About that work ethic: How much do you train on a normal day, whether on the court or off?
Basically you can divide this into pre-season training and then in-season training. In the pre-season, the load is bigger—about six hours per day, broken down in maybe two hours on the court and then two hours in the gym and then, in the afternoon, another two sessions of an hour each. During the season, the workload gets reduced to maybe three hours, four hours max each day, mixing up on-court training with the gym.
Do you watch other sports or play other sports even casually? And if so, which ones?
Yeah, I love sports—I’ll watch almost any sport if I can see it live, but my favorites are probably tennis and basketball. It’s difficult to follow the NBA because of the time difference, but I always look at the highlights and the results. And of course I cannot forget football, or soccer—in Spain, it’s in the bloodlines of the country. I also watch Formula One, and I love MotoGP.
Do you have a favorite rider?
Jorge Martin [a Spanish rider who currently leads the world championship standings]. We have a good relationship, actually—we talk to each other a lot. We’re trying to find a time where I can take Jorge out to play some padel.
You’ve met Rafael Nadal once or twice—what was that experience like?
I’ve always been a huge fan—obviously he’s an icon, particularly in Spain, and I’ve always identified with him a lot because of his mentality of never giving up, never throwing in the towel. A few years ago I was playing an exhibition in Acapulco and he was playing in a tournament there and we had a chance to meet, and then again earlier this year at the Madrid Open. He’s always been so very kind, but we were able to chat a bit more in Madrid. He actually likes to play padel, but he hasn’t been playing recently because of his knee injury—but he follows the sport, he’s a big fan.
What’s your level of fame right now? Do people stop you in the street for selfies, or are you still just living your normal life?
I started really noticing a difference at the beginning of this year, even in the most remote areas of the world—that’s when I realized, Oh, shit—I’m starting to get noticed. Padel is starting to arrive to corners of the world that we couldn’t have imagined just a few years ago. I was on one of the small islands off the coast of Africa, and even there I was recognized. In a regular day now, I probably get stopped seven or 10 times a day, whether it’s for photos or someone who just wants to say hi. I can still live my life pretty normally—it’s nothing overwhelming—but it’s been a very different experience from last year, and it seems like it’s just growing more and more.