Humans of Padel
Join your host Max Marsh Pickard, General Manager of Padel Art & Co founder of The Padel Outlet in a weekly entertaining dive into the world of Padel and the people involved in the industry
Humans of Padel
Coach Roberto's Path from The World Padel Tour to Dubai's Growing Padel Scene
What does it take to master high-level padel coaching in a rapidly growing sports community? Join us as we sit down with one of the foremost padel coaches in the UAE who shares his transformative journey from Madrid to Dubai in 2020. Discover how he navigated the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, made the tough decision to prioritize his family's future over competing in the World Padel Tour, and the profound professional and cultural benefits of relocating to Dubai. Listen to his firsthand experiences on the rapid rise of padel in the region and the crucial balance required between technique and strategic play.
Our guest reveals why understanding defense and minimizing errors trumps perfecting specific shots, offering valuable insights into the nuances of padel strategy. He emphasizes the significance of competing in high-pressure situations and adjusting gameplay based on the score, drawing parallels with tennis legends like Novak Djokovic. Get insider tips on how playing with better opponents can elevate your game and why consistent partnerships are vital for player development. This episode also highlights the joys and challenges of coaching in a burgeoning sports community, maintaining motivation, and structuring effective training programs.
From the intense training at Bruguera Academy in Barcelona to the emotional transition from aspiring athlete to dedicated coach, our guest's story is both inspiring and instructive. Hear about the social nature of tennis in Venezuela, the evolution of the padel tour, and the complex balance between professional passion and family life. Aspiring coaches will find invaluable advice on acquiring extensive knowledge, respecting players' time, and leveraging global coaching academies to enhance their skills. Tune in to explore the exciting landscape of competitive padel and the personal stories that shape it.
Hello everyone, welcome back to the Humans of Paddle podcast. Max here, your host. In this episode, I'm joined by Roberto Rodriguez, a very popular paddle coach in Dubai. We discuss his journey as a potential professional tennis player to when he competed in the World Paddle Tour, the Premier Paddle. He shares lots of insight into his training techniques, how he recommends coaches to get involved in the game and many, many other things. Looking forward to hearing your feedback on the episode on social media at Humans of Paddle, enjoy the episode. You are known as one of the best, if not the best, coach in the GCC. Why do you think that is in the GCC?
Speaker 2:Why do you think that is Well? First of all, thank you for these words. Actually, it's the first time I hear this. It's really amazing for me to hear that I'm helping the players to improve their levels and to be one of the coaches here in UAE from the beginning. That is trying to push the level up. Honestly, I don't know if I'm the best one or not or if I'm even close to a real high-level coach for a professional player, but of course, I do my best. I try to commit always to every level to help and to think that each of the players have the possibility and the opportunity to grow the level and to achieve the goals that they have and expectations.
Speaker 1:Like you said, you've been here pretty much since the beginning of Paddle in the UAE. When did you arrive?
Speaker 2:2020. I arrived the 2020 already. There were some clubs here, but it's true that after COVID time, a lot of countries had the explosion of Paddle for different reasons and I came this year. So I can say that from the beginning of in the clubs in Dubai starting the growing paddle, I was here and, yeah, that was a time that I felt everything was growing pretty fast here. You arrived during COVID 2020, exactly after knockout yes, after the lockdown in October.
Speaker 1:Okay, just when they let everybody go out again. Exactly Because where were you before?
Speaker 2:that In Madrid. I was in Madrid for five years. I was the owner of one club there that suffered a lot for the COVID time Tennis, padel, different sports. We had also some small areas for gym, for social, and in the COVID time we suffered a lot there and me and my family decided to move to Dubai. We saw that it was a really good place to live, safe for my family, safe for my job, and we decided to move here.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's a big decision to make. It's an expensive place to have children in Dubai, as I'm sure you're aware. It's a big commitment to bring them here. So what made you decide let's leave Spain and come to Dubai?
Speaker 2:Honestly, in that time I was traveling a lot, doing a lot of events in different countries. Padre was growing at that time in Europe pretty fast. Fip also was changing and the World Pile Tour for me in that moment was more as a third part. My first, as I said before, commitment was the club was my base and then I was traveling every time more and more because the opportunities was outside of Spain. I have three kids and with my wife we thought that it was a great time for us to travel, leave the comfortable place that we had always in Spain and give the opportunity also for the kids to learn other cultures, religions, languages and for us also to give the opportunity to keep growing through paddle. So that I don't regret, I'm really happy that we moved and we found opportunities here.
Speaker 1:Were you competing in the World Paddle Tour at that time?
Speaker 2:Yes, I was competing In that time. I stopped playing 100% of the tournaments. My partner was Sergio Alba. In that moment we were team 45, more or less together in the tournaments and ranked 93 individually. But it's true that for me it was more important how safe was my family and to bring food to the table than playing the World Padel Tour and only traveling.
Speaker 1:Were you making any money playing in the World?
Speaker 2:Padel Tour World Padel Tour no, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing at all.
Speaker 1:So it was all coming from your pocket Correct?
Speaker 2:Yes, all investment is for achieve our goals and for me, uh, the agent that I have and that I had in that moment, it was more investment of knowledge. Get connected to all the players that were younger than me and growing with the, with the tour and with the changing of Padel in that moment was, for me, the most interesting part than to be the top player in the world when you were competing.
Speaker 1:In your opinion, up to which number in the world did people actually make money from Padel?
Speaker 2:In that moment I think the first 20 players were doing something great as business. After that it was very difficult to find rentability. Now I think the price, money and the different tours allows you to make it more rentable. Maybe in the top 50, top 60, can do some business with the tours, but still it's pending to keep growing in that area.
Speaker 1:It's difficult at a professional level Even today, even though there's a lot more investment that's gone into the sport in the past few years. And back to your coaching. Let's say you go back four years. Yes, what would you say to yourself four years ago?
Speaker 2:I think I wouldn't change anything of how I decided or did the different changes in my life to come here. Of course, it's a more risky situation when you have the family on your back, but when you have the opportunity to travel outside, to live the experience, to meet more players, more coaches, clubs, I think it's a part of the investment for yourself as a coach career to live the opportunity and to see where is the best direction for you to keep growing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and, as I mentioned at the beginning, your reputation as a coach is very, very good. What is your coaching philosophy? Because your method is different than most people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I don't know if we can call it philosophy, but yes, it's true that I have a way to connect to the players and to create different situations in the court that are looking or willing to take. The players get a lot of decisions, taking decisions while they are training. This is one part of the philosophy, if we can call it like this, or the method.
Speaker 2:I see padel as a strategy game, so I I try to to transfer all this knowledge, posi as as much as possible the knowledge, to the player so he understands what is paddle about. And I see paddle as a strategy, as a team sport. I I try to find the weaknesses and the weapons for help each of the different players find their way, and I can say that I don't coach everyone the same, but it's true that I have different situations that I think are the most common in pad, in the, in paddle, when you play matches and when you play tournaments, and I try to to find in the players this idea of okay, let's, let's gonna try to challenge more ourself than the opponent and and see where is our, our, it's interesting because you talk about strategy and what we see a lot of coaching is technique, Constant repetition of technique, the endless baskets of balls of bandeja.
Speaker 1:At what point do you stop teaching the technique and start teaching the?
Speaker 2:tactics. This is a funny question and it's a good question. If I'm being 100% honest, I don't lose too much time on technique. 100% honest, I don't lose too much time on technique. Maybe it's right or maybe it's wrong, but I don't like to lose too much time changing one specific technique to hit the ball. I prefer to lose more time in the direction of the hitting, understanding where they should play that shot and why. And once they understand that, I go to the next step, which is helping them. If they don't find a way to play from the corner, lob, cross I will try to help them technically to, to make them easier and find them the possibility to play there. But the most important for me before that, honestly, is that they know why they need to play from there, from the corner, a lot of cross and not down the line. And, as I said before, taking the decisions and understanding that you are taking the right decision, even if you made the mistake. For me it's more important than the technique.
Speaker 1:Because it's true, when you watch a lot of paddle, especially here, it's very random. The ball is going all over the place like pinball is, bouncing off everyone and everyone. There's no strategy, there's no one brain, there's no connection between the two players in the way that we play. Do you feel that's not taught enough here, or do you think it's just because people play socially and they don't care?
Speaker 2:I think is there is two parts. One is uh, even if it's social, I think there is a part of it's like you put in the table a winner and you put in the same table for mistakes Because you tried to find this winner. I think that people is enjoying more with the winner and they forget about the mistakes. It's like they like it more and it's already compensated. It's already rentable for me lose four or five shows, but if I win one I'm more happy.
Speaker 1:It's true you do see that a lot. I mean, when people ask me about paddle, I often tell them paddle is a defensive game. It's not like tennis Tennis you win points, in paddle you lose points Do you agree with that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree with that. And also this is something I say a lot to my students, to the players, is try not to play against your opponent, try to play with your opponent. I try to make them understand that the other one is better than you. And when you understand and you accept that, you're going to say, okay, look, it's rentable for me to risk too much. Or I will accept that even my best shot is coming back and maybe I understand that he's going to defend it. But what I need to find is how many times he's going to defend it, during how long he's going to defend that shot. Maybe it's 30 minutes, maybe it's one set, maybe it's in the 3-3.
Speaker 1:It's true. Often we don't give the opportunity to better players to miss Exactly. We're trying to do too much. We're trying to win the point and we end up giving them the game. So let's say I'm playing against you right. You're a much better player than me. I'm left-handed, I'm on the right. You often play with the left.
Speaker 2:You are better than me.
Speaker 1:Maybe I'm not sure we should try it. But let's say I'm playing in the diagonal right, I'm playing against you. You're my coach. What would you recommend I can do to beat you?
Speaker 2:To play with me. To play with me to give me the opportunity to also take bad decisions and see if you can compete. At the same time, Try to compete with the score and see where is the opportunity, Maybe in the 5-5, in the 6-6, if you are willing to compete in that moment, maybe I take bad decisions and you have the opportunity to win.
Speaker 1:So to give you the chance to make mistakes, okay. One thing I don't see discussed enough in paddle, whereas I see a lot in tennis it's kind of like a traffic light for the score. So you know, when it's 0-0, it's a green light. Try of like a traffic light for the score. So you know, when it's zero, zero, it's a green light. Try something, okay. When it gets to 30 old, then it's an orange light, yes, and then when it's a break point to your opponent, it's a red light, yeah, and you need to adapt the way you play based on that score. Yeah. Do you discuss this with your students.
Speaker 2:yes, part of my, of my trainings, is to make them understand that it's not the same to play in the first two, three games than when you are competing in the tiebreak in the third set. It's not the same to play 30-40 when you have advantage than that you have an opportunity to break the serve of the opponent and 15-0. There are some points that are more important than others, and this is important also for the players to try to learn and to try to analyze it.
Speaker 1:Do you think that's something that makes a big difference at the highest level? Because you see it in tennis I mean, I watch a lot of tennis, right, look at the people like Djokovic, like Alcaraz. You look at the important points. You look at how they played those points. No matter what, they played really well. For example, yesterday I was watching Djokovic play his first round at the US Open. He made about 40 unforced errors, but he won 6-2, 6-2, 6-2. Didn't have a break point against him. So those important points, he plays them exceptionally well. How would you recommend that someone improves? That Improves playing well on important points improves.
Speaker 2:That improves playing well on important things. It's competing exactly. You're talking about Novak Djokovic. He's the best player that we're talking about in one sport and that's why they are good, because they compete perfectly in the moments that they need to compete and they understand in which moment it's important to make the first mistake and which moment is less important. But competing a lot will help you to improve in this. Do you still compete? I try to compete locally here, and how does that go for you? It's okay. Yeah, sometimes better, sometimes worse. I try to enjoy it. Do you enjoy it still? Yeah, I enjoy it a lot. When I compete, I feel free, honestly.
Speaker 1:That's actually something that I noticed when I saw you play a tournament. It was about two, three years ago and I think it was in WPA and I can't remember who you were playing with, but there was no way you were going to win the match. You had no chance. The level difference was huge between your team and the team that you were playing in team and the team that you're playing in, but you fought for every single point. You do not give up. Is that something that's just in your mind? Like you cannot, can you play?
Speaker 2:for fun, friendly, you have to win. No, it's very difficult for me to play only for fun and not thinking about winning. I always have in my mind that I want to do my 100%. It doesn't matter who is in front. I like to compete for winning, and this is my mentality. How long have you been coaching now? I think around 14 years, more or less.
Speaker 1:How do you maintain that motivation to wake up in the morning to go on the court seven, eight hours a day to plan your lessons for the repetition? How do you maintain that stability?
Speaker 2:Yeah, for me, the motivation always I say it is my family. It's my first motivation, it's why I work, for Of course I am some days more tired than others, but it's true that I don't think too much on this. I am focused more on how the other player can improve. I don't know. I think in my mind I'm always trying to find a solution to help the other player. I don't see it as a job, honestly, and maybe that's why I didn't realise when I did this year 2000 hours.
Speaker 1:So, if you don't see it as a job, what do you see it as?
Speaker 2:No, I see it as a motivation. I feel very happy when I'm helping the player. At the end of the day, the students become your friends. You enjoy trying to find the solutions for them, listening to how they compete. In the last weekend it didn't go well and you enjoy when it went well. When I'm resting in the weekend, they write me and send me a picture. Look, I won the tournament, I'm in the final. So I enjoyed that moment. I feel that the effort is going well and I enjoy it and I like it. So this is, I think, my motivation.
Speaker 2:And how do you structure your lessons? I have a specific program for the players, depending if they are alone or if they want to practice with their partners. So I follow that program and I try to do it with more details, sometimes when the level is higher and when the level is lower I try to adjust. For they have more complete this program with my team in some course, some hours of the day, of the training, of the week. They have more technique, which is the part that I work less, and then I adjust all the the structure for for them to to follow this program. That's it makes sense.
Speaker 1:And in the ua, as opposed to a lot of other countries, you see a lot of individual lessons. Yes, I feel paddle is a team sport. There's four people on the court right. Why are we not coaching more in groups? Yeah?
Speaker 2:that's important. Groups is good if you have the structure to make it in the long term. Sometimes the group sessions become very repetitive. You end up only doing points and the people start to get bored. So I think the people start this group session and come back again to the private ones. They feel like they are stuck. The second thing is very important the players. They always make their plans individually and this is something I try to transmit to the players that are training with me. You need to have a project. You need to have a partner to practice, to play your matches, to play your tournaments, to have a project for at least three, four months commitment with the same partner and with a strategy of tournaments. Start looking for the results. It's very difficult. Every week, every two weeks, you play with different partners. You're going to see that you improve by time, but it's not the right way to improve. The best way to see the results is to improve with your partner.
Speaker 1:I feel also there's an issue with scheduling in Dubai. In Dubai, lots of people travel. They leave the country, they come back. No one knows what they're doing in one month, two months, let alone next week, whereas in Europe, I feel, people's schedules it's set for 10 years, no one changes. They know they're going to play paddle every Wednesday at 7 pm for the rest of their life, whereas here, it's true, a lot of people come, they leave and they travel. It's hard to schedule those group sessions. Are you managing to?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we are now starting more the philosophy of the academy in September, and this is the plan. But it's true that, for example, in Spain, I can do it for one year commitment. Nothing happens, and here you have to do it for two, three months.
Speaker 1:Okay, and what's the academy going to look like? Let's say, someone listening wants to join your academy. Yeah, that would be great.
Speaker 2:What's the idea? We'll put a link to it, don't?
Speaker 1:worry, put your phone number.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, it looks like you're going to have every week a planning with 90 Minos, with two-hour session, where we're going to work in two three different courts, with two three different coaches and with zones. We're going to be working specifically with one player, with one team, and we're going to find a way for these two to commit to the consistency training, technique training and strategy training.
Speaker 1:Okay, so it's all in one, and how many weeks is it? It's going to be until.
Speaker 2:December.
Speaker 1:Okay, so it's like a three-month program.
Speaker 2:Exactly program, and then we're gonna restart again.
Speaker 1:Yeah it's true here, when at christmas everyone is gone anyway, yeah, and do you work on the mental side of the game?
Speaker 2:yes, a lot. I. I work a lot on this during my session. It's not that I I stopped the training for this, but it's true that during the session I work a lot on the mentality. I try to see what is the limit of the player and analyze until where I can push and try to implement the mentality of competitive, of consistency, of suffering, Because so many times the players don't want to suffer too much. So before arriving to eight, nine, ten shots, they want to finish the point with a risky shot. So what does the limit look like?
Speaker 1:The limit of the player Mentally.
Speaker 2:Mentally. Where's that limit? Always the limit the player decides, but it depends on the level. But the more you are better, the better player you are, the longer rallies you are ready to play and you get less bored. Let's say you get less bored during the point. Sometimes I have to understand that I will see my partner playing for three, four, five, six shots and I need to be with him. That makes me bored. So I receive my ball and try to do something and not understand that.
Speaker 1:OK, look, maybe in that moment I need to be mentally stronger, yeah this happens to me a lot, like if the ball's going cross-court, cross-court, cross-court and I'm standing there watching, at some point I switch off and then the ball comes to me and I'm not even holding the racket, you know, I'm just watching. So I find it really hard to stay focused on those things. And how do you change that mindset? Like, let's say, how do you get someone to focus and stay focused during a match?
Speaker 2:yeah, in the, in the trainings, there are so many different ways to practice that and we do it, but it's true that it will depend a lot on the, on the player. If, as I said before, if he has the commitment, he has the intent, the intention of changing something, he will find a way to. With the program, with the training, with the competition, with your partner, respecting your partner, you're going to find a way to get less bored.
Speaker 1:An interesting one, someone told me, because often when I'm playing, my mind is everywhere outside the court. What's going on there? I'm watching other things. But this person told me to touch the glass between the points. Yeah, to physically touch the glass to kind of anchor my presence within the court, to remind myself I'm here really. Yeah, okay, so to have a physical kind of touch, or touch a certain part of the court or something that really helped me keep myself in the game, this is very good.
Speaker 2:So this is something that maybe I like it my mother when I was competing in tennis when I was younger. She used to tell me look at the tree that is close to your court and focus only on this. And that was helping me, because sometimes I'm competing and I don't find my situation or my feelings in the court. I feel like I'm more looking into everywhere and I find one point. Maybe it's one person in the crowd, maybe it's physically thing, like you said, touching the glass that will help you to get the connection to the match and to the court.
Speaker 1:Let's go back to the Orangin story. You mentioned your mum. Tell us about your first experience with racquet sports.
Speaker 2:My first experience. My mother and my father used to play tennis when I was a kid and every weekend and afternoons when they finished the work, they used to go to play tennis. And I was there in the club and I started to play tennis when I was very little. Maybe I had four years, three, four years and, yeah, that was my my first time. I take the tennis racket and start to play tennis. And and where was this?
Speaker 1:In Venezuela. In Venezuela, tennis is big in Venezuela.
Speaker 2:Tennis is not big in Venezuela, but a lot of players. You have the interclubs. It's very social. The sport is very social there. You play every weekend against one different club. It's a very social sport and I used to be connected to tennis and is Paddle big in Venezuela Right now. It's growing. It started maybe a few years ago to grow and, yeah, we were participating for the first time in the Pan American Games and now we try to classify for the World Cup in Qatar in October, but we didn't.
Speaker 1:So obviously nothing like Argentina, nothing like no, no, no.
Speaker 2:We are far, very far.
Speaker 1:Not as far as the UK, I think. I think you guys are.
Speaker 2:Are you guys better than us? No, no, no, really, the UK is much better. Yeah, the UK is better than Venezuela. Yeah, 100%.
Speaker 1:Great, we're good at something. Yeah, and when did you start playing paddle?
Speaker 2:When I started, I started like 15 years ago, 14 years ago, with my tennis coach. He used to like paddle, so we started playing sometimes and then, when I stopped tennis, I switched to paddle and this was in. Venezuela. No, that was in Barcelona. I moved to Barcelona when I was 13 years old. I decided to play tennis and I was very lucky to go there for many years, 12 years, in Bruguera Academy in Barcelona, trying to play the Tour. And how was that?
Speaker 1:It was tough. It was tough. So, as a 12, 13-year-old kid, you went to Spain just for tennis, yes, just for tennis alone, with the goal of being a professional tennis player. Correct, yes.
Speaker 2:And all you were doing was playing tennis or you were schooling Only tennis, and then we used to practice from 8.30 in the morning until 1.00. Then we had a break for one hour and a half to eat and then we were going again from 2.30 to 5.00. In all this timing we were doing always tennis and fitness. So two times per day fitness and two times per day tennis, and after that, 5 to 5.15, 15 minutes we had break to take a shower fast, take the snack and go running to the school, which is located in the same academy. So from 5.15 until 9.15 in the night I was studying.
Speaker 1:So you had the schooling after all that.
Speaker 2:Yes, you must have been dead.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're sleeping in the classroom.
Speaker 2:No, sometimes, yes, but no, you get used to it. But no, well, you get used to you know. You are motivated to change the time that you should be studying for trying to play tennis, and then you are motivated to do also good results in the school, because without good notes also you cannot play. You cannot keep playing tennis.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's important. So you have to get your grades. It's important. It's important to commit to the school and to have good notes and to keep growing also as a person, not only as a sport person, also with the culture and with the study. And this is important also for the academy and for you and for your parents to commit and respect the effort that they do for the opportunity of playing tennis.
Speaker 1:At what point did you decide that you weren't going to be a professional tennis player?
Speaker 2:I decided there is a time, a year, that you start competing and you see that the results are not coming. It's a lot of effort from your family to support the project. And I was 23, I think 22. I had the opportunity to switch to be a coach in the Bruguera Academy and that day to have a break of two, three months. And then I started work with Mr Bruguera in the Academy and I started feeling that the coaching part I like it also. So yeah, I was 23.
Speaker 1:Okay, because that's always a very difficult decision. Right, it's the dream, it's what you've done since you were a kid everything you believed in, and a lot of people have been through this right. They want to be professional athletes and they're so close and you got very close to that, so to make that decision, to say no, did it take you time to accept it? Or you just like we're done and we move on?
Speaker 2:no, it takes your time. It takes your time and actually you are as I said the last year. You are competing always without what should I do? You are a little more frustrated than usual. You see that with your age you should be already doing some results, maybe because you see around the players that you start to compete are younger. It's true that with 23 right now it's very young and I don't I will not recommend to any player that is trying to be a tennis player or a paddle professional player or any sport in the elite, that 23 is very young and maybe it's too early to decide to stop.
Speaker 1:Especially now, the longevity of the players is a lot longer. You look at paddle people 40 plus tennis, the big three, they've extended that. Well, big four with Murray have extended that onto a later age.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you feel like there's more time. Exactly, there is a lot of time, but it's true that time with the investment that you need to do to play tennis, to travel, strings, rackets, you need more equipment because you're breaking a lot of strings. It's more investment and it's more difficult to handle the investment and the expenses.
Speaker 1:Just the running cost of you traveling, playing tournaments, the coaches, all these things, the physios, it must really add up the operational expense, if you call it as a business. As a tennis player is really difficult unless you're in the top players, like we were discussing about paddle as well. But it's good that you actually enjoy coaching, did you?
Speaker 2:always enjoy coaching. Yes, from the beginning I started to have my preparation and already 12 years, 10 years in Bruguera, nine years, nine years in Bruguera when I decided to switch to coach and I already had the methodology and the philosophy of the academy. But when I started to coach and help the kids with 16, 17 years old, I enjoyed a lot and I was very lucky that Mr Bruguera helped me a lot for understanding how to coach someone.
Speaker 1:Cause you see a lot of people who are so close to being professional, they have no option they fall back, they become coaches and they hate it and they hate it and you can see they hate it and they're there because they have no choice, right? So I always feel bad. When I see these people, you know, you feel like they should just change industry. You know, do something else, because coaching if you're not enjoying it, if you don't enjoy it, it's really hard mentally to keep that. You have to put in the energy to keep people happy on the court and you have to give and give, and give and give, always on court, right?
Speaker 2:Yes, and, as I said, not always you feel like being in the court five, six, seven hours, but it's true that you need to like it. You need to like the coaching part because it's not easy. It's not easy. Every player has a different way of understanding and way of learning, way of execute what you're asking. So you need to like it 100%.
Speaker 1:When you were in the tennis academy, were there any players that we would know? Now that you were playing with training, with at the time.
Speaker 2:There was in that moment Garbine Muguruzausa, that the brothers also were there in the same academy with me. We have dudy zella, ernest gulbis in the academy, ernest gulbis also, he was there. Maybe I'm missing someone, but yeah, the the players were there in that time. And then in the tournaments we used to compete with roberto bautista, albert ramos Viñolas. He's lefty now, he's older, but we used to play, always together.
Speaker 1:Nice, and you also had an amazing experience with the Premier Paddle. You actually did maybe what a lot of people in your tennis academy didn't do. You played at Roland Garros, yeah, but you played paddle.
Speaker 2:I played paddle. Yeah, I made my dream to play in Roland Garros, but with paddle. You see, I mean you didn't say which sport?
Speaker 1:right, you didn't specify it's incredible.
Speaker 2:I was very lucky. I had the opportunity to go to this tournament. We won the first round of the qualification. So, to pass to the Mendo, they wanted to use the already the central court in the stadium and already the central court in the stadium and my match was the first one played, yeah I played there in the first match, official, official match. Uh, for the first time in ranga. That's amazing. You got on history. I don't know how I how did you get there?
Speaker 1:what was the journey for you, because obviously you retired from the professional game at that time. What made you decide to go back?
Speaker 2:yeah, no, honestly, I was competing always when there is an FIP or big tournaments close to Dubai. In that moment Premier was pushing. So I had the dream to play one Premier Padel, because I was playing World Padel Tour and I wanted to find a way to play Premier. My friend, javi Perez, was looking for a partner also to play there. He used to play the A1 Tour and I wrote him. He said OK, look, let's try to play that one. I don't know if we're going to enter with my points, but we were lucky. We entered nearly the last ones.
Speaker 1:Oh, really. So the last qualifiers.
Speaker 2:Then we played on the first round against the Italian Marco Cassetta and Simon Cremona. We won them, and then we lost in the next round.
Speaker 1:Who did you?
Speaker 2:lose to. We lost against Alonso Rodriguez, and I don't remember now the partner. He was, I think, Chamero. How was it to compete again at that level? It's difficult because you are not in the same rhythm as they are. They are younger and the speed of the ball is faster. Also, that day was pretty hot, so the ball was bouncing a lot. We couldn't play too many lobs, so we tried to find a way of the match playing more from the volleys from Chiquitas finding the spaces, but they were playing much better.
Speaker 1:So, having competed now in World Padel Tour and Premier Padel, what do you see of the evolution between the two? What's the difference?
Speaker 2:I can say in the Premier Padel. It's difficult for me to compare because what I played in Roland Garros was really far from what I was playing in the World Padel Tour. Roland Garros at the end you arrive, you see the stadium, you enter in the same bathrooms and toilets as the top tennis players in the world, you have all the courts outside, a lot of people watching. So the scenario of this you enter in the stadium from the, from the bathrooms, directly to the court, and you see all it's huge atmosphere. So take you from transportation to the hotel to the, to the, to the, directly to the globe. And this I didn't have the opportunity to have this in in the world pile tour. But it's true that the atmosphere in the World Padel Tour, in the qualifications, for example in Barcelona or in Portugal, was fully crowded around the court. The scenario in Rangarosa is too big for me to compare with any other tournament.
Speaker 1:I mean it is too big, literally too big. Edip Çatırı is too big for paddle right now. And I remember I went to the qualifiers of one of the last World Paddle Tour events in Malaga and it was in a club, in like a normal club, and it was packed for the qualifiers so many people inside the club watching the qualifiers. I feel like now, as the sport's gone a lot more international, it's great, but you don't have as many fans in each city, even in Dubai, in in November we're going to have the premier paddle from the 3rd to the 10th of November and we saw it also with the World Cup when it was here I think it was last year or two years ago full for the final, full for the semi-finals, but then nobody, no one in the rounds before that. It's not quite reached that point where there's enough fans to go first round, second round, like you have with tennis, but hopefully we'll get there as the sport grows.
Speaker 2:Yes, I believe the professional tour is trying to do it the best and little by little, by the time it's going to be for sure, more crowd.
Speaker 1:Are you still connected with some of the professional players on the tour at the moment?
Speaker 2:Yes, I don't speak weekly or something like this, but I try to be connected with the friends that I have from the tournaments that we were playing.
Speaker 1:And, yeah, I used to one thing that always makes me very curious in paddle maybe you could help me on this is when the players go to the bench and they have a coach on the bench, which I think is great, and I would love to see that in tennis. What can the coaches say to the players in the minute and a half that they have that can change the way they play. How much impact do you think that has?
Speaker 2:This has impact most of the times. In my opinion, most of the times it's more on the psychological part to find a way for the players to play the same match Because, as I said before, paddling in this part is more difficult than tennis. You need to find a way to understand that your partner maybe wants to play one way and see the match one way. The solutions of this, of this match, one way, and I see a different solutions. So I think the job of the coach in that scenario is to find one commitment between them, like a judge, exactly like a judge, and then see if we can. We can find the solutions inside the court in the same direction.
Speaker 1:So it's kind of to give the synergy to the players so they play together.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's true that sometimes the coach from outside can see things that the players from inside don't see. It the strategy part, but most of the time it's helping this team to understand each other.
Speaker 1:Who do you think is the best player in the Premier Paddle right now?
Speaker 2:For me, ale Galant. He's consistent, he's physically far from the others, taking decisions 99% of the time is correct and always motivated for every point. Concentration partnership, for me, is the one that is in the best moment.
Speaker 1:Why do you think he's playing so much better with Chingotto than with LeBron, At least in the last six months with LeBron, let's say because they were amazing before.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sometimes it's about the atmosphere inside the court and outside the court. Sometimes it's the motivation that you have with your partner. If you have a project for three, four years and you are dealing with problems or you're dealing with different situations during this time, it's always, you know, a challenge to, to, to keep the motivation when it's a long, really really long term of project. So I think only changing partners if you're happy with the partner that you got next next to you and you have a good relation with him and you are motivated to come back to the number one, I think it's one of the aspects that, for him, is the one helping.
Speaker 1:There's been a lot of change in the partners, at least since I started watching Paddle in the past three, four years. They change a lot. They have a few bad tournaments and they move on. Was it always like?
Speaker 2:this? No, honestly. Before I think there was more commitment to the projects, but it's true that before the players they were not spending so much time together. Now, with the new tour, with the Premier Padel, maybe they need to travel outside home six, seven, eight weeks. Sometimes they are not coming back to home.
Speaker 2:Before this was not happening, we were traveling, always by car, from madrid or from barcelona to all the tournaments. They were in spain, and when you lose you come back home. Now, no, now when you lose, you are in another country and you need to spend one more week waiting for the next tournament that is coming. Maybe you are in brazil and you go to venezuela. You need to spend one more week waiting for the next tournament that is coming. Maybe you are in Brazil and you go to Venezuela. You need to wait for one more week to play the next tournament. You need to live with your partner. You need to spend more time with your partner and maybe that's one of the aspects that the projects are shorter because the players are not used to this relation.
Speaker 1:That's interesting. Actually, they spend more time together and it's more amplified, it's more like a romantic relationship than just on the court, isn't it? They're spending so much time together, their days off and all of this, and I guess you have to get on a lot more Exactly. Do you think you can play paddle well with someone that you don't like?
Speaker 2:No, I don't think so. Maybe it happens in the history, but it's not usual to not have a good relationship with your partner and have results. I don't recommend it. I recommend to play always with someone that you have a good relationship with or you like.
Speaker 1:You say Galland is the best player, let's say any player who wants to, and no one's going to be as good as Galland, especially playing now. But let's say you want to focus on emulating his game. How would you approach that? Let's say I come to you for a lesson and I said, roberto, I want to play like Galen. I don't know, in this scenario, why are you laughing? You don't think I can play like Galen.
Speaker 2:I don't think you're gonna happen you see, that's one of the parts. I am very transparent with my students. I never, I try never to say something that I don't think, just to find the student, some players, they say, look, I want to smash like Galan, but it's impossible. Why is it impossible? It's impossible because you need to have the same height, the same fitness, the same experience of the technically hold the racket, exactly the same, have the same acceleration. There are a lot of the same reading anticipation for this lob. There are a lot of aspects. Only a part of smash. It's reading. When the lob is coming, he moved before already. Anticipation he calculated exactly the moment he's gonna impact. His arm maybe is longer than yours, maybe he has more length. You know to smash with more power. The way he move his wrist. Maybe you move it like this and he move it on the other side. So, yeah, there's a book to hit the smash, but not everyone is much the same, even with the same height and the same movement. It's not easy.
Speaker 1:At what age would you have to start playing paddle now to be a professional paddle player?
Speaker 2:From when you are a kid, because to be professional there is some motricity, there is a part of commitment that you need to do it. When you do one sport not only in padel any sport that you commit to do it professionally, you have to work four, six, eight hours every day to become a professional player Because you did it, coming from tennis right, obviously a very good level of tennis, and you weren't playing paddle at a young young age.
Speaker 1:Do you think that's still possible today?
Speaker 2:It's possible, but you need to achieve to eight, six hours per day of training and have the basics that tennis gave me for motricity, for competition, for the technique of how to touch the ball, switch grips exactly, to adjust every ball, different heights and effects. These things are learning when you are more younger.
Speaker 1:Do you ever wish that you'd started playing paddle instead of tennis?
Speaker 2:at four. No, honestly no. I'm very happy that I commit and I try to play tennis and I don't regret that it happened to me. After, when I was older, I tried tennis because I love it and after that I tried paddle because I love it.
Speaker 1:Do you think your background in tennis is a bad thing sometimes for the way you play padel? Do you feel it stops you, compared to those who've only played padel?
Speaker 2:No, I don't think so I think it's good to have different sports in your life. That will help you to develop and to improve in different aspects. I don't think it's a problem to play tennis and paddle at the same time.
Speaker 1:So I mean, you've been involved in racquet sports ever since you were. You can pretty much remember, right? You have a family. Yeah, how do you manage that balance between, the moment you leave your work now, your passion, your love for the sport? How do you balance your family life and how do you switch off?
Speaker 2:mentally. Sometimes I don't switch off, honestly, because the work always with the phone. You are connected to attend your students and the club. But yeah, I try to spend a lot of time as possible with my kids, with my wife, which is the most important for me, and, yeah, if I have two hours break, I want to spend this time with them, even if I have to receive answers or write in the phone. I prefer to stay next to them or close to them than than to be only in the in the club. Do they play? They play tennis and paddle, but honestly, I spend more time training them tennis because they they like it. At the moment they like it more and they decided to hold more time the tennis racket than the paddle racket.
Speaker 1:I mean, I think tennis is the best foundation racket sport anyway, so I think it's the best way to go. I've seen people who only play paddle try to play tennis. It's a disaster. They can't hit the ball at all. So what's next for you?
Speaker 2:yeah, for me, next is keep trying to grow, growing as a person, growing as a as a coach and why not? Growing as a as a player. That connects me to the reality, how paddle is changing. That's why I don't stop competing. I think it's important to keep competing, feeling the connection you know that with the new players sometimes go to one fip or one premier paddle or a1 tour is is important, even if I know that this is not my, my level or this is not my, my, my job. I think it. It's good to be connected to this how padel is changing, how the players are doing in the tours and to be connected to that is important for me.
Speaker 1:How is the level in A1 padel?
Speaker 2:It's really high. It's very similar to Premier Padel, honestly.
Speaker 1:So why do the players choose to play?
Speaker 2:one or the other. I think the opportunities in A1 are a bit bigger because there are less players. But in the level of the top four in the A1, I think they are close to all the rest in the Premier Padel. The Premier Padel top four, top six are far from everyone. This is the truth. I think in this level, this top four Galán, tapia Coelho, gingotto, dineno, pestupa I think they are still far from the rest of the players in the world. But the A1 can compete perfectly with all the rest of the players.
Speaker 1:Do you think there will continue to exist the different tours, Premier Paddle and A1 Paddle? I believe yes.
Speaker 2:I believe they are growing individually and it's an opportunity for a lot of players that cannot travel to Europe. I think it's growing a lot in the US now. So a lot of players will start to compete also in the A1 Tour and if you see that you have results in that Tour, why not try to play worldwide in the Premier Paddle?
Speaker 1:Do you think Paddle will take off in the US?
Speaker 2:I think the US is growing pretty fast off in the US. I think the US is growing pretty fast. I don't know how soon it will be, but 100% it will be a sport that we're going to see a lot of players from there. Have you played pickleball? I played pickleball. Yes, sometimes you like it, I like it. Yeah, I like it. It's good to hear Not many people like it.
Speaker 1:I like it. Yes, Pickleball gets so much hate from paddle players. Why, I don't know. They think it's not cool. It's not cool, but remember, a few years ago paddle was not cool. Whenever I told people I worked in paddle, they thought I was paddleboarding. But now people know what the sport is at least, and I like pickleball. I think it's a great combination of tennis and maybe badminton table tennis table very quick, very fast, I like it.
Speaker 2:And singles is very tiring. No, it's physically it's very tough. I played a few times and I enjoy it a lot. You pass three hours and you didn't realize that you played three hours. Uh, yeah, honestly it's. It's a sport that I recommend to the, to the people, because why not? All the racket sports I like and this one is? It's also also very fun. It's growing fast, also in the US it's already stable.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's huge there.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I think we're going to see a lot more clubs implementing space for the pickleball.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I look forward to that. So, as you mentioned how much you value the time with your kids and your family, I don't want to keep you too much here so you can go and spend time with them. I really appreciate you coming here and taking the time. It's been a great conversation. I've really enjoyed it. So, just on a leaving note, what advice would you give to a coach who's starting his career today?
Speaker 2:the advice I can give is get a lot of knowledge and information about the sport, because sometimes we hesitate to to go and coach the players. We start normally with the friends, where you have a lot of confidence, but then when you start teaching the people that is willing to pay and to improve and to spend time with you, if you don't teach correctly, it's's going to be a waste of time for the player. And also, when you see back on time, it's important that it's not only about the money or that you need the job. It's also about the respect for the players that are willing to spend time and money to improve. So, yeah, what I recommend is to get a lot of knowledge, do it all the formations that you require. There are a lot of new formations, new ways of coaching academies, all the world that you can. You can get this information, get the basics to coach other players and, yeah, I fully recommend to enter in the business because I think there are a lot of opportunities in all the world.
Speaker 1:Roberto, thank you so much for your time. Looking forward to having you come back when you compete, maybe in Wimbledon or the US Open next time. Have a lovely day. Thanks for your time. Thank you so much. Thank you.