Coki Nieto and Jon Sanz, in the men’s category, and Ariana Sánchez and Paula Josemaría, in the women’s category, are the champion pairings of the 2024 Qatar Airways Premier Padel Finals. The player from Madrid and the player from Navarre, together with the world’s number 1s, have written their names in padel’s history, in what has been the first edition of the Premier Padel Finals.
- The men’s final was epic, with Jon Sanz and Coki Nieto lifting the trophy against the true dominators of the Premier Padel season: Arturo Coello and Agustín Tapia, who had gone 168 days without losing a match: 9 titles and 47 consecutive victories (they hadn’t lost since 7th July, in the final of the Genova P2 tournament).
- With their characteristic determination and fighting spirit, Jon and Coki were able to come back from the initial 6-3, save two championship points, and bring the Palau Sant Jordi crowd to its feet with the necessary break to hold on to the match and force a third set. Encouraged by chants of “yes, we can”, they stormed into the third set and ended up winning it 6-3/7-5/6-3.
- After the final, Coki Nieto and Jon Sanz appeared at the press conference room where the Madrid native declared: “I’ve been losing to them for two years, I still can’t believe we’ve won the title.” Jon thanked the support of the public: “The Palau supported us so much and made us believe we could win. I thank them for living padel the way they live it”.
- In the women’s final, Ari and Paula put the finishing touch on their dominance throughout the season against their main pursuers, Gemma Triay and Claudia Fernández (6-3/6-3). The number 1s closed the year in style with a hard-fought victory, coming back from the strong start of Gemma and Claudia with a mid-set break that boosted them towards the first set. The competitive spirit of Ari and Paula also shone in the second set, where they left their rivals behind to lift their 10th title of the year.
- At the press conference, Paula confessed: “This year has been incredible, tougher than other years, with few days at home, but we’ve endured very well physically and mentally.” For her part, Ari said: “We had the goal of keeping the number 1 spot this year and we’re very happy to have done so. Next year we must continue improving, we have room to grow, and we want to be one step ahead of our rivals.”
- In addition to the two big finals, and emulating the Olympic spirit, the Finals hosted the matches for third place. Juan Lebrón and Martín Di Nenno took bronze by defeating Momo González and Edu Alonso in three sets (4-6/6-1/6-4), as did Delfi Brea and Vero Virseda, with a solid 6-3/6-0 victory against Salazar-Castelló.
- On the institutional side, a joint press conference with the organisers of these first Finals was held this afternoon. Luigi Carraro, President of the International Padel Federation (FIP); Joan Cuscó, president of Octagon Spain; and David Sugden, CEO of Premier Padel, took part. The three spokespersons gave a very positive assessment of the Finals and the 2024 Premier Padel season and revealed some details of the ambitious and exciting 2025 season.
