At the end of last season, Sanyo Gutiérrez and Paquito Navarro decided to meet again, for a second stage together. A choice which had surprised quite a few fans, who had difficulty seeing these two extremely skillful and talented players, but quite far below what is best at the physical level, making the current big names tremble.

An earthquake caused by the separation of Lebron and Galan

However, after a first tournament that was certainly completely unsuccessful, these two former number 1s found color in Doha, with a presence in the last four of the first Major of the season. Although they were swept away by Coello and Tapia in the semi-final, with even a certain feeling of helplessness at times, the veterans nevertheless seemed to be on the right track.

But as you know, an event came to shake up everything among the best players in the world: Ale Galan's decision to part ways with Juan LeBron after the heat stroke of the latter against Yanguas / Garrido in Dohhas. A choice which has significant repercussions since Juan Lebron would likely have chosen to continue with Paquito Navarro this season.

Paquito, the big winner of this late transfer window?

After starting the season with a Sanyo outside the Top 10 and having shown himself difficult to compete with the very best in the company of his Argentinian partner, the Sevillian finds himself three tournaments later with Juan LeBron, the world number 2 , a player in top form and who seems to be at his best after experiencing physical problems last year!

Paquito Navarro hands knees 2023

Certainly, Lebron has a difficult character, but Sanyo also has his problems, sometimes with big black holes. Paquito, also sanguine at times, knows that he is capable of getting along well with “El Lobo”: he proved it in 2019 when the two men became the first Spaniards to sit together on the padel global. Certainly the Andalusians sometimes had difficulty tuning their violins but we say that after the episode in Qatar, “Juanito” should calm down a little, at least for a while. It is in any case the impression that emerged from his last interview.

In this context and even if he will have to bear more pressure, “Paco” becomes fully competitive again on paper and for us he is the big winner of all these changes for the moment.

Maxi Sanchez: a default choice for Sanyo?

Announced on the same side of the track from P2 in Brussels, Sanyo Gutiérrez and Maxi Sanchez were also world number 1 together. And it was only a year before Paquito and Lebron! But at 39 and 37 years old respectively, the Argentinians today are not really in the same dynamic as the Spaniards, who are 35 and 29 years old.

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Above all, Maxi has fallen back to 21st place, and if Sanyo is still in 11th place thanks to the three places gained following the Qatar semi-final, the two men will normally form the number 8 pair if all the announced changes are confirmed . In other words, they won't have much room for error if they want to stay among the top seeds and avoid difficult first and second rounds...

On paper, Sanyo's decision clearly looks like a default choice. At 39 years old, “El Mago” is declining and the fact, for example, that Juan Tello prefers Fernando Belasteguin, 44 years old and preparing to change sides, says a lot. Gutiérrez no longer seduces the elite of the padel world and obviously his old (and therefore new) teammate was one of the only choices allowing him to remain among the top seeds. If his ranking does not speak in his favor, in particular because of an injury at the end of last season, the Team Kuikma player remains a formidable athlete, with very good consistency and that is also the case, plus the fact that he knows him perfectly, who was able to seduce Sanyo.

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A pair of experience

For Sanchez, however, the choice is easily understood since betting on Sanyo allows “Tiburon” to immediately return to the top seeds. The one who told us three months ago that he now need to play with a left-hander, logically trades a little help in the center of the field for precious places in the pairs ranking.

You have understood, the new Sanyo / Sanchez pair is not really the most attractive on paper, but be careful not to underestimate two players with incredible experience and capable of playing very well together.

In your opinion, what can we expect from this duo?

Xan is a fan of padel. But also rugby! And his posts are just as punchy. Physical trainer of several padel, he unearths atypical posts or deals with topical subjects. It also gives you some tips to develop your physique for the padel. Clearly, he imposes his offensive style as on the field of padel !

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