Grégoire JEAN

How did you get into ping?

I fell into it when I was young. Both my parents played table tennis; my father ranking 30th and my mother 25th. My older brother had some time at the top level and then became a coach. In fact, it was when going to see my brother at the hall at just 4 years of age that I discovered ping. A year later, I signed up for the same club as him. I played both football and table tennis for two years, but ultimately I opted for ping as I quickly enjoyed good results.

Have you won a lot of titles in the youth categories?

At 10 years of age, I won my first national title, then I came second the following year in the juniors. Next, I joined the Pôle France training cluster in Talence and then, in a bid to really turn a corner with my game, I left the family cocoon to devote myself fully to ping.

Your career is rather atypical, can you describe it for us?

To start with, it was pretty classical, until I went to the Pôle France. At 14, far away from your next of kin, not seeing many people, you begin to mull things over. I felt as if I needed to see other things, I wasn’t enjoying the isolation either, even though things were going well in sporting terms. At that point, I decided to return to Nîmes with my brother and get back to a lifestyle that better suited me: I returned to school and kept up the training. I made headway with my studies, I matured and I took my diploma to be a coach, because I still wanted to stay in the ping world. Having bagged my diploma, I realised that competition was the only thing that gave me the thrill I craved. With that, I kickstarted my career as a player again, at 21 years of age in the third division. And that’s where my playing career powered back up.

Do you need a lot of mental strength to want to get back to the top level after such a break?

It wasn’t really a break as I continued playing and I remained in the domain of ping, even though it wasn’t as a pro. It was a necessary period in my life, which gave me a chance to mature and really find out what I want.

Can you name a key moment in your career?

I would say my early days in a team with Nîmes. Our rise to pro status was refused and we remained at national 1 for 2 years. It was important to dig deep there too. Therefore, it was a little later down the line, in Villeneuve in the Lot, that I started playing as a pro.

How did you join Team Cornilleau?

I joined the team in October 2019 via the club in Amiens, which is sponsored by Cornilleau. I was quickly able to exchange ideas about equipment with the brand’s experts and found the wood / rubber combination that suited my game. I already knew the members of the team who I trained with in Metz, Damien Llorca and Dorian Nicolle, who I get on very well with.