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Alex KirklandESPN FC
Any fans of Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain or any other club hoping that Zinedine Zidane will be their new manager in the near future are likely to be disappointed as the former Real Madrid boss doesn’t look in a hurry to return to coaching.
Last week sources told ESPN’s Julien Laurens that Zidane is not interested in managing at Old Trafford, should the Premier League side move on from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, while Foot Mercato reported that the former France international might consider taking over at PSG whenever Mauricio Pochettino eventually leaves the Parc des Princes and the France national team job is not available.
But it looks as though the 49-year-old is in no rush to get back into management — as he spent his latest weekend away from football showing off his new project, a centre dedicated to the racquet sport of padel in the Provence region of France.
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Zidane took part in a showcase match at his new facility this weekend, partnered by the men’s No. 1 on the World Padel Tour, Spain‘s Alejandro Galan — and, judging by footage of him playing, he’s no slouch at the sport himself.
“Today I was lucky enough to enjoy a game of padel with one of my childhood idols, Zidane,” Galan wrote in a post on Instagram. “I’ve always admired you as a player and a person… It’s great to see how padel is growing every day.”
Courts can be booked at Zidane’s “Z5 padel” venue in Aix-en-Provence for between €8 and €12 ($9 and $13) per person, with a session lasting 90 minutes — obviously — with racquets and balls included.
Padel, a kind of cross between tennis and squash, is played in doubles pairs on a small enclosed court. It is widely played in Spain — where Zidane picked up the bug — and Argentina, and is growing in popularity around the world.
Zidane isn’t the only former player to be a padel fanatic. Former Barcelona captain Carles Puyol brought his no-holds-barred attitude from the football pitch to the padel court, famously posting pictures on social media after he’d smashed through the glass wall at the back of the court in an attempt to return a ball.
When Carles Puyol ran through a glass wall to try and get a ball back while playing padel with a friend.
Never question this man’s mentality 💪 pic.twitter.com/lxPZ8nocM4
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) March 24, 2021
Former Real Madrid captain Raul Gonzalez was pictured courtside with Puyol at the World Padel Tour’s Madrid Open in April this year.
In July, former Serie A stars including Francesco Totti, Sinisa Mihajlovic and Christian Panucci all participated in a charity tournament in Italy.