“France can go far, padel is growing at the right pace in our country”

Robin Haziza, captain of the French women’s team, second behind Spain in the FIP ranking and ahead of Italy and Sweden, outlines the Blues’ ambition in this European Games adventure. As a sportsman who has seen it all in padel and beyond, he knows how insidious certain high-level competitions can be. Haziza, however, does not shy away from pressure and responsibility: ‘We have the number 3 seed (Leygue-Scatena ed) in the men’s tournament, so we expect to go a long way. Maybe in the semifinals, why not? Of course, after that there will be Portuguese or Spanish, so it gets tough. They are great players, but we will try. Among the women, we don’t have any seeded players, but we got through a really tricky round against the Portuguese Fernandes-Dos Santos seeded number seven and now the draw is a bit more open, even if my girls (Ginier-Pothier ed.) are on the side of the number one seeded players”.

If the immediate result is in the DNA of every sportsman, it is the future perspective that attracts Haziza, in this five-circle adventure, with a view to the Olympic dream: “Yes, the important thing is to be able to look far ahead, and for our sport right now it is to be there in these European Games, because from here a new era of padel begins, of this there is no doubt”.

As a player and sportsman who has represented and represents French padel for many years, Haziza traces the moment of padel in his country: “In France, padel is experiencing a ‘controlled’ boom, not as fast as in Italy or Sweden. But we have a market that is growing steadily, step by step. We were at 1500 courts in 2022 and this year we will go well over 2000. The growth is also really continuous from the point of view of practice: 350,000 players in the country, two major tournaments like Roland Garros and Toulouse, which together have brought tens of thousands of people to watch the spectacle of the world’s best. Step by step, France is growing. The padel industry is going hand in hand with sporting growth, without anticipating it, and for me it is much better that way”.