A little over a month after Rafael Nadal’s fourteenth triumph, the central court at Roland-Garros is no longer a tennis court. The clay court of Philippe-Chatrier has given way to an electric blue synthetic coating and a glass cage, essential elements for the practice of the “distant cousin” of tennis, padel.
Temple of French tennis, Roland-Garros wants to become a must on the world padel circuit by bringing together the 56 best pairs in the world.
This tournament co-organized by the French Tennis Federation (FFT) and QSI, the Qatari fund whose flagship is the PSG of Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi, won the Grand Slam label from its first edition like Doha, Rome and Mexico.
If the discipline does not yet have the reputation in France that it has in Spain (nearly 4 million players), it is booming, assures Arnaud Di Pasquale, director of the tournament and the padel mission for the FFT.
“At the beginning, it was very confidential. Now that we are in the process of emancipating ourselves (from tennis editor’s note), it is no longer the same, “summarizes the one who peaked at 39th in the world in the ATP rankings and brought back a bronze medal in singles from the 2000 Olympics. from Sydney.
A booming practice, popularized by “VIPs”
France has almost 30,000 padel practitioners, a “considerable” figure according to Di Pasquale. “It’s been the last two or three years that we feel a real craze and the boom of padel”.
“It is certainly cyclical: the increase in the number of pitches with at the same time a few VIPs who go there and communicate on it. These factors mean that we are gradually gaining notoriety and that a lot of people are trying it, ”explains Di Pasquale, in particular with reference to the TV host Cyril Hanouna or the former captain of the Blues Zinedine Zidane who inaugurated a sports center in Istres with six padel courts.
It was by switching from tennis to padel during a vacation six years ago that Benjamin Tison, 33, a former tennis instructor, rose to first place in the French ranking and 67th in the world.
At first, we were talking about a fad, now it’s more than that. This tournament is confirmation that padel is moving into another dimension. It’s incredible.
Benjamin Tison
He predicts a bright future for padel with, in the long term, an entry into the Olympic program. “One day, padel will become the number 2 racket sport in France and why not will outright surpass tennis”.
Over time, the profile of players has diversified, now affecting all categories of the population. “Today 60% of practitioners do not come from tennis,” recalls Arnaud Di Pasquale.
It is a sport that is easy. I say easy voluntarily, without being pejorative: everyone will hit, touch, return the ball and make exchanges quickly. So it’s obviously encouraging to say to yourself ”I’m getting there right away”, which is very rare in sport. It becomes playful and very fun. And at the highest level, it can become spectacular.
Arnaud DiPasquale
A Parisian tournament… exclusively for men
To anchor this sport permanently in France, Arnaud Di Pasquale is counting on the construction of new grounds, the development of training and above all on the establishment of a women’s table.
Women are indeed absent from this first edition of the Parisian tournament, the International Association of Padel Players being under contract until the 2023-2024 season with the World Padel Tour, direct competitor of the Premier Padel circuit.
Can we watch the tournament on TV?
YES, BUT…
Organized from July 11 to 17, the “Greenweez Paris Premier Padel Major”, the biggest padel tournament ever organized in France, is broadcast on Canal +.
But only from Thursday July 14 and the start of the round of 16. The private group broadcasts the entire eighth round on Thursday (Canal + Sport and “multisport” event channel, then all of the quarter-finals on Friday (same channels).
The two semi-finals will have the honors of Canal + Sport on Saturday, while the final on Sunday will be broadcast on Canal + (from 3 p.m.).