The hour has arrived! After several weeks of very intensive training, the players of the World Padel Tour will finally be able to do battle on the ground. First tournament of the 2018 season, and not the least since it will be a tournament of the premier category, the Catalunya Master will open its doors in 4 days with the start of the pre-previas.

  • A fanfare start!

Located in the suburbs of Barcelona, ​​Badalone will host this first stage 2018. Le Barbera Padel Indoor will be the stage for qualifying with its 23 indoor tracks before the final show which will take place at the Olympic Palace in Badalone. It is the basketball club that occupies it throughout the year. It will be configured padel with a 6000-seat court!

The WPT hope to break the attendance record for a WPT match held by the Madrid Master Final last year with 5935 spectators. Another record is threatened, it is that of the greatest number of spectators over the total duration of the event. Established in Madrid, 21596 entries must be registered to enter the history of the padel world as the biggest tournament ever.

The ticket sales figures for the first few weeks are very good which shows the growing enthusiasm around the padel World.

  • Headliners

The call was made for this back-to-school and no absentee recorded at the moment. On the men's side, Belasteguin and Lima will be seeded number one just ahead of the two new pairs of the season. Sanchez and Gutierrez should cross the road of Paquito Navarro and Juan Martin Diaz in the semifinals if the logic of the ranking is respected.

On the women's side, the Alayeto twins will want to extend their almost unchallenged reign from last season. Marta Marrero and Alejandra Salazar will be their biggest rivals for the title but we can hope for some surprises and why not French in this feminine table!

  • French and French engaged

Honor to women first of all with our two representatives: Laura Clergue and Alix Collombon. Laura and her partner Meli Garcia Truchado, enter directly into the final table as the 21st pair in the ranking. The objective will be to pass one or two rounds, hoping for a not too difficult table as they could face the very best teams in the first round.

Alix, when it comes to her, should know if she fits directly or not in the final table soon. With the points of his partner Sara Pujals, they are the 28th registered team. The regulation of world padel tour indicates that 28 teams advance directly to the final draw but that a Wild Card can be given by the organization. In case of bad news, they would return as seed 1 of the previas with the objective of reaching the big table and a bonus of 40 WPT points.

Among the men, Robin Haziza who will team up with Ferran Sotillo, barely enters the pre-qualifying table. The 100% French pair Blanqué / Bergeron will also be there. Their goal of entering the world top 100 in 2018 will be achieved through victories in these qualifying tournaments. You can help them with their project by supporting their kisskissbangbang campaign here: https://www.kisskissbankbank.com/ob Objectif-top-100-mondial

Mario Cordero - Padel Magazine

Mario Cordero

Mario Cordero is a fine technician of the team. He observes, he analyzes, he returns to themes to bring his expertise. Complete, the man is as in the field!

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