Padel’s multisport Games debut at this summer’s European Olympics is exciting for everyone in the sport – but for Kristina Clément it will have a special resonance.
For Clément, who switched allegiance from France to Germany two years ago, 2023 is her final year in open-age competition before she becomes a ‘veteran’.
Before she graduates into the seniors, she has one last ambition: selection for the European Games in Kraków-Malopolskie in July – with padel taking place in Krakow’s main square.
She will compete alongside partner Corina Scholten in the classification tournament for the German national women’s team at Padel City Dortmund on 17-18 March, with the first two pairs qualifying.
“This will be my last year in open events and I am determined to qualify for the European Olympic Games,” Clément told The Padel Paper.
“I would love to be selected and play my last European Olympics in the main category. This would be the perfect way to say goodbye and then switch to the veterans for the rest of my life.
“At the end of the year it will be the European Championships with FIP and that is my other big target for 2023. I would love to finish my open career with that.
“When I have a specific goal like the European Olympics I work every day and do everything I can to keep in shape. I also do a lot of basket sessions with a coach to find the right tempo with my shots.
“I am lucky to have a good eye-to-hand coordination and physically I am still in good shape, but for the mid-March qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games I am training every day.
“With it being my last time, I have never been more motivated to qualify.”
Clément is Export Manager for Nox Padel which she has helped grow exponentially from distributing to four countries to now 50.
She gained her coaching qualifications through the Spanish Padel Federation under well-known coach Manu Martin. She then coached in Monaco, where she guided the men’s national team to a 13th place finish at the European Championships.
She also mentored GB No.1 Tia Norton, who she still refers to as her ‘padel baby’, at the beginning of her career.
She explained: “I moved to Birmingham to develop Padel Birmingham from the end of 2015 and it was there I met Tia. I am glad to see how well she is competing.
“Tia is very talented and the key thing for her will be the mental aspect as sometimes it is not the most talented person who will reach the top. It can be the person who works hardest in training and in the key moments of the game is ready to fight hardest.
“But padel is also a team game and she needs to find the right partner to compete at the highest level. You need the chemistry.”
Looking back over her own dual playing and coaching career, Clément recalled: “I had a good tennis background where I was in the top 200 in France. I was born in France and my dad is French and my mum German so this has been very helpful with two passports!
“After playing for France I was lucky enough to be invited to play for the German ladies. I began to coach with them and we did quite well finishing eighth in the 2021 World Championships in Qatar, then we repeated that in Dubai.”
When it comes to her role at Nox it is clear the racket manufacturer’s growth is a reflection of the boom in padel around the globe.
Kristina revealed: “Early on we had Nox padel rackets in my clubs and when I visited Barcelona for WPT I met Jesús Ballvé, the CEO of Nox, and we got along very well.
“After Birmingham in 2017 I asked Nox if they wanted to sponsor me as a coach and a player, and a few months later they asked if I wanted to develop the brand for France as an agent. I said, ‘Why not!’
“At the end of 2018 I became export manager. At the beginning we had only four countries but now we have over 50 with active representation. I have all the continents except the American continent as most of them are Spanish speaking. I have Europe, Middle East, Australia, Africa, so I have enough for myself!”
