They are about to 'resume' their adventure as a couple. The 2015 season left lights and shadows for a promising couple, who celebrated great triumphs but who were also "punished" for the injuries. Do not miss this interview made by the colleagues of World Paddle Tour.
Padel World Press .- It would be very difficult to define the 2015 of Matías Marina y Alejandro Ruiz... On the one hand, they proved to themselves that they have great potential and that they can win against any rival, as they did with their triumphs against Juan Martín Díaz-Juani Mieres, and they even added to their achievements the conquest of the Challenguer of Córdoba. On the other, when they were going through their best moment of the season, an injury to Matías Marina's wrist separated him from the competition and separated his ways. To finish, the fatality of the injuries also touched the hand of Álex in the Challeguer of Barcelona and, for all that, in this 2016 both want to return to the tracks with more desire than ever.
At the moment, Álex is in his native Malaga preparing his February exams in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences. He will return to Madrid on January 17, still wearing a cast due to his scaphoid injury to his right wrist. It will take a few more weeks to start training and prepare for the next season alongside his teammate Matías.
Meanwhile, Maty has not moved from Madrid and a month ago began to exercise after the operation. He has made great progress in his recovery and, as the companions of World Paddle Tour reveal, he has taken the opportunity to study his driving license. However, what excites him most is returning to compete next to Alex.
How is the recovery going?
álex: Today I have just done a CAT scan and, as the doctor has told me, it's fine; the bone is recovered. Fortunately, it was not one of the most serious injuries and they immediately detected that it was the scaphoid, so I was cast. When they did more tests they found that the bones above and below were well aligned and discarded to operate. Of course, bone recovery is slow because in that part there is little vascularization and the blood does not pass very well. They are 60 days of recovery ... I've been a few (laughs) I've started the recovery with Jordi Riba (our physio in World Paddle tour), with an 'old man' plan. At the moment, I can only walk on a hill, do crunches ... And little more because I do not need to sweat too much, so I have to go out in the early morning with the cold so I do not have to sweat a lot! But I think that we will be able to do normal pre-season although taking more care.
I remember when I was playing the semifinals of the Challeguer in Barcelona I tried not to think about the pain, and I was able to finish it. But the next day I woke up fatal and thought, what is wrong with me? It was a weird feeling because besides, I have never been seriously injured. It was a very hard moment, really. The great Elías Estrella who was my partner at that time helped me a lot and, of course, my coach Severino Iezzi and the World Padel Tour team. We thought it was a sugar crash but it was so big that I immediately suspected there was something else. In fact, the trip back to Madrid was agonizing because I was vomiting for 600 kilometers! But I'm a very positive person and I didn't take it too badly. I took the opportunity to rest, study, focus on myself and not on sports. Seek my tranquility and university training. These studies are also very useful for me to learn to take care of myself. It has been a horrible year but it has also been a year of learning. We have both realized that despite our youth we are not rocks, we can get injured. Before we were not so aware of it. Now we have focused and we are more professional.
But to you: I go very little by little because the hand is still not 100%. He is regaining flexibility and mobility. But he needs to adapt to the speed of the ball, to the rhythms of the game. I started with 10 very mild minutes and it hurt a lot. From there, week by week, I have gone to more and now I am doing almost an hour. March is safe and I would almost tell you that I think I will be able to train normally within a month.
En the moment of the injury was being a great year ...
álex: Definitely. The semifinals of Valladolid and the title of Córdoba, in particular, gave us an impressive moral boost. Winning the couples above was unthinkable until now. But since we are a couple that always aims to be the 1 number, we were given the opportunity and we took advantage of it. We did not expect it; It was a turning point in the year. It's a pity that we were injured afterwards, although I'm left with the fact that everything served as an apprenticeship for next year in which we hope to progress sportingly and not break anything (laughs).
But to you: Yes, we were also doing very well as a couple in our first year. And it was hard but we tried to take out the positive and we are going to grow from it. I have learned to value health. When you are well you do not realize the value of competing and training without pain or discomfort. And I think this has given me more strength to continue. When it is well I will value it still much more.
This will make you want to feel the nerves of the competition again ...
álex: Now our approach is to recover and be at 100% to compete. Then we will try to go match by match. The level this year of World Padel Tour is very high, there is a lot of competitiveness. All couples are getting better. Therefore our goal is to improve as a duo and as players and to become more professional.
But to you: Definitely. It will be 8 or 9 months without competing and what the professional player likes the most is precisely that, competing. Also, as the workouts are not normal yet but are very specific for the wrist, I still don't feel like a player (laughs). But I really want to go back to tournaments and play with Álex. The good results made us lose respect for the greats. When you have already achieved it once, unconsciously you enter the court in another way. It is like a barrier that you have to pass and that the first few times costs a lot. But when you see that you are there, on an equal footing and you manage to beat them once mentally, you win a lot for future matches against them and against the other couples.
What do you think of the young promises, of the generational change in the world of padel that is so much talked about?
álex: Personally I do not like to be talked about as a young promise because throughout the history of this sport there is a large number that stay in that, young promises, without more. So I do not like that concept very much. For us, the fact that people see us like this has to serve us to motivate us, to continue striving and struggling every day and playing without pressure. We have to give our best and if one day it can be perfect, and if one day we can not, we analyze why. It is the way to reach the highest, which is where we want to be.
But to you: I see normal to talk about it. Top players have been around for many years. Obviously they are there because they are the best and because they have a very high level. But I think that change is already taking place, there are many young kids at the top of the Ranking, competing against those older couples who, in turn, no longer have it so easy. And I think the Circuit is much more professional. More and more players dedicate themselves fully to training and dedicate themselves completely to paddle tennis.
New young couples, which will be the hardest?
álex: This year two very tough young and Spanish couples have formed: Pablo Lijó-Álvaro Cepero and Jaime Bergareche-Martín Sánchez Piñeiro. Cepero finished the season playing at a high level making semis for Challeguer and Lijó is at a spectacular level. And then Martín, it is pure magic while Jaime is pure work. So they are going to be a very rocky duo that is sure to give a lot of war this year. I think they are the two hardest Spanish couples. There are also many very good Argentines and I'm sure there are many surprise results and a lot of generational change.
But to you: Jaime Bergareche is a player that I like very much and he will help Martín Sánchez Piñeiro a lot, who is very aggressive. Bergareche is a wall and I think he will be a very good couple. Godo Díaz and Luciano Capra seem like another couple to me. Godo for me is an excellent player with whom I have shared two years and he is a spectacular player who, along with Capra's impudence, will give more than one stroke.
A question for Álex... The world of paddle mourns the death of Elías Estrella and for you, who were his companion, we imagine that it will have been a very hard news.
álex: These are very hard times, yes. From Elías I can only tell you pretty things; He was a huge boy of ten. He had a tremendous heart, a great person and a crack as a player. A huge pain that has left us and I hope that from above we are giving all their support. Surely he wants the best for all of us. I send you a hug every day wherever you are and rest in peace.
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