GREAT BRITAIN international Sam Jones has revealed his heartbreak at missing out on the opportunity to qualify for the Greenweez Paris Premier Padel Major.
Jones and partner Christian Murphy featured in the qualis at the previous two Majors in Qatar and Rome and were looking forward to playing at Roland-Garros, the home of French tennis.
But, with the qualification process reduced to two rounds while the clamour for entry went through the roof, the all-Brit pairing missed the cut.
For Jones, the opportunity to play at such a world-famous venue against one of the big beasts of the padel world has evoked comparisons of appearing at Wimbledon and drawing seven-times champion Novak Djokovic.
Jones said: “It’s a real shame we missed out as for me this would have been the best-ever tournament. To have entered and to say you had played at Roland-Garros … well, it doesn’t get much better than that.
“Also Christian and I played in Qatar and then in Rome but in Paris more people entered and because they reduced it to two rounds it was like a double whammy.
“It is almost like, if you were to compare it to tennis, facing Novak Djokovic and playing against him at a run of the mill tournament but then playing against him in a Grand Slam Final would be a whole different level in terms of the stage, and of course the experience he can draw on from having played so many of these before.
“It would really have added an extra dimension to play the top, top players at Roland-Garros but that said it is good to play in both the majors and the routine tournaments if possible although what really matters is playing as much as I can with decent players and against decent players and learning different styles. Match-play is what I really need right now.
“So whether that is at a Grand Slam setting like Roland-Garros, an iconic venue like the Foro Italico, say, or whether it’s a local tournament, they are all still good for me.”
Understandably there is a lingering frustration when Jones reflects on his missed opportunity to play in the French capital’s 16th arrondissement. He added: “In Qatar it was only two rounds of qualis but in Rome they increased it to three and we thought that would be the standard going forward. But they reduced it again for Paris. At the Foro Italico there were 36 in qualis but in Paris just 24, so 12 less and we just missed out.
“Of course, because the Paris Major is being held at Roland-Garros everyone wanted to enter it.
“The good thing is that now there are so many tournaments of a quality level that the Majors like Paris and Rome are more of a treat and when you are playing at such an iconic level you can really enjoy it and savour it.
“But outside of these there are so many tournaments now that you are coming up against the top guys even at lesser tournaments – and you are getting the same playing experience and benefitting from playing against the best.”
When it comes to enjoying the playing experience at a Premier Padel Major Jones admits he will be casting an envious glance towards the Bois de Boulogne this week as he scans the draw to see who makes it out of qualifying.
He said: “The full tournament from qualis to main draw was all held at the Foro Italico and we got the same courts, the same facilities, really the same everything as the star players like Lebron and these guys, the only difference is they only open up the centre court for the main draw.
“But we stayed at the same hotel and got the same food, so we were treated really well in Rome and that will be the same in Paris for everyone who is going through from the qualis.
“At this stage, to enter a main draw at the level of a Major is too high for us because of our rankings, but after Rome we felt like we had a shot of maybe making it through qualis. And with it just being the two rounds that would really have given us a shot at making the main draw.
“In Rome we won first round in qualis and then lost to a really good pair in Chico Gomes and Matias Nicoletti. It would have been nice to try and build on that run in Paris, but hopefully there will be other opportunities.”
