Nicolas Hervé de Beaulieu is the manager of 4PADEL Bordeaux. Lorenzo Lecci Lopez therefore tried to learn more about the LE FIVE group, but also and above all his feeling on the road that is taken in France around the development of padel.
The FFT: a good start in the padel?

The FFT took a long time to get started in the development of padel. The first years she clearly took the padel within her federation because the Ministry of Sports asked her to. It wasn’t really a real urge. The conflicts between the former French Padel Federation and the National Padel League had to be ended.

The fact that the FFT is today the representative of the padel, I think it is a good thing if there is perfect equity in the politics of the FFT. And for the moment, many players, private clubs and different players believe that this is not the case.

The problem is that it then felt like the FFT was afraid to develop the sport. Perhaps she even feared that a competing federation would develop as in Spain.

Since 2018/2019, there has been a turn of the FFT with padel bottom. Well done to her.

Tennis has been losing momentum in France for several years and the FFT is trying to keep its licensees to the maximum. This loss of tennis speed probably contributed to the fact that she was thinking twice about her strategy towards padel.

It’s a chance for the FFT to represent a sport that has a very positive global dynamic. If the FFT does what it has to do, we could see padel tennis becoming an essential sport in France.
FFT and the vector of development

The FFT already uses padel as a vector for the development of its number of licensees by obliging padel players to carry out approved tournaments which count for the classification.

She could have created a special padel license but for the moment it is the same license as for tennis.

The FFT increasingly assimilates private structures and allows them to issue licenses directly via the ADOC tool. More and more, and in the image of the relationship that 4PADEL has with the FFT, it seeks to develop padel as much in tennis clubs via grants to build fields, labels for the companies of field building. to guarantee quality installations and allow players to have beautiful installations and optimal playing conditions.
Padel and tennis, same fight?

I think not, technically padel is different from tennis, the strokes are not the same, the tactics are very very different. It’s two different sports for me. The padel is obviously easier to understand when you come from a racket sport, but when you see Spanish players playing like I have had the chance to see several times, we realize the technical difference and we realize also believes that the Spanish padel industry brings out a lot of pure padel players who have never touched a tennis racket.
The padel, to leave the FFT?

I do not think so. The FFT for 2 years is really investing in padel, it launched the FFT PADEL TOUR last year which was a success with stages in clubs but also final stages in public places to promote access to general public and promote the sport.

The FFT has extremely strong means and communications network which are clearly an advantage for the development of padel.

An independent federation would not have the same impact in my opinion even if it could be more creative. The FFT has announced the creation of a padel CNE in Paris. It shows that she wants to develop the high level as the amateur level and it is really a good thing for all.
4PADEL an asset for padel

The padel develops enormously via private structures. 4PADEL, leader in padel in France, shows the will to develop this sport. Only 3 years ago, LE FIVE only had 2 padel courts in its centers, in Bordeaux. Since then, LE FIVE has had the will to really develop padel in its own right, through the creation of the brand 4PADEL which is the padel entity of the LE FIVE group.

a brand, a website, a different marketing strategy. Private structures have an important role to play. The Toulouse Padel club in the Toulouse region is doing a lot of development work and was to open new fields this year, the FFT must rely on these private structures which have a real vocation to develop padel, it's their job!

Develop padel hand in hand with the tennis federation. As I said above, we must develop padel hand in hand with the FFT, the clubs, as well as private structures, everyone must join forces to develop the sport.
FFT PADEL TOUR and CNE PADEL

The FFT PADEL TOUR and the CNE padel which will open its doors