Sanchez, Josemaria, Lebron, Galan Four number ones won on the Centre Court
July 12, 2023First two number ones, then two more number ones. In the Premier Padel circuit, something like this had never been seen before. It will be seen again tomorrow, not on the Centre Court but on the iconic Pietrangeli where their matches have been scheduled, obviously one after the other. It was the day of the debut of the first seeded players of the BNL Italy Major Premier Padel: first Ari Sanchez and Paula Josemaria, then Juan Lebron (coming back on court after an elbow injury) and Ale Galan, the kings of 2022 Major, when it was played on the Grand Stand Arena and not on the Centre Court. Sanchez and Josemaria gave up only three games (6-3 6-0) to the very young Alejandra Alonso and Andrea Ustero (33 years old in two but already champions of Spain): a good run-in for the tournament’s big favourites. “Thank you all for being here, it’s really incredible to play in Rome”, said Ari and Paula, who were asked on the court to improvise a “Daje Roma”, a typical phrase of these parts, just to increase the feeling.
A few minutes later, there were Lebron and Galan, already covered by the affection of the fans in their first Roman training session. The world number one beat their compatriots ‘Pincho’ Fernandez and Pablo Cardona in straight sets (6-2 6-3) in one hour and six minutes. “Ciao a tutti, ciao Roma – Lebron‘s words in Italian – I feel welcome here, I am happy to be back in this tournament”. His words were followed by those of Galan: ‘We are excited to be back here in Rome to play together. We have obviously come back here to confirm last year’s title, it’s nice to have ‘Lobo’ here with me again’. Tomorrow, for the round of 16, they will move a few metres, from the Centre Court to the Pietrangeli. But the charm, and the love of the Romans, will be the same.