Asked by  Brand ,  Ale Galán  He took part in the exercise of ranking his various partners throughout his career. A tricky exercise, given the players with whom the Spaniard has shared the track. And at the top, a small surprise:  Fede Chingotto ahead of Juan Lebrón .

A choice that may seem surprising when you look at the record Galán has built with El Lobo.

From his beginnings to the top of the world

Galán begins by revisiting several associations that marked his progress. He places  Matías Díaz in third position , a partner with whom he took a step forward, won titles and continued his rise in the world rankings.

Right behind comes  Juan Cruz Belluati Fourth. An important association in the construction of Galán: together, they progressed from qualifications to becoming the  sixth pair in the world .

Come next  Pablo Lima , with whom Galán only shared the track for about six months, then  Juani Mieres , his partner for the following six months.

Further down in its ranking appears  Jon sanz It was a very short partnership, lasting only a few tournaments, but one that nonetheless allowed Galán to win titles. The Spaniard also hasn't forgotten his childhood partner, with whom he played before reaching the highest level.

But obviously, the real debate lies in the top two positions.

Lebrón only second despite three years at the top

In terms of achievements,  Juan Lebrón seemed to be the obvious choice for first place Together, Galán formed the dominant pair in world padel.

The two Spaniards reached the  world number 1 place which they kept for  three consecutive years At their best, Lebrón and Galán formed an extremely difficult pair to stop and marked their era with their style of play.

However, Galán does not place his former partner at the top of his rankings.

Chingotto number 1: "the one who makes me play the best"

First place goes to  Fede Chingotto .

Galán does not justify this choice by world ranking or number of titles, but by a much more personal notion:  his own level of play According to him, it was with the Argentinian that he managed to play his best padel.

Chingotto would thus be the partner who  allows him to better express his qualities on the track , even though their partnership has not yet allowed Galán to regain the world number 1 ranking he held with Lebrón.

A choice that will inevitably spark discussion. It's hard not to point out that  The relationship between Galán and Lebrón deteriorated significantly at the time of their separation. This raises the question of whether this context influences his ranking. It's impossible to say for sure, however: Galán primarily justifies his choice by the feelings he experienced and the level of padel he achieved with Chingotto.

His verdict is clear, in any case:  In terms of achievements, Lebrón remains the partner with whom he dominated the world; in terms of personal level of play, Galán chooses Chingotto. 

Benjamin Dupouy

I discovered padel directly during a tournament, and frankly, I didn't really like it at first. But the second time, it was love at first sight, and since then, I haven't missed a single match. I'm even ready to stay up until 3am to watch a final of Premier Padel !

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