Monaco’s padel teams took part in the Open de France at the Place du Capitole in Toulouse on Friday, September 8.

The first-ever Women’s team, Irina Peterson and her partner Joelle Rossignol, faced off against France, Spain and Holland, finishing their last match at midnight.

The highly-respected Philippe Sassier, who has been playing the sport since 1994 and co-founded the Monaco Padel Federation in 2014 with Andrew Knox, organised the participation of the Principality in the Open de France, which included some great playing also from the Men’s side, made up of Colin Gresham and Franck Damar.

The home team of Toulouse won the European Cup. In fact, the Toulouse padel club has a long history, which dates back to the early 1990s. “This discipline came here in 1992 when I created the French Federation,” said Claude Baigts, organiser of the Open de France.

“Then, between 1993 and 2002, a tournament was held every summer at the Place du Capitole. Last year, we finally returned with a new format, named Open de France Mutuelle du Rempart. On our two courts, we held the Mixed Open de France with sixteen teams representing a dozen nationalities.”

At the same time, the first European Cup of Private Clubs took place under the aegis of the European Association of Padel Clubs, with eight delegations from seven countries, including Monaco. This was a mixed event as each club has a Women’s and a Men’s team.

The tournament also had a business village, as well as a space for sport, health, and well-being”. There was a closing ceremony in the evening in support of Paris’ bid for the 2024 Olympics, but the entire set up was urgently dismantled for security reasons with the impending visit of French President Macron to Toulouse on Monday.

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