Double World Champion Barbara Matic looks forward to fight in Paris

Everything is ready for this weekend (February 4-5), when the most prestigious tournament in the judoka calendar awaits us, namely the IJF Grand Slam in Paris. "Judo's Wimbledon" is a synonym that circulates in the conversations of those who follow judo on a daily basis. It is an important event for the French, a long tradition, and the fact that the 51st edition of the popular tournament in the former "Bercy" starts on Saturday.

World number one, first holder of the U70kg category, two-time world champion Barbara Matic from Split will be the only representative of at this year's edition of the Paris delirium.

The 28-year-old world champion already has the experience of winning medals in Paris, last year she took silver, on Sunday she wants to gain new points for the upcoming Olympic Games.

Matic: "I feel good, it's my first tournament in the IJF WJT season, we'll see how is the physical preparation, I hope it is good because I feel good. We will not predict anything, we don't like to do that before the tournament, we will go fight by fight, we will see what the draw will be. By the way, we know that Paris, along with Tokyo, is the strongest Grand Slam of the year, we'll see how it goes, I feel good," said Matic.

Barbara is also aware that the tournament in Bercy is literally the "Wimbledon of judo". She also revealed to us what it feels like to fight in front of so many people when the cheering of 15,000 people descends all the way to the mat:

Well, it's good until you fight with a French woman, then everyone is on their side. Otherwise, the atmosphere is really great, I've never experienced it anywhere except in France and Japan.

As the host, France has the right to enter as many as four competitors per weight category, which greatly complicates the task for anyone on the other side. In the "Accors Hotel Arena" there will be an atmosphere that we can certainly expect at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024. For this kind of competition, performing in a heated atmosphere as an athlete, physical or technical-tactical preparation alone will not be enough for you, experience is an important factor.

"Well, yes, you get used to those big competitions, the tournament in Paris is really close to that world championship in terms of quality, everyone is top here, everyone wants to go to Paris. What a good European destination, the tournament is of high quality, one of the main destinations for everyone and a great preparation for the upcoming season, let's see where we are, what we are," Matic concluded.

The official draw is planned today for 2:00 p.m., after which we will also know the pairs by category, that is, the fights. Along with Barbara Matic, the coach of the women's national team, Vladimir Preradovic, went to Paris.