2024 Fédération International de Padel
On the occasion of my fourth selection for the junior national team, I look back with emotion on my first selection in 2022 and how far I have come since then. It has been a human and sporting adventure that I would like to share today.
Act I: 2022 European Junior Championships in Spain
2022 team : Yoan Boronad, Timéo Fonteny, Nathan Courrin, Arthaud Dumoulin, Lucas Pillon, Yann Auradou (capitaine), Jérémy Robert, Roméo Gagneux, Yanick Maurel (capitaine), Olivier Guy de Chamisso, Johan Peloux.
First selection
It all began in 2022, when Yann Auradou and Yannick Maurel contacted us to announce that we had been selected for the junior national team. Basile Baud, Olivier Guy de Chamisso, Johan Peloux and I were selected for the under 14 group alongside the under 16 players Yoan Boronad, Timéo Fonteny and Lucas Pillon, and the under 18 players Nathan Courrin, Arhaud Dumoulin and Roméo Gagneux. We were proud and happy. We were getting ready to experience the crazy atmosphere of an international competition, but also the real adversity that can exist between nations.
Padel lesson
The beginning was a bit hard for Basile and me. In our very first match, we faced the specialists in the discipline, Spain. The result: a decisive defeat, 6-0, 6-3. After being completely outplayed in the first set, we managed in the second by winning three games, a small consolation. That day, I realised just how big the gap was between us and the best players of our age, and how many hours of training I had ahead of me. The rest of the group matches went well. We finished second in our group, behind Spain of course, thus securing our place in the quarter-finals.
The school of life
In the quarter-finals, things got tough against Portugal. Our opponents played very well, as did we, but we were unable to manage our emotions under the pressure of the Portuguese, who were shouting during the important moments. After our defeat, Yoan and Timéo brought the two teams back to equal footing. Unfortunately, the decisive under 18 match turned in favour of the Portuguese. Our opponents benefited from the support of the Belgians, who clearly wanted us to lose. A little surprised, I asked a Belgian why they were so hostile. His answer left me speechless: ‘The Belgians and the French have never liked each other.’ It was a frustrating defeat, but a valuable learning experience.
A satisfying fifth place
Despite our frustration, we managed to bounce back. Re-energised, we won our last two matches against Sweden and then the Netherlands. We finished fifth in the European Championships, with unforgettable memories, valuable lessons learned and, above all, a desire to come back stronger.
Act II: 2023 Junior World Championships in Paraguay
2023 team : Jérémy Robert, Louis Jover, Lucas Pillon, Yannick Maurel (capitaine), Yann Auradou (capitaine), Yoan Boronad, Timéo Fonteny, Julien Biron, Quentin Bernard, Nathan Perrot, Johan Peloux.
Substitute but present
I was still just as proud to wear the french team jersey, even though this time I was substitute. And honestly, how could I have expected anything else, being in the same category as Yoan and Timéo? I was just happy to be part of the adventure, especially since I almost had to stay home due to an injury I sustained a few weeks earlier. Fortunately, I recovered in time and was ready to do my part, both on the pitch and on the bench.
Experiencing the competition... from the bench
It's a strange but intense feeling to experience a competition from the bench. You share the same emotions as the players, but without the direct pressure. You get caught up in the atmosphere, you go through all kinds of emotions, you cheer, you get excited, you shout yourself hoarse, you jump up with every spectacular point, whether won or lost... you experience the match intensely, as if you were playing yourself. And then there's this mix of contradictory feelings: on the one hand, the desire to get on the pitch, and on the other, the wish that this doesn't happen, because it would mean a friend is down. So I experienced these Junior World Championships in a totally different way from the European Championships, but I enjoyed them just as much.
It's stuck in the quarter-finals!
Once again, the team will not reach the final four, stopped in the quarter-finals by Sweden, a sweet revenge for them after our victory at the 2022 European Championships. We will have to wait a little longer to climb onto an international podium. We then reacted with seriousness and determination to take fifth place, beating Mexico and then Italy in a tense match won in the decisive match!
Act III: 2024 European Junior Championships in Hungary
2024 team : Timéo Fonteny, Thomas Basso, Jérémy Robert, Nathan Perrot, Yann Auradou (capitaine), Olivier Guy de Chamisso, Basile Baud, Sacha Huard de la Marre, Yoan Boronad, Yannick Maurel (capitaine), Gabriel Bessiere, Eliott Mura
An incredible team
In the under 18 age category, there's no need to introduce the team's stalwarts, Yoan and Timéo, who have been loyal to the cause since 2021, reinforced by Thomas Basso, who was making his debut, a well-deserved reward after a year of intensive training at the All In Academy. In the under 16 age category, I was reunited with my friends Basile and Olivier. And to complete the team, four promising young talents made up the under 14 age category: Nathan Perrot, Sacha Huard de la Marre, Gabriel Bessiere and Eliott Mura. We felt that our team was strong, but we were far from imagining that it would make French padel history.
Spain still unbeatable, but...
Avec Olivier nous avons rencontré trois fois la même paire espagnole durant la semaine de compétition : deux fois pendant la compétition par équipes (phase de poules et finale) et en demi-finale de l’open. Rien à faire, ils sont toujours au dessus ! Nous avons perdu les trois matchs. Mais en comparaison de ma première expérience ibérique, en 2022, j’ai eu le sentiment que l’écart était moins important. La preuve, s’il fallait en douter, que l’entrainement paye.
History: European Junior Vice-Champions
A great run took us to the final. We racked up a string of victories: against Switzerland and Germany in the group stages, against Italy in the quarter-finals and against Sweden in the semi-finals. In the final, the hierarchy was respected: the Spanish won and remained the kings of Europe. But for us, the most important thing was elsewhere. We were European vice-champions, with a silver medal to boot, the very first for the junior national padel team. That moment will remain etched in our memories. Not only for the performance, but also for what it symbolises: a generation that is progressing and a team that is coming together.
Act IV: 2025 Junior World Championships in Spain
Sélection 2025 : Yann Auradou (capitaine), Nathan Perrot, Gabriel Bessiere, Quentin Bernard, Jérémy Robert, Sacha Huard de la Marre, Johan Peloux, Yoan Boronad, Olivier Guy de Chamisso, Eliott Mura, Timéo Fonteny, Jérémy Garcia (capitaine)
I'll be wearing the French national team jersey for the fourth consecutive year! When Yann Auradou and Jérémy Garcia (the new captain) told me on the phone, I could hardly believe it. The competition was fierce this year in the under 18 category. Yoan and Timéo were obviously starters, but the real question was: who would join them? Thomas Basso, Olivier Guy de Chamisso or me? I had bet on Thomas, a versatile player capable of playing at right position and at left positon. The captains finally decided to take two substitutes: Olivier, a right-sided player, and me, a left-sided player.
At the end of September, we set off for Spain for a new competition, a new chapter to write, and the desire, more than ever, to push our limits.
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