Tell us about your French championship title (emotions, feelings, journey...)
It was the first national championship with my new partner William Villeger, so I was very excited to compete with him. We were in a great moment at the time, and we knew we could win the title together this year.
We were impacted by water contamination in our training center, which caused symptoms like nausea, fever, stomach cramps, and soreness. So our energy wasn't at its best. Fortunately, we were able to play the first match and took some medication to improve. In the second match, we won in two close games against a good French pair, which took us to the semi-finals against Labar and Corvee. They had a higher ranking than us, but in terms of skill level, we didn't feel weaker than them. They managed to win the first game 22/20 after being down 20/16, so we could have lost the match in two games under those conditions. However, we didn't want to give up and remained calm to come back and win it in three games. This victory was a huge relief for us and also showed that we could win in a challenging scenario. Another emotional aspect was having Léa Palermo on the coaching chair during this match, just a few weeks after her ACL injury. It felt like we won the match for her as well.
In the final, I felt like most people were predicting that the Popov brothers would win the title once again. Before the match, William and I had a quick discussion about tactics, and we said to each other, "If we maintain discipline in our tactics, we can win this final and secure our first title together." After winning the final in two games, we also showed the French federation that we are competitive in men's doubles.
During the interview, I mentioned that this win was a significant accomplishment for us, especially for William, as it was his first gold at the national level. I dedicated this victory to Lea, who didn't have the opportunity to play this year.