Reflections before the WPT Gran Canaria Open

This week begins the WPT Gran Canaria Open and yesterday I had the honor of attending the presentation of the tournament along with Jordi Muñoz. I can’t wait to play at home and give it my all, but first I’ll tell you my impressions of the last two tournaments, Valladolid and Mijas, which have followed a very similar format, and which obviously clearly shows the huge equality that exists in today’s padel where the cliché that there is no easy match or small opponent is rigorously enforced.

In the end, the small details decide everything, forcing you to maintain a very high intensity throughout the match, playing decisive and key moments more effectively than your opponent, or simply because “the coin fell out,” because let’s not fool ourselves, this is sport, and the luck factor also appears in many cases to balance the scales.

It is incredible to see how, over the past few years, the first rounds of tournaments have turned into true “padelero” battles, where the word “suffering” accompanies us as a couple, and colors all matches even from the pre-preliminary phase. Undoubtedly, the soccer phrase “match by match” takes on a special meaning in the 2017 World Tour of Padel, since transitions do not allow us to look far ahead, you cannot spend a single minute predicting the result or forecasting the future course.

The level of professional padel has grown impressively, with young players with a very high technical level and the courage and “daring” according to their age, which means that the more “veteran” players must continue to improve, develop and work even harder, if possible, to stay on the top of the rankings. Also, with these new pairs of young players that we are facing for the first time, there are additional challenges because of the little knowledge of their game and the lack of pressure that accompanies them, which do not occur with the more veteran pairs that we have faced over the years. All of this makes these matches very interesting and fulfilling for viewers hungry for new wisdom and unexpected results.

This is what we saw and experienced in Valladolid with Tello/Chingoto who deservedly took us away from our second semifinal of the year and became a reality as a pair, or with Belluati/Galán who have also systematically reached the final rounds, or even with Stupa’s victory in Mijas.

In our case, the fact that we have gone through such difficult matches in these last tournaments with many match points against us, is not a coincidence, it also strengthens us as a pair and confirms that we are working in a correct and effective way, although we still have a lot of space for improvement. We must maintain our level of intensity in a more constant way, trying to avoid ups and downs during the matches that gives our opponents breaths of “fresh air” to stay alive during the matches or that give them an opportunity of unbalancing the balance.

Now begins the indoor tournament season, which can certainly give us new alternatives, and it will start in my beloved Canary Islands this week, where, of course, we hope to find our best level and materialize it in a great tournament.