By RJ Mitchell
CHRISTIAN MURPHY has been inspired by training with the world’s No.1 padel player Juan Lebrón Chincoa – and hopes the Spanish superstar’s magic touch can rub off and help him take his game to the elite level.
The GB No.1 made a point of watching him in Italy last week, having trained with Lebrón and a host of other big-name aces in Cadiz last year. And the Kingston-upon-Thames-born Brit has no doubt that he is already reaping the rewards from such high-quality experiences.
Only last weekend at the Foro Italico Lebrón underlined his status as the game’s biggest star when he and partner Alejandro Galán beat fellow Spaniard Paquito Navarro and Argentina’s Martin Di Nenno 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 in front of 7,000 enraptured fans to claim the Italy Major.
It was a contest shown on TV in 167 territories while among the many guests were leading officials from the European Olympic Committee (EOC) who were delighted with the success of the event ahead of padel’s first appearance in the European Games in Poland next year.
Murphy was also an interested spectator on TV back in Murcia and he revealed that he has absorbed so much from training with a variety of top-class players. He added: “I play against a lot of top ranked players and of course I also train with them. I have spent time on court with Juan Lebron, Javi Rico, Juan Martin Diaz, Javi Garrido and with most of the other top guys in Spain.
“For sure when you train and play with them you learn so much about their games, how they play, their tactics, where they put the ball and how they move, it is just a great way to improve.
“I have trained with Lebron two or three times at Cadiz at the Santa Maria. It is not like you train once with him and you immediately feel the difference but when you have been on court a few times with someone like Lebron or someone like him who is from a better level than you then for sure you notice a difference.
“It makes you sharper and raises your level, there is no question, but you also look at things in a different way. You try and picture things through Lebrón’s eyes, try to think how he would approach a particular shot or how he would react in a certain position.
“Then it is like after two or three weeks you kick on again, but for now with having so many tournaments in the next few weeks I will not get another chance to hit with him for a while. But I hope to do so again soon as he is a great guy as well as a wonderful player.”
With the growth of padel across the globe there are now two rival tours with the established WPT (World Padel Tour) being rivalled by FIP (International Padel Federation) who promoted the recent Italy Major and will also be presenting the Paris Premier Padel Major next month.
The advent of the rival tours now means competing interests for professional padel players’ commitments but Murphy is adopting a ‘hedge the bets’ mantra as he projects forward.
The GB No.1 said: “It is going to be a problem as we now have two series and I am going to try and keep going with both and see how it works out. If you only play one of them and the next year that one disappears then you will lose all of your rankings.
“So I must be careful and I will try to keep going in both for a little bit longer and make sure I keep my ranking points up in both as much as possible.
“The Majors like at Foro Italico and Roland Garros are with FIP and having played in Rome I am really looking forward to playing in Paris.
“These tournaments are just so exciting and so well run, and of course you compete against the very top players at the Majors and that is the best way to improve your game and to continue to develop.”
When it comes to his immediate schedule there is further evidence of Murphy’s policy of keeping a foot in either camp as he looks to continue his climb towards the summit of the padel mountain.
“Now I have two tournaments of the World Padel Tour in Vienna, Austria, and also in France and then this month I also have one FIP and then it will be Roland Garros,” said the GB No.1.
Murphy continued: “The three tournaments before Roland Garros I will be playing with my longstanding partner who is the Mexican No.1 Pablo Acevedo and I am really looking forward to continuing our journey together.
“It is an exciting prospect to have a busy summer playing the sport I love in some of the finest cities in Europe, and with some luck I hope we will achieve the results we are looking for.”
Part 1 with Christian Murphy here
