“It’s very nice at my age to play against 20-year-old boys and know that I can beat them”
“Starting in 2024, that natural order of couples lasting much longer will return a bit”
BARCELONA, July 2. (EUROPEAN PRESS) –
The professional padel player Fernando Belasteguín reveals that when Wilson signed him as an ambassador in 2019 to fully immerse himself in the world of padel, he did so assuring him that they wanted to do with him and his figure something similar to what Nike achieved with Michael Jordan –take off in basketball with the Air Jordan brand–, a comparison that is flattering for a ‘Bela’ who will retire at the end of 2024 but who, for now, continues to be excited about playing and putting pressure on himself to win, in his quarantine, “boys 20 years”.
In an interview with Europa Press, Bela acknowledged that having been signed by Wilson, and by CUPRA, as an ambassador to gain a foothold in the “small world” of paddle tennis, made him think about the similarities between the success story of Nike and Jordan.
“It seemed a bit daring to make a comparison, but for me it was a great joy and personal pride when Wilson’s men, before signing me in August 2019, told me that they wanted to make the great leap to paddle tennis with me. They told me that Like Nike had Jordan to develop their brand, Wilson would have Bela to develop his idea. Also, Wilson is from Chicago, and Jordan played for the Chicago Bulls. Wilson wanted to do with me something similar to Nike with Jordan in our little world with ‘Wilson Bela'”, revealed.
For the Argentine, who was the best player in the world for 16 years, it is “spectacular” to be able, at his now 44 years of age, to be the architect of Wilson’s arrival in professional padel. “It seems spectacular to me. When Wilson came to see me and told me: ‘Bela, we want to do the same thing that Nike did with Jordan, with you in paddle tennis. For me it was something incredible because Wilson is the number one in racket sports. Having a distribution as big as the one Wilson has, for Wilson Bela, a new brand, it was something incredible”, he acknowledged.
The new Wilson Bela X CUPRA V2 shovel, the result of this three-way relationship, will premiere it at the WPT tournament in Valencia. And with it he will try to continue winning to restore that confidence to Wilson. And it is that, despite being clear that he will not extend his career much longer, he is still pressured to win and does not enjoy what has been done so far on the track. In 2023 he has not been able to win any tournament, neither with Sanyo Gutiérrez at the start of the championship nor now with Miguel Yanguas. “Now I feel as if I had already fully adapted to my role. I’m happy because we arrived at this half of the season trying to improve with Mike. We’ve achieved a semifinal and we haven’t come down from the quarterfinal since we’ve been together,” he celebrated about his new couple.
WITHDRAWAL IN 2024 AND GLORY ‘ON PAUSE’
Belasteguín confirmed that he has more than meditated and discussed with his family to retire at the end of 2024. So he has a season and a half left to fight for more success. “I see myself, and I have it very clear, playing another year and a half so that at the end of 2024 I can leave it well. I still feel like it, I have taken care of myself all my life and I reached 44 years of age, I had the possibility last year with 43 years of winning 3 tournaments and it is something very nice to see myself at my age, against 20-year-old boys, and know that I can beat them”, he was honest.
“I see myself wanting to continue taking care of myself and making a great effort to be able to be competitive for another year and a half. That is the goal I have in mind, my family knows it. And I want to enjoy this year and a half of competition I have left to close my professional career. And I was lucky to be number one in the world for 16 and a half years,” Bela recalled.
He explained, in fact, that he still cannot “enjoy anything” of what has happened to him in his career. “I am so obsessed because I feel that I have the need to keep improving to be competitive that I don’t enjoy anything. I am sure that when I am not more professional I will look back and enjoy it a lot. But I am still so obsessed with continuing to improve and with win as if I were at the beginning of my career. I think the best is yet to come”, he stated.
And, facing that future in which he will no longer be on the slopes, he is clear about what he will do. “I have two very nice projects. One is the own brand with Wilson Bela, which for me was very proud that a brand like Wilson comes and tells me we want to have your own brand within our umbrella. For me it is a project of a very, very big future. And the second is the creation of the Bela Clubs for me is a great honor. They are the two job opportunities that I will have when I no longer play. The idea is to have a Bela Padel Center in Barcelona, if it is possible as soon as possible, so that this transfer from professional life to post-professional life allows me to keep my mind busy every day”, he celebrated.
IT PREDICTS LESS PARTNER CHANGES IN 2024
Asked about the multiple changes of partners that have been seen lately, he acknowledged that he is not comfortable in this scenario since he prefers to have more continuity and fidelity. However, he adapts to the current framework and predicts that after 2024, even if he is no longer there, he will see fewer changes again. Some comings and goings that he attributes, in part, to the presence of two professional circuits, the World Padel Tour (WPT) and the Premier Padel.
“This phenomenon of partner changes has occurred in the last year and a half but you have to take into account that in the last year and a half or the 22-23 season they are not normal seasons, because there are two professional circuits together and you have the 20 or 22 World Padel Tour events and 8 or 9 Premier Padel events. There are 30 tournaments per year that only one couple wins and that the top couples usually win, the first two or three. And of course, the changes , if you want to find a solution to that, they are faster,” he argued.
“Starting in 2024, that natural order of couples lasting a lot longer will return a bit. I think I am a player who has had very few teammates. I have been in my professional career for 29 years with this year and I have had few couples, perhaps in I’ve been with Agustín Tapia for almost a year and a half, with Arturo Coello for a year and a half, with Pablo Lima for four and a half years, with Juan Martín for thirteen years, I always wanted to have long-term companions. Sanyo is the only one I was with for a very short time, in two periods,” he predicted.
KEY TO THE ARRIVAL OF NEW NUMBERS 1?
“That Tapia and Coello are number one has nothing to do with the fact that they played with me. It makes me very happy, yes, to have been the player who together with them won their first tournament at a professional level, both with Agus, who in In his day, he was the youngest player in history to win a tournament, and that later Coello took that record from him, the two of them next to me. It’s a great satisfaction”.
“But that they are number one today is solely their merit, their team’s merit and their family’s merit. It’s not because they played alongside me. They’re both very good and today they’re up there on their own merit.”