Padel
Why Juan Lebrón Chincoa is hungry for padel glory
Known as 'El Lobo', 29-year-old Spanish padel star Juan Lebrón Chincoa has fought tooth and claw to become the world's number one player.
He's just 29-years-old, but Juan Lebrón Chincoa has spent the last four consecutive years as the number one padel player in the world, having destroyed the competition with his long-term partner Alejandro Galán. Don't miss them both in action as the Premier Padel season plays out throughout the year, with every match – from the quarter-finals to finals – broadcast on Red Bull TV. Check here to find out if you can access Red Bull TV's coverage. If you don't see your country listed, then you should check your local listings.
Lebrón is arguably the sport's most well-known player and its biggest star, having first turned pro in 2016. He's enjoyed success as part of Spanish world championship winning teams and paired with some of the biggest names in the world on the padel tournament circuit, including Marcello Jardim, Adrián Allemandi and Paquito Navarro. Since partnering with Galán he has been almost unstoppable however, claiming titles from València to Santander.
It's all by design. Lebrón, known as 'The Wolf', has had his sights on the top spot since childhood. Hard work, natural sporting talent and an innate belief in his abilities have seen him reach the top. And he's still climbing.
Lebrón has been world No.1 for four long years now
© Premier Padel
01
The wolf cub
It all began when one of Lebrón's father’s friends gifted him a junior padel racket when he was seven years old. Lebrón’s father played padel at the local club near their home and sometimes Lebrón would tag along, playing with the children of his father's friends.
"I used to go along and when my father finished, when the lights went off, I played against the wall," Lebrón says. "I remember I liked it so much because I was always surrounded by people," he says. "There were always people you could play with. And, as I improved, they started calling me to play with them."
It wasn’t necessarily the sport itself that had Lebrón hooked, but the act of winning. "I love it," he says. "I love winning and competing. I love knowing that I can always give a bit more, that I always have room for improvement in all aspects. Year by year the sport, padel, gives you a perspective that could benefit you in personal terms."
Lebrón’s obsession with padel has never waned
© Premier Padel
I was the first Spaniard to reach world number one in history. Nobody else has achieved this, nor will
02
Professional aspirations
Lebrón continued playing at his father’s club before transitioning to another club, Las Marías, where other friends trained – friends who had been Spanish champions.
“I was 14 or 15, I started to stand out in my category, and little-by-little I realised that I was getting results and I started travelling," Lebrón says.
There was the small problem of schoolwork. Lebrón's father insisted his studies were just as important as padel, but Lebrón – who describes himself as a bad student – wasn't convinced. Up until the age of 16, when he moved to Madrid, he spent all his spare time at Las Marías, often rushing there as soon as school finished for the day.
Like all the best athletes, it was a myopic approach to the sport. And one that paid off, but not without hardships along the way.
03
Sacrifices
Getting to the top requires sacrifice. Lebrón describes his background as "very humble" with his father selling cheese and ham door-to-door from a van. Lebrón remembers his father telling him, 'Always try not to do this, because I don't want to see you like me. I want you to be happy and to achieve your dreams'.
"My father has taught me about sacrifice," Lebrón says. "I told him: “Take me to Madrid [to play padel], I promise you that I'm not going to miss this opportunity."
Living alone in Madrid, Lebrón trained from 9am to 11pm: “I made a sacrifice, I had a goal and I wanted to accomplish it."
04
Idols
Padel is a huge sport in Spain and Lebrón had no shortage of idols to keep him motivated during his hours on the court.
Juan Martín and Fernando Belasteguín were two stand-outs. So much so that Lebrón snuck in to see them at the Opel Padel Tour at a time when children weren't allowed.
"Young kids under seven weren't allowed in and I remember that I used to sneak in under the seats," Lebrón says, who describes himself as a child as not bad, but naughty. “There was a place where I hid to watch matches, I wouldn't move from there.”
Celebrating another victory
© Silvia Lore/Getty Images
05
The call of the pitch
Padel wasn't the only love in Lebrón's life. He also describes himself as having been "very good" at football – another sport the Spanish are known to have a knack for.
"I would have won the Golden Ball award, but I stopped playing when I was 14 years old," Lebrón says. "I was in a team called Portuense, but I quit because the pre-season was in the summer and I needed to prepare for the Spanish padel championship."
"When I left the coach called my mum, asking for me to come back. I was embarrassed because I'd let him down. I knew I was good at football, but I wanted to be dedicated to padel. That pre-season of football helped, because I won the Spanish championship."
Juan Lebrón Chincoa smashing it
© Ayman Aref/NurPhoto via Getty Images
06
Career highlights
Whether in football or padel, Lebrón has always known he wanted to be number one. To an obsessive degree: "My life objective was to be number one."
But, being number one doesn't come easy. "After a stage as a young athlete where I won basically everything, I entered the professional ranks and the results were not what I wanted," Lebrón recalls.
He struggled to cope with this for "four or five years", but says he kept studying and kept working until he stood out. In competitions, he says he would face people who were stronger or more experienced than him and told himself if he couldn't reach that level in a given time, he would have to go back to his hometown and give up his dreams.
Finally, his motivation started to pay off. "When things fall in an orderly way, after sacrificing a lot of things of your daily life and when the moment came when I could be number one, I didn’t hesitate for one second. I took it with pride," he says. "I keep remembering this when I have bad results and it gives me the strength to keep going, and to want to keep achieving many things. I was the first Spaniard to reach world number one in history. Nobody else has achieved this, nor will achieve it again."
When he achieved these results in 2019, Lebrón knew he had the chance to go far. He hasn't looked back and says one of the "most beautiful moments" that he can remember of this stage of his life is signing with Red Bull. "For me it was the brand of all athletes and of all sports," he says. "There was only padel missing."
07
Outside help
Lebrón clearly has a lot of faith in himself, but his religion has also been a guiding force in his life and career.
"I pray a lot, I'm very Christian," he says. "I always ask God for help, but I don't think that God is going to help you if you don't work. You are the first one who has to make the effort so that God helps you.
“Go to work every day as if it was the last day, always try to give 100% during competition,” Lebrón advises. “I am very disciplined, I know my goal to be number one is very difficult but not impossible.”
08
A team effort
As well as his family and religious beliefs, Lebrón has very real support in the form of Alejandro Galán. But, like any long-term partnership, it’s a relationship not without conflict – especially given the high pressure environment of the padel court.
Lebrón and Alejandro Galán are the dream doubles pairing
© Premier Padel
"Of course, there are some times you don't even feel like looking at your partner," Lebrón laughs. "It's like a marriage; many times we act like little boys. We get angry and don't talk to each other. We need to allow this to happen without it taking a toll and continue as professionals. We have to give it all on the court, knowing we can talk later. Of course, this happens in sport, but it can't interfere with our game; we both have big egos, but we should leave this aside."
09
Training is a must
Ultimately, Lebrón's success comes down to one person above all others: himself. He wouldn't have it any other way. "I'm very self-demanding," he says. "I like giving 100 percent. I’m physically fit, but I think I can improve in many things like recovery and keeping up concentration during long matches. This is a new sport and most trainers aren't yet specialised in padel, so we haven't covered all areas yet."
Top of Lebrón's training list is improving his speed, getting more strength in the punch and his reflexes close to the net. But, as the world champion, he's arguably already miles ahead of the competition. Still, Lebrón doesn’t rest on his laurels.
"I'm mentally strong, otherwise I wouldn't be where I am, but my coach tells me that I have to do exercises to relax in order to be less nervous before matches," he says. "I try to do 10 or 20 minutes of meditation a day to relax my body and not think so much about the tournaments." It's working, but Lebrón admits he's still "a very anxious and nervous guy".
Juan Lebrón Chincoa is the perfect partner for Alejandro Galán
© Silvia Lore/Getty Images
10
Looking to the future
As well as nailing his nerves, Lebrón's main goal for the future is the modest aim of becoming the best padel player in history. "That would mean to be number one for 12 more years in a row, because Fernando Belasteguín was number one for 16 years," he explains.
If his performance so far tells us anything, it’s that he might just be in with a chance. "I had the objective of being number one for two consequent years, the third one I said, 'I'd like to be number one, but if I'm not, I know the reason for it'. What motivates me a lot is that every year there's always something new. Maybe people out there don't notice this, but I do.
"I would like to win everything, obviously, and I think I can win everything," he adds. "But it has been challenging for us.” Having been number one for four years, he's well on his way.