Hey, Cesc here, and we're interviewing the number one player in the U. S., Luis Estrada. And we are All Things Padel. Alright guys, I'm here with Luis Estrada, number one in the U. S. A. Welcome, Luis. Thank you for having me, Cesc. Alright, so where are you originally from, Luis? So, I'm originally from Valencia, Venezuela. Wow. Yeah, Venezuela. So, did you ever play any other racquet sports? Yeah, I grew up playing tennis. I've been playing tennis since I was three years old.
I kind of stopped playing two years ago when I started playing Padel. I still teach, but I basically stopped. So that was in Venezuela, right? Yeah. So when did you come here to the us? So I started coming consistently when my dad moved here in 2008, but I moved completely 2016. Wow. And so did you start playing Padel in Venezuela or here? Here? I fan about Padel and everything right here. So how, how are you introduced to Padel?
Like what club or, or you know, what did you think after you saw that? So right here in Orlando, I'm based in Orlando since I moved here. And the one that got me into it was the one and only Marcos El Pilar. So let's say that on August 2021, around that, I played for the first time. And I think on a Monday, I played for the first time. Marcos saw me playing. He saw that I was super excited or whatever. And then he said, like, why don't you get certified? I have a certification.
Back then, it was the Diaz. Right now, we're at Palo NBA USA. Why don't you get certified this weekend? The next day I sign up and that's how everything started on the same week that I started playing I got certified So did you continue playing tennis or you said man Padel? This is it I was a hitting partner at the time and I said, this is it. I'm done. I'm done with tennis. Uh, I Say, I mean, uh, maybe I kept hitting for a little bit But then as soon as I started traveling that was it.
So did you start playing tournaments? What tournaments were there at that time? So still USPA I think the first tournament that I played was in here in Orlando actually It was in October 2021, no, November 2021. And my first one that I tried was to Houston, to the Woodlands. I played with a friend of mine since we were little, and he'd never played Padel. He played maybe a couple times and we got destroyed. But that's how it started.
I can tell you that for the first year, I didn't win, maybe I won two matches in my first year. So what was the transition and the unique shots to Padel? The transition I think was key, uh, and that's having a good coach and a good mentor. Marco said, like, you have good hands, you have great bodies, but as long as you don't learn to play padel, you won't be successful. So, for the first year, year and a half, I was letting the ball go to the wall. Seeing the wall come back rolling.
And I was like, okay, I'll get it one day. But I, I was missing and missing and missing until finally everything started clicking. And so when was that? I mean, there's, I call the stubbornness, like the one through 10, especially play tennis. You, you're jumping up the baseline and you don't want to hit the back wall. And you're smashing everything, and you don't want to learn the other shots.
At what point did you say, okay, I gotta learn the back walls, and I gotta learn the unique aerial shots? No, from the beginning. From the beginning, I'm really open. I know it's a new sport I needed to learn. And also, it's good for me that growing up, I had good coaches. I mean, I was respecting every single thing that they were saying, I was doing them. So, they tell me, okay, you gotta hit the ball with two hands on the floor, and then you hit it with your leg.
As long as they were saying it, I would trust them and same thing happened to Marcos. I was fortunate enough that I had somebody that he was good and that I could trust. Right from the bat. So was he your, your, uh, your coach? Yeah. You can say, even though he, I mean, we, he's the one, he's the one that made me the player that I am today. So the reason that I'm where I'm at, where I'm at is because of Marcos de Pilar and he knows it. Now, uh, do you have another coach or is it just still him?
Just Marcos. Wow. Wow. And your coach now as well, right? Yeah. I mean, I got certified right there. I was helping me. I helped him for around two months here in Orlando. Then I went back to tennis, uh, because, I mean, I have more freedom working with my dad. Uh, it was more successful with my, I mean, we have a tennis academy here in Orlando. Uh, so I went back to, to tennis to coach. So that, that will give me more time to travel and play because I have more freedom. So let's talk about that.
Um, do they have a Padel courts there at your dad's? No, it's actually where right now the U. S. State National Campus is actually across the street, the neighborhood in front of it. It's a private community. We have six tennis courts. They're thinking maybe, I don't think it's going to happen soon, but they have space to put some Padel courts. I'm sure you're probably pushing it. Come on. Come on. It'll happen. It'll happen. I'm sure it will. I'm sure it will.
Okay. So, I mean, you've climbed up the, you know, the, the, the ladder to become number one. How difficult was that? It wasn't from the beginning, but, uh, being honest, uh, seeing the guys that were at the top at the time when I started, I was like, okay, uh, I want to be there. Then the second, third tournament, I was like, okay, actually, I just need to put the work and I can be there.
Nobody was taking it completely seriously here in the US until people actually started training or whatever, but also I got fortunate enough that Marcos also introduced me to Nico Gritelli. He made that connection that I think it was life changing for both. And I always tell him that if he didn't put us together, maybe we would be killing each other right now to compete against each other. Right. So he's your partner, correct? My partner. Yeah. We've been playing together for almost two years.
Wow. So does he play left or do you play left? I play left. Nico plays right. Uh, he can, he can play both. Actually. I just cannot play right. Hopefully one day I learn. And if we need to switch, we'll switch. But I don't know how to, I was just like you, the tennis players usually on the left side, for sure. You know, but once I get injured, I moved over to the right side and I appreciate the right side. And like, I don't know how to play it, but as soon as I got better, I'm back to the left.
I mean, it's actually little by little, the right side player is getting more value. And appreciated by the people, also by the viewers, by everybody. And it's, it's key. I mean, and not so much by the playstyle that you're building the point for the left side player. That's not happening anymore even in World Bad Tour. Everybody's being aggressive, everybody can hit it. It's changing. It's changing, it's evolving. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay, so, uh, you're, you, last year you were, you played in the PPL Yep. Right? The LA Beats beat. Yep. So, 2024, you gonna be, uh, participating in the PPL? I still gonna be with the La Beat LA Beats. Wow. I'm still gonna be with the LA Beat. We have some big sign-ins that I cannot announce yet. Come on, give us a hint. They're, come on. They're, you can't tease us like that. They're huge. I mean, come on, listen, come on one. Everybody knows about him. Everybody knows who he is. Go for it.
Not everybody knows who he is. Come on, a little hint, just, oh man, well anyways, when it happens you gotta send me a text, we gotta get your phone in, we gotta put it on. Yeah, we'll put it out, we'll put it out, but it's one crazy signing and the other one I think is gonna help the team a lot. And we have two girls that, one did an amazing season, uh, in World Padel Tour, and the other one Uh, just basically finish her career. I don't know if you can take the shots around there.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The hints there, yeah. Um, okay, so let's talk about that. I mean, where does that put the, the North American players? I mean, you were getting all these stars, right? So last year we saw a lot of players, right? North American players. Yeah. You know, not too many national players. We're starting to see that change now, right? Yeah. We're seeing more national players, international players. And more international, yeah. Right, right.
Uh, where does that leave that North American player? I mean, at the beginning, we knew it was going to happen, why we needed the level to be better. But it's also better for us, bringing that level here to the U. S. is actually going to push us first, uh, as Marcos was saying before, first we're going to be training with them, we're going to be experiencing the way that they play, the different pace that they play.
Nico and I, we've been fortunate enough that we've been traveling, we played one in New York. Uh, we, we've seen that it's another level. It's not that we're too far away from it, but we are. Far ahead that in the day to day being at that level every single day. But if the North American player can't be on the team and play with 'em, then they can't compete.
You know, if they're taking their spots, you know, and I understand, you know, the ones that are there, they have to push themselves, which will bring up that level without a doubt. That's, that's the goal. Goal. That's why I think this year maybe we gonna get a little bit less playing time, even though I think I'm gonna be playing a lot. Hopefully a lot, but I'm gonna be playing.
I think Niko's also going to be playing a lot, the other ones I don't know, just those two that I'm really close to, uh, but not only that, I really think that, uh, the competitive is going to, it's going to allow the North American players to push themselves to see that if you don't train, you're not going to get the opportunity. And I would also add that, uh, I don't know if Marcos mentioned it, but the format is going to change. There's going to be changes in the middle of the matches.
It's going to be substitutions. Can you talk about that? Substitutions. Yeah. I don't know. I just don't know that. I don't know how many or how it's going to work or when can you do them, but I know that I think everybody should get a chance to play if the team allows it or they're going for the kill. They're going for the win. The win. Yeah. The best play. Yeah. That's usually the best play. So we'll see. We'll see what happens.
Okay. So let's go back a little bit to North American leagues like the USPA. You're number one, right? Yeah. USTA, this U-S-P-A-U-S-P-A, that's it, right? Uh, you're number one. So you had, um, some really great players, you know, in, in, in there. And now how close are you guys to, we, we've been calling it a Glasgow, you and Nico versus, uh, Peter and Alba, right? I mean, that's kind of like, we like to see that, right? Yeah. It's a great match.
How close are you closing that gap from, let's say a year or two years ago to now? I would say, uh, yeah, a year and a half ago, I think the first meeting that we had against them was in August in San Diego. We got destroyed. It was destruction. You can put a boom. It was, I think we got a bagel in about 15 minutes. Wow. 6 0 and then we lost, I think it was 6 4. And that was a year and a half ago. And now, the last three meetings, the last two meetings I think this year, two majors.
Uh, no, three. San Diego, Texas, and San Diego again. Um, all three matches have been in three sets. In the first one, uh, we had it, we didn't know how to close it. The second one, we kind of choked, basically, I think it was more me, I missed a couple easy shots. And in this one, we had it. This one, I think, has been the closest one. I don't think we choked. I think, uh, Jacobo and Peter brought their A game at the end. So, we were up 3 0, two breaks. In the third up, we had it.
I think this is the time that we had it. We said like, okay, finally. You feel like you're closing that gap. No, we're closing that gap. And they know it. We love competing against them. They're great friends. We compete inside the court, but outside the court we're great friends. And that's how we want to keep things here in the US. I think the audience loves to see that match. It's such a great match. We love it. We love it. The new generation here. Exactly. Oh my God. Okay.
So we look forward to that in 2024. Yeah. Hopefully we get more of that. And I assume Niko's going to be a part of this. Yeah. We're going to keep playing together. Yeah. All right. So let's talk about your sponsorships. Uh, and you're an ambassador, right? Yeah. Uh, so what club are you ambassador to? I'm ambassador of Padel House in New York. They've been really supportive to Niko and me. They've been helping us, uh, travel, doing exhibitions at Padel House. We got the chance.
I think, uh, I still think about it. And, uh, I I think about the fact that we play with two number ones, with Juan Martin Diaz and Seba Nerone in an exhibition. It's, I mean, I go speechless every time I think about it. To play in New York, at Domino, with the skyline behind us, with the Williamsburg Bridge behind us. I mean, it was It's insane. And we couldn't be more thankful to Padel House and to Santi, to Jordi, to Pablo, to all the Padel House team. We're grateful for that.
It's your hard work and timing. Yeah. And timing, yeah, yeah. That's what it is. No, and the great connections. I mean, we always got to stay humble, stay open to opportunities. We all got to work together. There's no taking away from anything. There's a lot for everybody. So what are your responsibilities as an ambassador? As an ambassador of FIRST, we gotta represent the brand. Uh, we gotta make sure that we are, uh, good athletes, that we are, uh, leading by example.
We're not just, uh, making a show when we're playing, we're screaming, we're hitting the glass. We are, uh, I think that's, that's a FIRST. And then outside the court, uh, being respectful to everybody, uh, Uh, I think, I think when Nico and I, we cover those, those things completely, we, I don't think we're never going to offend anybody. And if we do, maybe we were joking and maybe you took it the wrong way, but I don't think we're ever going to be disrespectful to anybody. All right.
Are there other sponsors that you, you may have? We have Adidas, uh, uh, they've been also supporting us. We love Adidas. I think this year we're also going to, I think we're going to renew. If everything keeps going well, so we're going to keep going with Adidas. And we really believe in building relationships and going a long way. So, I think Adidas trusts, I mean, trusts me since the beginning. Nico's been, I brought him in last year, at the beginning of last year.
And we just want to go, we want to keep building those long stable relationships. So what do they, um, what do they offer? Just equipment and supplies and maybe travel or? They're helping us. They're helping us and they believe in us. So they really want to push us to be the leaders here in the U. S. Awesome. Yeah, I see that. I see that. Um, okay.
The question I ask a lot of people, um, players especially is, uh, Can you make a living out of playing Padel and what needs to happen and when do you think that will happen? Right now, Nico and I can tell you, for us it cannot happen right now. Just playing Padel full time, it cannot happen. We're still teaching, Nico's teaching Padel in Dallas, I'm teaching tennis here when I'm back. Uh, I think it's going to happen soon. I think it's going to happen really soon.
We are training and positioning ourselves so that when that happens We can be, not the first one, but one of the first ones that can say, Okay, I can dedicate a hundred percent of my time to train, and travel, and playing, I mean, food and everything, so. What do you think needs to happen? Uh, we need more, more bands, more bands trusting the sport, getting to know the sport, getting more exposure. PPO is the first example, and the best thing could happen to the US.
We need, we need, basically we need prize money tournaments, we need sponsors behind us. And it's not because we want cash just so we can put it in our pocket. No, we need cash so we can actually invest it in ourselves. So we can actually train, we can travel, we can So you can make it a job. Exactly. You know, because that's what you want to do for a living. Okay, I hope that happens soon. I mean, you know, I see a lot of potential in this sport.
And I see great players and it's tough because they have to Coach or they have doing something else and they can't focus everything on Padel strengthening and everything that they have to do. Yeah. You know, and that that hinders them from, you know, getting better. Getting better. Yeah. No, it still happens to us. Even though Nico and I were Nico's training at 6:00 AM I dunno how he does it, but he does it at 6:00 AM three times per week. He's in the fitness room doing it.
I cannot do it at 6:00 AM Nico. Right. But I'll do it later. Yeah. I go with Diego that, uh, I think you're gonna be, he's gonna be here later. But we have to find a way to make it work. So if you don't find a way to make it work and push yourself, if you get in a comfortable situation where you're just relaxing, you say like, Well, I can just stay teaching. I play a couple of tournaments.
And then when you try to go and compete, you're like, Ah, I could be at that level, but I just need to train. And I can tell you, if you don't get out of that comfort zone, you're never going to train. Well, I think that's the problem. I mean, if you can't do it full time, you can't get there. It's kind of hard when you have to work all day and you come back and you're a little tired. You know what I'm saying? Exactly. That's when you got to go full time.
But that's where, right now, I'm telling you, it's not going to happen yet. That's where you got to sacrifice. Maybe you stop teaching two or three hours, you're losing a little bit of money, but basically that time and money you're investing in yourself, in what? In training and getting in shape, getting ready for those tournaments so you actually succeed when that happens. So, okay. Um, what are your goals in 2024? Uh, I assume you want to keep the number one spot, right?
Well, I think that's our first goal here, but, uh, for myself and for Nico, I think for sure that thing is keeping the number one, but also we want to travel more internationally this year. We know that, uh, our biggest rivals here in the U S is Peter and Jacobo for sure, a classical, uh, but we know that we got to go outside and we got to go outside. Uh, we got to play a higher level. And so you're talking about Spain. It's yeah, Europe, Mexico, South America. Yeah, for sure.
So let's talk a little bit about a one. We talked about it before, but let's get more into detail, you know, the experience and the level and you know, all of that now, I mean, it was insane. It was, I think one of the best experiences again in New York, the fact that we were playing in Central Park, a Walmart ring, not even in tennis. I would have ever thought that I would play there. And just playing there with the skyline behind us. I would tell you it's a dream come true.
When we were telling everybody, they were like, What? In Central Park? But where are you going to play? Yeah, the World Marine League. And we're like, What? What? I mean, that's insane. One of a lifetime opportunity. We're grateful that they, Padre House, basically gave us the wild card to it because they were the, The hosting facility for the players, uh, they made the deal and Palo House also giving us that opportunity, which we took advantage of it. Oh, yeah, yeah.
I mean, that's, I mean, that's, that's, that's amazing. Yeah, I mean, I'm telling you, I cannot even put into words winning a round in a Grandmaster of A1, even though we know it's not Premier Palo, but the tour is still kind of a big thing. I can tell you the players there, they were like, oh no, they're going to lose. Well, you made it through the first round, right? And we won the first round. Everybody thought, I mean, everybody there in the tournament was talking.
They thought we didn't speak Spanish. I did. They were saying, oh no, they're going to lose quick. Right now, boom. And then after we win, everybody was in shock. I was hoping, hoping you make the finals against Toledo. Oh, man. That would have been amazing. That would have been amazing. You like Toledo? Oh, who doesn't like Toledo, man? Come on. The guy's entertaining, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah. And he's an awesome player. He's an awesome player. He's a showman. He is a showman.
Yeah, yeah. So, what do you think about A1? Do you think there'll be other opportunities like that, uh, with you and Nico, and other, you know, um, tournaments, even if you have to go out of, out of this country? Yeah, I mean, we need to. We have to go. Like you talked about going to Europe or Mexico, what are you thinking? We're open to everything, basically, whatever we can get in. We get the opportunity that the scale works with the USPA or the PPL. We're just open to going anywhere.
Also, we're looking, of course, to get more sponsors to travel. Because last year, even though we were getting a little bit of help, we were putting money out of pocket. We were investing in ourselves and going. Getting the exposure, getting the level. Uh, I think we just want to play FIP. I think that was, that would be the fair FIP. Uh, a one, if he happens here close in Mexico, maybe we go because we have the points.
Maybe we can play a quality and try to qualify But I think our main goal will be Fib or a1 actually we're open to anything or premiere who knows if we get a walker to a quali or yeah That'll be great. Who knows?
Thank you lucito for coming to Padel smash academy and I wish you all the luck in 2024 And I want to say bye to all the Padel smash academy family I hope you have a great year and that you keep watching the content from sesc and everybody Guys, if you haven't already, make sure that you hit that subscribe button and turn on your notifications. And remember, it's free 99. It doesn't cost you anything to hit that subscribe button. Thanks for tuning in to Padel Smash Academy.
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