French pickleball team 2026: squad named for Vietnam

The French Tennis Federation has officially unveiled the first French national pickleball squad for the 2026 World Cup in Da Nang, Vietnam. Sixteen players, split between the +19 and +50 age groups, will wear the blue jersey from August 30 to September 6, 2026. The announcement closes an intense month for the sport in France: the first French Championships in Aix-en-Provence, training camps, and final technical choices by the federal staff.

On the official French team page, the FFT now lists every selected athlete with their league affiliation. Caroline Dhenin (+19 captain) and Mylène Hernja (+50 captain) lead this first internationally structured federal contingent. For the French community, it is a clear milestone: pickleball is no longer only a club phenomenon. It now has a national showcase at an event expected to welcome nearly 4,000 athletes from more than 80 countries.

Context: from Aix-en-Provence to Da Nang

In mid-July, the first French Pickleball Championships served as a final review before selection. Florian Lecerf, FFT pickleball department manager, said it clearly in Aix: players were preselected, a camp was planned for the following Monday with the captains, and the national draws still allowed the staff to fine-tune doubles pairings. The list published on fft.fr confirms that several standout performers from that Aix weekend were retained, without simply copying individual titles into the national team.

Émilien Burnel, triple French champion at 5.0 (singles, doubles and mixed), is in the +19 group. Valentine Vernaz, women's 5.0 singles finalist, Anne Loriot, Clara Contis Ramirez, Mathilde Sarcelet, Cyril Peltier and Théo Platel complete a core already heavily exposed at Opens and Championships. In the +50 category, Thierry Dausse, Stéphanie Lefebvre, Hong Duyen Nguyen, Thibault Collignon and Anthony Andreux, all title winners or finalists in Aix, also made the cut. By contrast, Laura Rocchi, the first women's 5.0 singles French champion, does not appear on the published list: a reminder that national selection rests on a mix of criteria (availability, international age brackets, pairing complementarity, camp project) and not only on one weekend's medal haul.

The +19 squad: eight players around Caroline Dhenin

Caroline Dhenin captains the French +19 men's and women's team. A former professional tennis player (Roland-Garros singles third round in 1997, US Open doubles quarterfinals in 1998), she is also listed as a selected player in the +50 category. In other words, she combines technical leadership of the senior contingent with a playing role among the +50s, a rare profile that shows how coaching and competition still overlap in a rapidly structuring sport.

On the women's +19 side, the FFT selected Clara Contis Ramirez (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes League), Valentine Vernaz (ARA), Mathilde Sarcelet (Grand Est) and Anne Loriot (Brittany). Contis and Sarcelet, French women's 5.0 doubles champions in Aix, embody the next generation: 21 and 23 years old, with international discovery stories (Madrid for Clara, the United States for Mathilde), already able to overturn more experienced pairs. Vernaz and Loriot, finalists in that same doubles event, bring elite-draw experience and a different tactical reading, useful in team competition.

On the men's +19 side, the list mixes a domestic core with US-based profiles. Théo Platel (PACA), a regular figure at French Opens, Cyril Peltier (Brittany), 5.0 singles finalist in Aix, Émilien Burnel (Nouvelle-Aquitaine), 22, living in St. Louis, Missouri, and already competing in pro events in the United States, and Jocelyn Devilliers (Île-de-France), better known as Jay Devilliers on the PPA Tour, form a high-upside quartet. Devilliers, a natural ambassador for French pickleball in the USA, brings professional top-level experience that the FFT had never previously lined up under such a clearly identified national banner.

The +50 squad: Mylène Hernja and eight experienced athletes

Mylène Hernja, pickleball expert within the FFT, leads the +50 men's and women's contingent. Her brief matches Dhenin's: structure the group, support the strongest players, and prepare a dense international schedule. Four women and four men make up the roster.

Women's +50: Hong Duyen Nguyen (Hauts-de-France), Caroline Dhenin (PACA), Stéphanie Lefebvre (Hauts-de-France) and Valérie Vernet Le Droff (ARA). Nguyen and Lefebvre won women's 5.0 +50 doubles in Aix; Lefebvre then took mixed 5.0 +50 with Thierry Dausse. Men's +50: Laurent Yung (Nouvelle-Aquitaine), Thierry Dausse (PACA), French 5.0 +50 singles champion, Thibault Collignon (Brittany) and Anthony Andreux (PACA), French men's 5.0 +50 doubles champions. The group mixes recent national titles and draw depth, with a strong presence from the PACA, Brittany and Hauts-de-France leagues.

Da Nang 2026: the first Asian World Cup

The 2026 Pickleball World Cup runs from August 30 to September 6 in Da Nang. The first edition staged in Asia and, according to local organizers, the third worldwide edition, the event will use Tien Son Sports Palace, Tuyen Son Sports Village and several international-standard venues. About 4,000 athletes from more than 80 countries and territories are expected. The format combines national team events and individual competitions, split by age categories and skill levels.

For France, the stakes go beyond medals. The goal is to measure the national level against more mature nations, to get staff and athletes used to long-haul logistics, and to send a message to clubs: a federal pathway exists, national selections are real, and the quality of local facilities matters. Many selected players come from tennis or multi-racket clubs that invested early in pickleball. For clubs that want to follow that path, a pickleball court designed for a sports club remains the most concrete lever: more court time, more volume of play, and more players able to aim for national draws.

What this first roster reveals

Three takeaways stand out. First, the FFT chose a compact squad (sixteen athletes) rather than an oversized delegation, which points to targeted preparation and realistic budgeting for a first structured participation. Second, the league geography is broad: ARA, Grand Est, Brittany, PACA, Île-de-France, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Hauts-de-France. French high-level play is no longer captured by a single region, even if PACA still carries significant weight. Third, the presence of Burnel and Devilliers, both based in the United States, shows that selection is willing to recruit profiles trained on the world's most competitive market while keeping a domestic core forged through Opens and Championships.

What remains now is the summer preparation phase, then the late-August trip. Clubs, leagues and the wider community can follow this first blue adventure with a simple reference point: familiar names, a clear calendar, and a federation that finally fields a French pickleball team on the world stage. In Da Nang, the challenge will not only be to win matches. It will be to lay the first stone of a lasting national selection culture.

Source: official FFT page "Équipe de France de pickleball", 2026 French Championships results in Aix-en-Provence, Vietnam+ announcements on the World Cup organization in Da Nang.