Franco Stupaczuk: “Lebron called me and Galan called Martin, but the Superpibes continue in 2024”.

Franco Stupaczuk has revealed this Saturday in an interview with MARCA that he has received an offer from Juan Lebron to form a couple in 2024. A news that does nothing but fuel the rumours of a split between the player from Cadiz and Ale Galan.

Here are the highlights of the Chaqueño’s interview with Jesús Mata of MARCA!

Offers to change couples in 2024

With three tournaments to go until the end of the season, it’s normal that rumours start to circulate about possible changes of couples for 2024. We already commented a few days ago that Paquito Navarro and Sanyo Gutierrez could play together again. Another of the most talked about rumours in recent days is the possible split between Ale Galan and Juan Lebron, the couple that has reigned for the last three years on the World Padel Tour.

The Spanish duo, who have lost any chance of being the number 1’s in 2023, have had a difficult year due to injuries, and since the middle of this year there have been rumours of a possible break up of the couple, but their great end of the year seemed to dispel any doubts of continuity.

However, some statements by Franco Stupaczuk have rekindled the rumours. According to the Argentine, his coach and representative, Carlos Pozzoni, has received an offer from Juan Lebron to join their paths in 2024, just as Martin Di Nenno has received a call from Ale Galan.

This is what El Chaqueño said in an interview with MARCA: “Yes, yes, Ale spoke with Martin and Juanito with me. Juan actually spoke to Carlos Pozzoni, who is more or less the one who represents me, but the idea, as I told you, is to continue together…. Having said that, I would like Lebrón and Galán to continue, I think they are a very good couple and I love to play against the best. We have the idea of staying together unless it changes tomorrow, I don’t know… everyone has their own wear and tear, I don’t know how Martin feels and he doesn’t know how I feel, but as of today I can tell you that yes, we’re going to stay together”.

With their minds set on fighting for the number 1 ranking

These statements come at a crucial moment for Franco Stupaczuk and Martin Di Nenno, who are playing for the number 1 ranking with Arturo Coello and Agustin Tapia: “Let’s see, obviously the calculator is there, and you can’t ignore it, we are aware of it and we can’t ignore it. We have to do very well, as in recent tournaments, although we lost to Galan and Lebron who are at a very high level. The year has gone by with Agus and Arturo doing very well at the beginning, us in the middle and now them. But well, I think we have to do very well to achieve it, and we don’t have much margin for error, so I would almost say that the calculator is for them”.

Thanks to World Padel Tour

The Argentinean player also sent words of thanks to World Padel Tour, the professional circuit that has seen him grow in Spain: “I’m eternally grateful to World Padel Tour, I’ll always say it. For me it’s the circuit I’ve played on, the one I know and that is part of me. I congratulate them for the great work they have done, I was one of the first to sign with WPT in 2018 when an alternative circuit came out with Fabrice Pastor, I gave them my vote of confidence and they thanked me for it. Then they grew a lot, with their successes and mistakes, as we all have, and then came Premier Padel with a substantial improvement in the economic prizes. Maybe if World Padel Tour had done it before it wouldn’t have happened as it did, but well, cycles come to an end”.

On a possible merger between Premier Padel and A1 Padel

Franco Stupaczuk also talked about A1 Padel, the circuit that will remain as an alternative to Premier Padel, once the World Padel Tour ends: “I would love it if we all played against each other, to be honest. Sometimes I follow several matches, I like Arce and Dal Bianco a lot, and it’s always good to see something from Tolito in case he comes up with some geniality. In fact the other day he wrote to me because I threw a willy in a 3, and he told me he loved it. But on this you have to bear in mind that youngsters have to grow up, and going straight to play in the Champions League is more complicated”.

Without going any further, Stupaczuk recalled how he made the jump from Argentina to Spain to play on the World Padel Tour: “To aspire to play on the World Padel Tour and then enter the draw we had to be number 1 in Argentina, we didn’t burn stages all at once because then you get to the qualifiers and anything can happen. Then you have to have an economic support, have a good partner next to you, the papers to be able to live in Spain… there are many things, I’ve experienced it first hand, as well as Chingotto/Tello, Oveja/Tolito… The unusual case is that of Augsburger and Libaak, who scored a lot of points in La Rioja and after several good results have consolidated their position, but I insist that this is not normal”.