Your tournament results no longer suit you, nor do the practice games you play with your usual partner. Before committing the irreparable and ending your relationship – or even your friendship – with a bang – read the following…

We start with a riddle: what is today the oldest pair in the men's world top 10? And how long has this team been in operation?

Are you drying off? A hint: it's no longer about Federico Chingotto and Juan Tello, the two Argentinians who have played more than 300 matches together. It was last November that this pair played his last part, after seven years of unblemished loyalty.

Before them, two other legendary Argentinians had brilliantly demonstrated that loyalty is good in terms of padel : Fernando Belasteguin and Juan Martin Diaz have been No. 1 for 13 consecutive years, winning 170 out of 191 finals played together. Belasteguín went on to claim three more crowns, this time alongside Brazilian Pablo Lima.

Pressure for results increases

And even today, the oldest pair in the World Padel Tour is the one with the best results: the Spaniards Alejandro Galán and Juan Lebrón. The world number 1s are entering their fourth year as a pair, as we are reminded this article from Diario AS. Galán therefore finished 2020, 2021 and 2022 as No. 1, while Lebrón adds 2019 to it, when he played with Paquito Navarro.

In the ladies, Gemma Triay completed her third consecutive year in the firmament, two of which with Alejandra Salazar by his side. But they are overtaken in number of years of leadership by the Alayeto twins, four times world No. 1: apart from during their injuries, these two have been faithful to each other for 15 years!

Despite these various examples of winning longevity, the padel modern professional is more and more mobile, because it is subject to the pressure of results and perhaps that of sponsors. In the men's top 10, besides Galán and Lebrón, only the Andalusians Momo Gonzalez et Alex Ruiz – a pair formed in April 2022 – have resisted the call from the sea and will start the 2023 season together.

The other leading protagonists of the coming season have at best two months of life as a pair: this is the case of Juan Tello and Paquito Navarro or Federico Chingotto and Javi Garrido.

“An individual sport that is played by two”

Among the entirely new pairs of 2023, at least two are “remakes”: Sanyo Gutiérrez et Fernando Belasteguín reunite after played together in 2021 ; Franco Stupaczuk and Martin Di Nenno reunite more than 6 years after the car accident of the second, which had put an end to their youthful association.

Finally, a 100% new pair will be a scarecrow: at 23 and 20 years old, Agustin Tapia et Arturo Coello compensate for their relative lack of experience with their incredible talent and firepower capable of competing with that of Lebrón and Galán.

Coello Tapia earliness WPT 2022
Coello and Tapia a pair that is already scary

This season will tell us if it is better to change everything to gain freshness and envy or to build a solid project on old foundations. We leave you to meditate on this confided to us in October 2021 Benjamin Tison, which has just unveiled the name of his new partner :

“It has become common to change pairs at the start or middle of the season. All the best players change very often. Whether for men or women, there are a lot of changes after two or three tournaments. I often say that the padel is an individual sport that is played in pairs. It's still very individual. The easy way out is to change. Personally, I'm not a fan of quick changes, after that it may not work, but you have to give yourself time to get to know each other and play a few matches together”.

Benjamin Tison, French No. 1

After 40 years of tennis, Jérôme falls into the pot of padel in 2018. Since then, he thinks about it every morning while shaving… but never shaves pala in hand! Journalist in Alsace, he has no other ambition than to share his passion with you, whether you speak French, Italian, Spanish or English.

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