From Bella to LeBron, the star paddlers light up Roma. This is a historic first for women

Nine days destined to make their mark, a parade of stars will help fuel Italians’ passion for padel. Premier Padel and Foro Italico: this combination will be enough to make the Rome Major by Fitp magical, now in its second edition. But there are many, many more. Women, first: It’s the first “combined” tournament on this circuit, as until now the world’s strongest players have only competed on World Padel Tour courts. Then there’s the €875,000 prize money, plus huge TV coverage on Sky Sport and Supertennis for an insane entry list for both men and women.

Alternative fever

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More than 10,000 tickets have already been sold: they will also play in Centrale, which will host the finals on Sunday 16 July. After the weekend qualifiers, the main draw matches will take place from Monday: 56 men’s pairs and 48 women’s. Rome, which has always been the Italian capital (also) for Padel, will be able to warmly welcome the great players who will compete to write their names in the list of honors after Juan Lebrun and Ali Galan, the winners of 2022 .

men

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The Galacticos will defend the title and they will do it together, because LeBron’s elbow is finally back in action. They dominated for three years and are still #1 in the Fip rankings, but 2023 in the WPT was marked by the rise of Arturo Coello and Agustin Tapia, threatened only by Martin Di Nenno and Franco Stupaczuk, the only ones capable of defeating them this year on two occasions (including the first President of Premier Padel in Doha). And what is the legend of Belasteguin? Totally present and racer, even at 44 years old. Bella, a monument capable of completing 16 seasons as the world number one (2002-2017), will play with Yanguas of Spain, after severing the partnership at the beginning of the year with Sanyo Gutierrez, now partner of Momo Gonzalez. Hence Chingotto-Navarro, Ruiz-Tello and many other talents to admire up close. The first all-blue pair in the standings will consist of Simone Cremona and Marco Cassetta, who are back from their beautiful European Games adventure, but they are clearly not the only Italians in the draw.

slim

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In the women’s field, the only notable absence is that of Alejandra Salazar, historical partner of Gemma Triay, who will instead play Marta Ortega. The underdogs stand in favor of Paula Josemaria and Ari Sanchez, the season leaders so far in most stages. But also watch out for Delfi Brea and Bea Gonzalez, who are capable of anything. The Blues, returning from an excellent performance at the European Games in Krakow, will be very present: Giulia Susarello will be next to Emily Stellato, while Chiara Papasena will find Giorgia Marchetti (gold in Poland with Carolina Orsi, who will instead play as a team with Llaguno in Rome ).