Franco Stupaczuk may have said out loud on Friday what many are thinking in a whisper, just after his victory with Martin Di Nenno in quarterfinal against young prodigies Tino Libaak and Leo Augsburger.
“My advice to the boys is not to separate, because they form a very, very large pair, assured Stupa. I believe they have earned the respect of all players who have been around for many years already. They are still very young, they have a huge future and they forced us to play our best padel, Martin and I, by being solid from the start and not giving up”.
Lucky losers at Paraguay, the two young Argentinians Libaak (17) and Augsburger (18) had beaten the experienced pair Rubio/Ruiz in the round of 26, before yielding in two sets against their compatriots Di Nenno and Stupa. But the latter, who celebrated their 27th and 18th birthdays respectively on March 25 and XNUMX, know how to recognize the nuggets of tomorrow.
Libaak and Augsburger will certainly learn a lot from their new partners Miguel Lamperti (44) and Javi Rico (soon to be 25). But it is not certain that they find all the freshness, the chemistry and the complicity that they display when they play together.
But after all, maybe Stupa is telling us that Libaak and Augsburger have every interest in stealing their own wings for a while, before finding themselves even stronger than before!