The “Superchicas” and Ortega-Castelló seal the ‘Decima’ for Spain

Spain is the European champion, a great achievement, the tenth in the history of the FIP European Padel Championships, secured with a team that is an extraordinary mix of talent and experience spanning the last decades of the sport’s history. This includes legends and former world number ones (among them, winners last year here in Cagliari of the FIP Platinum Sardegna) like Patty Llaguno and Lucia Sainz — pair coached in the Premier Padel circuit by Marcela Ferrari, Italy’s captain — born in 1985 and 1984 respectively, and the younger members of the group, Andrea Ustero (born 2007) and Alejandra Alonso (born 2006). A young yet incredibly strong duo that, in the opening match of the final against Italy, allowed only one game (6-0, 6-1) to the Italian pair, Orsi-Stellato. In between, immense players like ‘Martita’ Ortega, number 6 in the FIP ranking, who along with Jessica Castelló secured the decisive point for Spain, making it a 2-0 victory. The win by Ortega-Castelló with a double 6-3 highlights the strong performance of the Italians Giorgia Marchetti and Chiara Pappacena, who were standout players throughout the week of this fantastic European Championship. While the Spaniards still play on levels hardly reachable by anyone else in Europe, it is a fact that the significant success of padel in Italy finds solid confirmation in the girls of Marcela Ferrari, undoubtedly the leading team in the continent behind the ‘Invincibles’ in yellow and red. And certainly, the loss to Spain cannot overshadow an extraordinary European Championship in terms of game level and team cohesion.

STATEMENTS Iciar Montes, Spain’s captain, says: “The first thing to do is congratulate the Italian team for reaching the final. Then I wanted to congratulate my team from the bottom of my heart and the Federation for always supporting me. The truth is I was surprised by the younger players, but also by the veterans, for how they integrated with each other and how they gave everything in this European Championship. And now I can only say that I am very happy”. Next to her, Lucia Sainz: “This is a very important edition because on the court we have seen the new generation coming up and doing so very well. As for me, being here is a reward for how we have worked”. Patty Llaguno gives a nod to Sardinia and Italy: “It’s been a pleasure sharing this week with this great team, and I congratulate Italy for reaching the double final. Sardinia? I won a tournament here, it’s true, and I think I will now have even more affection for this land. I would like to come back here to play again, but in the meantime, it’s important to be here today and enjoy this victory with all the girls on the team”. The final word is from Marta Ortega, another leader of the Spanish team: “It was nice to come back to Italy and play with Jessica. We played against girls who have made things very difficult for us in the past, and today they started aggressively and played a great match against us. In the end, though, we won and are super happy, and we can’t wait to celebrate”. How? Here’s captain Montes again: “I think they’ve earned a dip in the sea, haven’t they?”.