Just before the post-match interview with the winners, there could not have been a better choice in the Allianz Cloud playlist. “Attenti al lupo”. Juan Lebron probably doesn’t know the Lucio Dalla song, but the Wolf – meaning ‘el Lobo’, Lebron’s nickname – really has to be careful. He won the Milano Premier Padel P1 in 2022, did it in 2023, and is aiming for a hat-trick; this time, next to him, there is not Ale Galan but Martin Di Nenno, who last year lost an epic three-hour final to Lebron and Galan in three tiebreaks. The ambitions to end the season on a high note, however, are all there, not least because on Sunday morning (no more than three days ago) in Acapulco, Juan and Martin came very close to breaking the series of 38 consecutive victories of Arturo Coello and Agustin Tapia. The tournament for the number 3 seed started with a 6-4 6-1 win over Dani Santigosa and Miguel Lamperti, in a match that was electric in the first set and dominated in the second.
Di Nenno, a year ago, had to bow out in the final paired with Franco Stupaczuk: “I have a perfect memory of last year and the atmosphere there – Di Nenno added –. The first set was complicated; the second, on the other hand, started immediately with a break and we were good at closing it out”. All this, exalting the fans: “The Italian fans are always fantastic, I love Italy and pasta – admits Lebron -, that’s why I would like to reach the final again”. And speaking of fans, the Lobo with a heart of gold, before leaving the Allianz Cloud centre, gave his jersey to a child who had come to the arena with one of those famous signs. Translated: “Today is my birthday: will you give me your jersey?”. No sooner said than done.
While Di Nenno and Lebron were victoriously concluding their first match on the centre court (tomorrow they will face Inigo Jofre and Juan Tello in the round of 16), so were Paquito Navarro and Pablo Cardona, the tournament’s number 5 seed, on court 1. Similar dynamics in the match against Facundo Dominguez and Nacho Piotto: tough first set, second set without history (6-3 6-0). Cardona, in the running for a place in the Premier Padel Finals, thus responds to the ‘attacks’ of his rivals (Alex Ruiz, Alex Arroyo, Lucas Bergamini, Sanyo Gutierrez), who had won their first match in Milano yesterday. But tomorrow there will be a clash.