A padel interlude after Miami’s early exit
Eliminated earlier than expected at the Miami Masters 1000, Carlos Alcaraz didn’t immediately head back to clay. The Spaniard stayed in Florida and took a breather at the Miami Premier Padel P1 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Returning to the site for the second year running, he took his place in the front row of the VIP tribune alongside Luigi Carraro. In the stands, he found an environment familiar to all racket sports fans: FIP President David Serrahima for Premier Padel and Fernando Belasteguin, Tournament Director, welcomed him before a much-commented sequence around the stars of the circuit.
Alcaraz greeted Arturo Coello and Agustin Tapia, as well as Mike Yanguas and Franco Stupaczuk. The setting was ideal for an outing that was both light-hearted and a breakthrough in his growing interest in padel. Asked about a hypothetical big match-up, the Murcian said with a smile that he and Jannik Sinner would beat Tapia and Coello “without a doubt”.
Alcaraz has made no secret of the fact that he follows padel very closely, training whenever his schedule permits and enjoying the game’s spectacular vibora, bandeja control and kick smash topspin. In fact, Carraro jokingly told him that a few more days of training and he’d be beating everyone else. It was a contract extension to a growing habit, since Alcaraz had already discovered live padel in Miami a year earlier and wanted to relive the experience.
Afterwards, he even lent himself to a little casting exercise. Which tennis player would be the most awkward to play against on a padel court? Grigor Dimitrov, for his hand, or Alexander Zverev, for his size and power. And what about the tour specialists? Alcaraz’s answer was as simple as it was eloquent: “Everyone plays padel”. A reminder that, in tennis, the quality of the touch, the volley and the ability to finish above the shoulder can quickly make all the difference, even if padel remains a sport in its own right, with its landmarks, its glass and its tactics.
Sinner responds, Miami smiles
The most interesting thing came a few hours later. At a press conference in Miami, Sinner responded to his great rival’s challenge with an equally relaxed tone: if Alcaraz claims that they would be unbeatable, then the Italian believes above all that the Spaniard should “run and play for both of us”. Sinner admitted that he wasn’t very good at padel, while emphasizing Alcaraz’s facility in almost all sports. The retort extended the contract extension without forcing it: between the two leaders of world tennis, the rivalry also knows how to use humor.
For padel, the scene is anything but trivial. Seeing Alcaraz return to the Miami Premier Padel P1 for the second year running, then dragging Sinner into the conversation, offers valuable exposure to a tournament that confirms the circuit’s foothold in the USA. And in terms of substance, the wink also has its limit: challenging the No. 1 players in the FIP ranking isn’t just an exhibition. On a padel court, with its glass, short angles and pressure at the net, even tennis champions know that it would take more than a good hand to topple the best pair in the world.
