Professionally, how do you see the future?

Yanis Muesser : I will first complete my master 2 in business school: until next October, I have a work-study contract with the Grand Est League, as regional manager of the development of the padel. Then, I would like to pass the TFP (Professional title) to be able to teach padel. And afterwards, I'm waiting to see what opportunities I will have with the League. I'm going to pass my coaching diploma, continue to train. But my priority is to concentrate on my master's, to pass my dissertation. It is important for me to have this baggage. The rest is not fixed yet, I'm waiting to see the opportunities that will present themselves to me.

Padel Magazine : And the idea of becoming a pro player?

Yanis Muesser : Well I think about it too, it's part of the tracks. But nothing is done. It will mainly depend on the sponsors: if sponsors pay me and I can afford this opportunity, why not… but for the moment, we are not there at all. I have two outfit and gear sponsors since January, Total Padel et Babolat. Total Padel is an equipment resale company Padel online which is located not far from Strasbourg, where I train. It's a young and dynamic team, which listens to my requests and which will support me throughout the season. But what I still miss are sponsors who can accompany me to finance travel to tournaments. In addition, this year with Simon, we have planned to go to a few FIP tournaments abroad: it costs more than staying in France. We will notably go to Belgium, Spain and London. But that supposes to free oneself because it is played during the week.

Jerome Arnoux

After 40 years of tennis, Jérôme falls into the pot of padel in 2018. Since then, he thinks about it every morning while shaving… but never shaves pala in hand! Journalist in Alsace, he has no other ambition than to share his passion with you, whether you speak French, Italian, Spanish or English.