Madrid, Paris, Rotterdam: Have Ortega–Araújo really found the key against Josemaría

Two matches, six days apart, and two scenarios that seem almost incompatible.

To Madrid, Paula Josemaría and Bea González swept Marta Ortega and Sofia Araújo 6/0 6/2 in the quarter-finals. A one-sided match, during which the Spanish pair immediately imposed their rhythm. Six days later, on Philippe-Chatrier court, the balance of power had completely shifted: Ortega and Araújo won 2/6 7/6 7/6 after a 3-hour and 15-minute battle and five saved match points. .

A simple consequence of the much slower conditions at Roland-Garros, or the first real tactical response found by the Spanish-Portuguese pair?

With Rotterdam approaching, where the four players could meet again, the question deserves to be asked.

Madrid: Impossible to escape the pressure

The 6/0 6/2 Madrid match first tells the story of Ortega and Araújo's inability to establish their own sequence of play.

Against Josemaría and González, the danger lies precisely there. When the Spanish pair can play close enough to the net and take the ball early, Paula Josemaría speeds up the tempo enormously , while Bea González has her full aerial repertoire at her disposal to close out the points.

Ortega and Araújo then find themselves in a difficult pattern to break: defend low, play a lob under pressure, suffer another shot over the head and start again.

Madrid almost never gave the number 5 pair time to set up anything else.

The problem, therefore, was not only to defend more, but to find how to transform a defense into a real opportunity to regain the net .

In Paris, the lob becomes much more important

This is probably one of the first things to look at in the Parisian revenge.

Against Bea González, not all lobs are created equal. A poorly executed lob that allows her to position herself under the ball often only delays the inevitable for a few seconds. The real objective is to force her to play the ball backward or to lengthen the trajectory enough to prevent Josemaría and González from maintaining an ideal offensive position.

At Roland-Garros, the slower conditions obviously helped.

The ball comes out less easily, the final smash is harder to find and a pair capable of defending several additional shots can gradually shift the rally.

But Ortega and Araújo were particularly successful in to prolong these sequences long enough to alter the balance of power .

The second set provides the best illustration of this. They begin to make the match much more physical, resist more in the rallies and even obtain four set points at 6/5 before finally snatching the set in the tie-break.

It is no longer Josemaría–González who systematically chooses the duration and rhythm of the point.

Pushing away Paula Josemaría before looking for Bea González

This is perhaps where the most interesting development lies. The danger would be to reduce the plan to: lobber Bea González .
The real issue is more global. We need to prevent Paula Josemaría from playing too often forward and too early in the rally.

When she can advance on the ball, take the center, or cut off a trajectory, her explosiveness immediately gives her partner a head start. Conversely, when she has to defend a few inches lower or play an extra ball from the back, the structure of the point changes.

Ortega possesses precisely the qualities needed to work this area: variation in height, precision and the ability to accept several shots without immediately seeking the winning shot.

The objective then becomes less about win the point directly than to gradually shift the average position of the opponents.

Once Josemaría is pushed back, Araújo can get further into the field.

Araújo: the difference when the point becomes neutral

This is probably Paris' second major key. Sofia Araújo finished the match with 33 winning shots to only eight unforced errors In a match where the pressure kept increasing, it's considerable.

Because Araújo doesn't need to dominate the point from the very first shot to be dangerous. If Ortega manages to prolong the rally and bring the pair back to a neutral position, the Portuguese player can then use her power to turn the point around.

The division of roles then becomes much clearer: Ortega stabilizes, builds and absorbs; Araújo can accelerate when a real window appears.

The center, another essential area of the duel

Facing Josemaría and González, the management of the center also becomes fundamental.

If Ortega and Araújo spread out too far to protect their diagonals, Paula can occupy that space and accelerate. But overly aggressive coverage immediately exposes the outside players.

The challenge, therefore, is to remain compact enough to prevent Josemaría from systematically taking the initiative between the two players, without giving up too much ground on the sides.

This is also what allows Ortega and Araújo, when they retrieve the net, to keep it a little longer .

And against such an explosive pair, a few extra shots played from an attacking position can completely change the complexion of a game.

But Paris does not yet constitute proof

This is where Rotterdam becomes interesting. Because the Parisian result remains extremely unusual.

Josemaría and González obtained five match balls , including three in the decisive tie-break when they were leading 6-3. They were therefore just a few points away from winning this match despite everything.

To say that Ortega and Araújo have now definitively found the solution would therefore be an exaggeration. Paris is demonstrating rather that they have found a configuration in which the duel becomes playable .

And the conditions at Roland-Garros probably accentuated the effectiveness of this strategy: more time to defend, fewer immediately decisive aerial shots and more opportunities to rebuild the point.

On a faster track, will the same quality of lob give Ortega enough time to get back to the front? Will Araújo be able to maintain the same performance when she has less time to prepare her accelerations? And above all, will Bea González regain her ability to finish points over the head?

Rotterdam as the third act

A third confrontation could allow us to distinguish two things.

So Paris will essentially remain the product of a very particular context: a slow track, an interminable match and five match points saved.

Either Ortega and Araújo manage to reproduce several elements — depth of lobs, ability to repel Josemaría, occupation of the center and better net retention — and then we will have to consider that something has really changed in this duel.

They may not have found it yet la key. But after Madrid, Paris at least showed that they had found a first one.

Antoine Tricolet

I discovered the Padel I stumbled into Spain at a campsite. I was instantly hooked; passionate about padel, I follow international and regional news with the same excitement as the sport itself.