The Spanish padel player Arturo Coello, who just turned 22, made his debut on the professional padel tour five years ago, before recently becoming the youngest player in the sport’s history to reach the No. 1 global ranking. (Still don’t know what padel—a.k.a. the fastest-growing sport in the world—is? Read this.) Coello is also the only padel player to have won the four majors of the sport, composed of tournaments in Paris, Rome, Qatar, and Mexico. With the Paris tournament kicking off today, we thought it a good idea to check in with Coello to find out a little bit more about the global racket-sports icon.
Vogue: Where are you right now, Arturo, and what have you been doing today?
Arturo Coello: I’m in Malaga, at my girlfriend’s house, on a small break before the big final push of the season.
The sport of padel is still a little bit new to us in the US, but in the last few years it’s been booming. Growing up in Spain, was padel always part of your world?
In Spain, padel has for sure been established for many years, at least compared to most other countries—but it’s growing pretty globally now, particularly in Central Europe, with some other places still catching up. In South America—particularly Argentina—it’s big, and yeah, I’m seeing a lot of interest in the US. The growth has been exponential in the last year or year and a half. Anybody that has a small taste of padel generally loves it.
When you were growing up, did you try both tennis and padel, but just liked padel more? Or was it more popular? I’m curious why you would choose one over the other.
I started playing both tennis and padel, but then I realized the kind of potential that padel had—not just for me as a competitor, but the sport in general. I realized that one day it would coexist with tennis and recognized the kind of opportunity this presented, and I just decided I wanted to go for it. But besides all of that, I just loved that it was a very dynamic sport—people would get hooked on it very quickly because of how fun it could be, but also how complex and how different the points can become.
How old were you when you realized that padel was something that you might make a career out of?
When I was around 16, I had an opportunity to be coached by one of the best coaches in the area—Gustavo Pratto—and so I moved to a different city to train with him, and from there, the rest is history.
There’s a very intense discussion online, on different padel sites, about what makes you the best in the world at what you do: Some people are saying it’s because you cover the court so quickly; others say that it’s because of your aggression and intensity in getting to the net. What do you think makes you better than others?
Obviously you have to have good shots; you have to be very fit, that kind of thing—but at the highest level, everyone has those strengths and those shots. For me, success is about having the clarity of what I want and where I want to be—ultimately it’s a work ethic and, mostly, mental strength that separates me from the rest.
About that work ethic: How much do you train on a normal day, whether on the court or off?
Basically you can divide this into pre-season training and then in-season training. In the pre-season, the load is bigger—about six hours per day, broken down in maybe two hours on the court and then two hours in the gym and then, in the afternoon, another two sessions of an hour each. During the season, the workload gets reduced to maybe three hours, four hours max each day, mixing up on-court training with the gym.
Do you watch other sports or play other sports even casually? And if so, which ones?
Yeah, I love sports—I’ll watch almost any sport if I can see it live, but my favorites are probably tennis and basketball. It’s difficult to follow the NBA because of the time difference, but I always look at the highlights and the results. And of course I cannot forget football, or soccer—in Spain, it’s in the bloodlines of the country. I also watch Formula One, and I love MotoGP.
Do you have a favorite rider?
Jorge Martin [a Spanish rider who currently leads the world championship standings]. We have a good relationship, actually—we talk to each other a lot. We’re trying to find a time where I can take Jorge out to play some padel.
You’ve met Rafael Nadal once or twice—what was that experience like?
I’ve always been a huge fan—obviously he’s an icon, particularly in Spain, and I’ve always identified with him a lot because of his mentality of never giving up, never throwing in the towel. A few years ago I was playing an exhibition in Acapulco and he was playing in a tournament there and we had a chance to meet, and then again earlier this year at the Madrid Open. He’s always been so very kind, but we were able to chat a bit more in Madrid. He actually likes to play padel, but he hasn t been playing recently because of his knee injury—but he follows the sport, he’s a big fan.
What’s your level of fame right now? Do people stop you in the street for selfies, or are you still just living your normal life?
I started really noticing a difference at the beginning of this year, even in the most remote areas of the world—that’s when I realized, Oh, shit—I’m starting to get noticed. Padel is starting to arrive to corners of the world that we couldn’t have imagined just a few years ago. I was on one of the small islands off the coast of Africa, and even there I was recognized. In a regular day now, I probably get stopped seven or 10 times a day, whether it’s for photos or someone who just wants to say hi. I can still live my life pretty normally—it’s nothing overwhelming—but it’s been a very different experience from last year, and it seems like it’s just growing more and more.
When I try to explain padel to people here in the US, a lot of them think that I’m talking about pickleball. Do people ever think that that’s what you play, or is this our own particular problem?
Not so much—pickleball is pretty much non-existent in Europe, but padel is global, and it’s just growing immensely, faster even than what pickleball is doing in the US. So I think this ignorance should be corrected quickly!
