France Name Doha Squads: Collombon Leads, Veterans Meet Teenagers

France has named its teams for November's World Padel Championships in Doha. On Monday, 28 September, the French Tennis Federation (FFT) published two eight-player squads for the FIP event, which runs from 2 to 7 November. The captains, Juan Alday for the women and Pablo Ayma for the men, proposed the players, and the federation's executive board approved the lists. Sixteen nations will compete in each of the two draws in Qatar.

Women: Collombon and Godallier lead the way

Alday has picked a familiar core. Alix Collombon and Léa Godallier lead the squad, with experienced internationals Carla Touly, Lucile Pothier and Charlotte Soubrié behind them. The newer names are Louise Bahurel, Clara Mansart and Steffi Merah.

Collombon arrives in good form. At last week's FIP Platinum in Lyon, she and Ksenia Sharifova beat top seeds Ale Salazar and Aranza Osoro 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 and went on to the semi-finals, where they lost to eventual champions Bea Caldera and Carmen Goenaga. Collombon and Sharifova start their Rotterdam P2 campaign on Wednesday against a qualifying pair. Godallier and Daiara Valenzuela face Marta Caparrós and Águeda Pérez on the same day.

Men: more than a decade between youngest and oldest

Ayma's men's squad is Johan Bergeron, Bastien Blanqué, Thomas Leygue, Dylan Guichard, Maxime Joris, Yoan Boronad, Timéo Fonteny and Jérémy Robert.

The age range stands out. Padel Magazine points out that Bergeron is 33 and Blanqué 31. Robert is 18, and Boronad and Fonteny are both 19. Bergeron and Blanqué moved to Spain together in 2017 to push their careers forward and then won three straight French titles from 2017 to 2019. Bergeron retired at the end of 2022 but came back in 2024. In 2025 the pair reunited and won back-to-back FIP Bronze events in Hong Kong and Manila. They no longer play together on tour this season, but both were selected on their own merits.

The younger players are already competing at the top level. Fonteny and Spain's Nacho Moragues came through Rotterdam qualifying without dropping a set. In the final round they beat Tijs Roepers and Willy Sliard 6-4, 6-1, which guarantees them at least 27 FIP points. Leygue, partnered by Moya, reached the quarter-finals in Lyon.

A squad built in the south

The list also shows where French padel is strongest. Six of the 16 players come from the Occitanie league: Collombon, Soubrié, Bahurel, Blanqué, Boronad and Fonteny. Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes each provide three. Île-de-France has two, and Brittany and Nouvelle-Aquitaine one each.

France is now the latest European nation to confirm its plans for Doha. Spain named its 16 players last week, and Germany, the Netherlands and Great Britain's women came through the Madrid qualifier. Before the squads meet in Qatar, the French players will continue on tour, starting with this week's Rotterdam P2, where the finals are on Sunday, 4 October.