2023-09-05 08:20:54
While the tennis champions are having a fight on the courts of the US Open, Roland-Garros is getting into padel time. For the second year in a row, the French temple of the yellow ball is hosting the Greenweez Paris Major Premier Padel until Sunday, September 10, one of the four “Grand Slams” of the discipline.
The opportunity to appreciate the alleys of the Porte d’Auteuil in a different way under a largely summer sun. Last year, the event (which had attracted 25,000 spectators throughout the week) suffered from being placed in the middle of July. Despite the back-to-school period, the organizers are counting on the weather and the desire for leisure to ensure the success of the second edition.
There are still tickets left
The ticket office (whose prices range from 20 to 35 euros from Tuesday) is already full for Sunday, the day of the finals on the Philippe-Chatrier court where the maximum capacity has been set at 8,000 seats (the enclosure can contain up to 15,000). There are still places in category 1 for Saturday (semi-finals, 35 euros) and Friday (quarter-finals, 25 euros).
Various categories are available for other days. Match times have been rearranged to take into account the working hours of a mainly Ile-de-France public. The first meetings will start at 1 p.m. but there will be a poster scheduled at 6 p.m. and another at 8 p.m.
On the sidelines of the matches, the FFT promises entertainment (urban tennis, table football, petanque, mölkky, etc.), surprises and will focus on initiation from Thursday with qualified educators.
Beautiful people on the slopes
The world’s best will be present on the field. Starting with the world No. 1 pair formed by the Spaniard Arturo Coello and the Argentinian Agustin Tapia. See also the now ex-masters of the Iberian world Juan Lebron and Alejandro Galan, crowned last year in Paris. To follow especially the appearance of the women’s circuit in the capital.
48 players participate in the tricolor stage of the First Round with a prize money equivalent to that of the boys (525,000 euros in total for each table, with 47,250 euros for each winner), i.e. nearly 50 times less than the winners of Roland-Garros tennis version).
Spain’s No. 1 seeds Ari Sanchez and Paula Josemaria are the favorites ahead of the pair formed by Marta Ortega and Gemma Triay, winners of the first women’s trophy on the circuit in mid-July in Rome. “It is important to give visibility to women’s padel, underlines Arnaud Di Pasquale, tournament director and head of padel at the FFT. It may also attract another audience. »
On the tricolor side, only Benjamin Tison for the men and Alix Collombon and Léa Godallier for the ladies were directly invited to the big picture.
In practice
56 men’s teams and 48 women’s teams are vying for the title in western Paris. The matches, where points are counted as in tennis, are played in two winning sets with a decisive game in the third set if necessary.
As a reminder, padel is played exclusively in doubles on a rectangular track in synthetic turf mixed with sand of 10 mx 20 m with grids on the sides and glass walls at the bottom of the field on which practitioners can play with the rebound. The racquets (where the holes ‘replace’ the string) weigh around 370g and the balls have less pressure than tennis.
For those who cannot go to the Central, the Canal + group will broadcast the competition from Thursday (Thursday and Friday on Canal + Sport, Saturday and Sunday on Canal +).
#week #Padel #Grand #Slam #making #comeback #RolandGarros