In an interview with Twenty Ten, Coki Nieto delivered a frank analysis of the current hierarchy of world padel. With his partner mike yanguas, the Spaniard reached ten semi-finals this season, without ever managing to overcome the two giants of the circuit: Tapia / Coello et Galan / Chingotto.

“The first two pairs are above”

The Madrid native makes no secret of his admiration for the consistency of these duos:

“The first two pairs are head and shoulders above the rest. Their consistency, the fact that they make it to Sunday every weekend… I don’t know how they manage it.”

Aware of the difficulty of finding these references, Nieto remains clear-headed:

“If we play a really good match, we can hold our own against them, or even win. But it all depends on how they're having a good day. If they play well and we do too, honestly, it's very difficult to beat them.”

Ten semi-finals, zero finals

With ten appearances in the final fourCoki Nieto and Mike Yanguas demonstrate a impressive regularity, but the semi-final wall still seems insurmountable.
They sometimes flirted with the extraordinary, as during the Malaga P1where they had grown Galan and Chingotto in their entrenchments, coming very close to a huge blow.
But at other times, the task seemed far too daunting, like the Paris Major, where they had been swept aside in less than an hour by the same Galán and Chingotto.

A mental and tactical hurdle to overcome

This consistency without concrete results illustrates the whole difficulty competing with the two dominant duos of world padel. Nieto and Yanguas are one of those solid pairs, capable of troubling anyone, but who still struggle to translate their performances into major victories.
Coki Nieto accepts this observation with lucidity, determined to continue progressing in order to finally pass this symbolic hurdle of the semi-finals.

Benjamin Dupouy

I discovered padel directly during a tournament, and frankly, I didn't really like it at first. But the second time, it was love at first sight, and since then, I haven't missed a single match. I'm even ready to stay up until 3am to watch a final of Premier Padel !