Aga Radwanska is on the CUPRA FIP Tour: “Intensity and fun: that’s how I fell in love with padel”
February 7, 2024Agnieszka Radwanska’s second career is on a padel court. The CUPRA FIP Tour 2024 is full of legends: after Pat Rafter’s participation in two FIP tournaments in Australia, in the FIP Promotion La Cala in Finestrat (Spain) the Polish champion was also on the draw. Radwanska has won 20 singles and two doubles titles in her career, reaching the second position in the WTA ranking in 2012, the year she qualified for the Wimbledon final. Radwanska played with another former tennis player Marta Domachowska, also Polish and engaged to Jerzy Janowicz, another who after achieving great results with a tennis racket has been trying her hand at padel for some time and has also participated in the European Games in Krakow.
“I had started playing before the start of the pandemic – said ‘Aga’ in an interview with FIP –. A year and a half ago I started again, thanks also to Marta. I find it a dynamic and fun sport: I play as soon as I can, even twice a week, compatibly with my role of mother”. The question, for someone who has written pages of tennis history, remains the same: how difficult is it to make the ‘switch’ between tennis and padel? “It is very difficult – Radwanska answers –. Certainly in ball touch having played tennis helps, volleys are not a problem. The problem is playing with glasses, and then I would like to hit hard every time but I can’t. Padel is a sport that never allows you to relax during the point, every 15 is a struggle”.
However, there is also the fun component, which at 35 years old and after a career around the world cannot be missed. “I play without pressure and without expectations. In tennis I have travelled the world, but I used to tour courts and hotels and there was little opportunity to have fun. With Marta we were in Alicante playing a nice tournament, where we also won a match, but we also had the chance to enjoy Spain. But also to watch the Spanish players: it is great to see them and learn from them, who are the masters of padel”.
On the same days that she was busy at the FIP Promotion La Cala, Radwanska was playing the Legends tournament in Melbourne a year ago. In Poland, she is owner of a hotel that has her name, Aga Tenis Apartments. “But I would still like to play on the FIP circuit, because padel is a sport I like and it is growing all over the world. The good thing is that I don’t need to plan the season from start to finish. If my schedule allows, I will be back on the court soon”.