Padel
Meet the circle of trust that helps to keep Premier Padel's stars on top
Padel is growing incredibly fast and so is the pressure being heaped on the sport's top players to perform every week. Meet the people making elite padel possible, on court and behind the scenes.
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If you watch a Premier Padel match, you'll notice a four players, on a court with four walls and fast-paced, spectacular action. However, you probably won't set your eyes on the coach studying the game from the bench, the physio taping a shoulder before the action kicks-off, or the family member who drove them to their first local tournament at age 12 and is now supporting them at the biggest tournaments in the world.
Elite padel looks like a doubles sport, but it's really a team effort. The camera tracks the ball, but the real story happens just out of view and these are the key figures behind the world's fastest-growing sport.
Coaches' corner: where padel matches are decided
Jorge Martínez has been coaching Alejandro Galán since chilldhood
© Jure Makovec/Red Bull Content Pool
Professional padel coaches are the masterminds behind the game's brilliance. Take Gustavo Pratto and Martín Canali, the team behind the world's top pairing, Arturo Coello and Agustín Tapia. Spanish media outlet Padel Addict calls Pratto "the architect of the project." He plans for upcoming matches, creates game plans based on subtle patterns and leads a support team of trainers, physios, and sports psychologists.
Canali works more quietly. He's Tapia’s personal coach and, as Padel Addict says, "one of the recent additions who contributes where it often goes unseen." The two coaches work separately in the day-to-day operations: Pratto with Coello and Canali with Tapia, but they stay connected through constant feedback.
This setup matches how modern padel works. In some cases, the world's best pairs rarely train together. Instead, they work with their own teams and only come together a day or two before tournaments to put their coaches' strategies into action.
Top players usually have teams of at least three people, but for those ranked around 40th and down, that number drops significantly due to the high costs and difficult logistics of travelling with a full support staff.
Players and coach celebrate celebrates victory at the Paris Major
© Jure Makovec/Red Bull Content Pool
Jorge Martínez bet on me, changed me and turned me into the player I am today
A good coach wears many hats: strategist, translator and psychologist. They take the player's entire situation and turn it into a few clear instructions they can understand in just 15 seconds during a changeover, which they can then apply in-game. For Alejandro Galán, that coach was Jorge Martínez from M3 Academy, who gave him a life-changing scholarship at 15 -years-old to pursue his professional padel dream.
Galán frequently reflects on how Martínez, "bet on me, changed me and turned me into the player I am today." Even after working with other coaches from the same academy, like Mariano Amat during his famous partnership with Juan Lebrón, Martínez is a guiding force. Some relationships go way beyond the coach-player dynamics.
Identifying and interpreting these challenges, and creating a training environment where players can thrive are now key parts of the job. That circle usually includes a trusted coach, an assistant coach, training partners who can replicate match speed and practice opponents who expose weaknesses rather than prolonging rallies.
Coaches need to be able to dispense vital instructions in just seconds
© Samo Vidic/Red Bull Content Pool
Family first: the support system behind padel stars
Before coaches, academies and even partnerships, there's family. In padel, family does more than support players, they make sacrifices that change lives. Galán's father worked day and night in hospitality to pay for his travel to tournaments. "I almost never saw him," Galán says. His mother, "did everything for us." They couldn't give their kids what wealthier families could, "but they gave everything they had for me to be here."
Galán's sister was also an essential figure in his career, as she was the one who taught him how to play and trained him initially: "I started to play because it was what my sister did. She's given me that motivation."
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Physical training and recovery: inside padel performance
At the recreational level, padel is not usually that physically demanding. The reduced court dimensions, walls that allow rebounds and couples play all reduce individual involvement, making it an accessible sport for all level of fitness.
That changes radically at the pro level however. Ball speeds are exponentially higher, players can cover the entire court in the blink of an eye and every centimeter counts. Maintaining a peak physical state that combines endurance and explosiveness is crucial for any player who wants to succeed in Premier Padel. This physicality comes from endless hours of training, recovery and meticulous planning and care. Physical trainers are the directors overseeing their players' physical condition, areas for improvement and the work needed to reach peak athleticism and perform at the highest level.
Trainers and physios are a vital part of any top padel player's team
© Samo Vidic/Red Bull Content Pool
In order to be able to make shots like this
© Samo Vidic/Red Bull Content Pool
There's also another fundamental figure to any player's success and well-being: the physiotherapist, the person who keeps them going when their bodies want to quit. Professional padel is tough on the body, with explosive turns, upper and lower body strain, constant side-to-side movement and sudden stops that test knees and ankles.
On tour, physios focus on prevention, workload management and recovery to avoid injuries and maximize players' performance. Their job is to catch small problems before they become serious ones and to spot warning signs before a player pushes too far because adrenaline and pride drown out pain.
Agents: handling players' careers behind the scenes
There's also the behind-the-scenes career architect: the manager or agent who handles the less glamorous day-to-day tasks that keep a pro padel player's season running. They handle the player's logistics, scheduling, sponsorships and brand relationships, which are now key to a player's financial security, reputation and public image.
Sometimes, managers even help shape partnerships. In pro padel, picking the right partner is a crucial decision that has consequences on and off the court. The right pairing can affect rankings, brand value, social buzz and how often you play in big matches, so when a player changes partners, it's usually a strategic move involving careful planning.
There's even one hidden aspect that shapes decisions when choosing partners: the mentorship side of the game. We often see young, high-potential players pairing with veterans who've had their best days at the top level, but who can use their experience to guide the younger generation of players and extend their careers.
This is one of padel's most underappreciated truths: it's a sport that rewards pattern recognition above almost everything else. At the pro level, every detail, pattern and every tactic is meticulously studied and put into practice. Training quality determines match quality and for younger players, teaming up with more experienced partners gives them an advantage over their rivals.
Bea González learned from legends and mentored Claudia Fernández in 2025
© Alberto Nevado/Red Bull Content Pool
Bea González learned from padel legends Paula Eyheraguibel and Cata Tenorio before becoming a star herself. Now, despite only being 24, she's been able to mentor younger players like Claudia Fernández, her partner during the 2025 Premier Padel season, sharing the lessons that helped her succeed.
This is padel's unofficial curriculum: the wisdom that isn't in training manuals, but still shapes careers, like how to handle media pressure, bounce back from tough losses and keep friendships when your schedule is packed. These lessons don't come from coaches, but from players who've been through it and want to help others avoid the same struggles.
Padel's engine: organisers, media and on-site teams
Padel's explosive growth over the last few years wouldn't be possible without a strong infrastructure around the sport. That's where a whole set of key roles come in, as new event formats create different stages for players to perform: tournament organisers, media crews, broadcasters and commentators, content creator and operating personnel make the magic happen beyond the court.
Media appearances after every match are now routine for top players
© Premier Padel/Red Bull Content Pool
For example, the Reserve Cup is gaining traction as a complement to Premier Padel, thanks to its high-impact, entertainment-driven format. Alejandro Galán has described what excites him most about this competition as, "the different format and the atmosphere with fans and team-mates."
These new competitions point to an undeniable fact: padel is building multiple ways to be consumed. Traditional competition coexists with spectacle formats designed to pull in new audiences. That shift creates opportunities and pressure in equal measure, with more public exposure, more sponsor involvement and more expectations to perform as an athlete and public figure simultaneously.
Pro padel isn't just four players. It's a moving team
If you're new to padel, here's an easy way to see the sport differently: don’t just focus on the four players in the rally. Look at the bench. Notice who travels with them every week.
Pay attention to their body language during changeovers, especially when things aren't going well. See who a player turns to after a tough loss, when the cameras are gone and only disappointment remains. Watch the people who show up every week, even when results are worse than expected and everyone questions if the partnership is working.
Padel is a doubles game on the court, but just as much about teamwork off the court. In the demanding world of padel, nobody wins alone, at least not for long at the top level. The players who realise this early and who build strong teams to protect their inner circles are the ones who last when others burn out.
Premier Padel tournaments are becoming bigger and more relevant every year
© Alberto Nevado/Red Bull Content Pool
When does the 2026 Premier Padel season start?
The curtain rises on the 2026 Premier Padel season at the Riyadh P1, launching a packed schedule of 26 events in 18 countries. The tour's top stars begin their chase for titles in Saudi Arabia on February 9.
Where to watch Premier Padel in 2026
Red Bull TV will broadcast all Premier Padel matches from the quarter-finals of every tournament. This game-changing partnership continues to make padel available to a wider audience and ensure that fans around the world can follow their favourite players and witness the excitement of the best padel in the world.
Find more information on all tournaments, including ticketing, match schedules, current scores, player updates and all the latest news on the Premier Padel website.
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