The fairytale of Andrés Lancha: after Madrid leap of 80 positions in the FIP ranking!

A young talent, unknown to the public just ten days ago. Today, a bright promise in padel after his first major achievement in his career. Andrés Fernández Lancha is enjoying his moment of glory after the week at the Madrid Premier Padel P1, where he jumped 80 positions in the FIP ranking in just seven days — one of the biggest climbs recorded this year — taking him from position 224 to 144. An adventure that began suddenly for this 19-year-old, born and raised in the Spanish capital, who was called at the last minute by José Diestro after Javi Ruiz’s injury.

This last-minute call turned into the most exciting story of the Madrid P1, the first-ever for Lancha in the highest category of the Premier Padel circuit. After defeating Perino/Lamperti in his debut, he went on to beat Barahona/Zapata and Cepero/Benítez, reaching the quarterfinals against Arturo Coello and Agustín Tapia. And it didn’t matter that the top-ranked pair came out on top: “I still can’t believe it”, said Lancha in an interview published on FIP’s Instagram page. “I was training when José told me Javi was injured and asked if I wanted to go to Madrid. Of course, I didn’t think twice”. Andrés also shared his feelings as a debutant: “I didn’t have such high expectations, obviously. Then we started the tournament playing against an idol like Lamperti, and everything went great! I wanted the ‘party’ to continue, and it did — first on Wednesday, and then on Thursday. In the end, it was a dream come true to play on the central court against Arturo and Agus, at home, in Madrid. We couldn’t do more, but it was an amazing week”.

Lancha will now return to training to continue his journey in top-level padel: “My coaches always tell me to be patient, and in the end, I started getting better results in the FIP tournaments” said Lancha, who reached the semifinals of the FIP Rise in Córdoba at the end of August. “Then this opportunity came along: you never know when one will come, so you have to be ready to take it. The most important thing is to be disciplined because sooner or later, an opportunity will come, and you have to seize it.”