The Argentine padel player Franco Stupaczuk recently spoke out about his choice to compete in the Cancun Premier Padel P2 competition. The padel community was taken aback by this statement because many elite players have boycotted P2 category competitions in protest of Premier Padel and the International Padel Federation (FIP). Just hours before the deadline, Stupaczuk and his companion Juan Lebron made the decision to go in a different direction and sign up for the event.
Stupaczuk clarified in his statement that both personal and professional factors had a role in his choice, which was not made hastily. He received a comprehensive paper warning against competing in the forthcoming tournaments owing to possible legal, civil, commercial, and athletic dangers after consulting with a legal team to assess the situation. Stupaczuk disregarded this suggestion and decided to notify his teammates players so they could decide for themselves.
Stupaczuk and Lebron’s choice might have been influenced by Premier Padel’s recent letter offering a meeting in Doha with influential people including Luigi Carraro, David Sugden, and Nasser Al Khelaifi. The purpose of this conference is to resolve the continuing dispute between the Professional Players Association (PPA) and Premier Padel. Even though it’s unclear if additional athletes would follow Stupaczuk’s example, his appearance in Cancun represents a turning point in the continuing conflict.
With Stupaczuk and Lebron as the front-runners in a tournament that was set to be held without big names, Cancun will now have an odd lineup. As they negotiate the complexities of their contractual duties and the sport’s future, the Spanish-Argentine team’s decision may mark a turning point in the dispute between Premier Padel and the PPA.
The translated text is as follows:
“Let me speak to you from within and be as honest as possible.
The situation that padel is going through right now is very painful and worrying. We are all saddened not to have been present in Gijón, even so I have to congratulate the people for filling the stands and supporting the sport as I saw it through streaming.
Understanding that not everyone may be familiar with what is happening, I would like to expose two situations that have occurred recently.
A few weeks ago, many of the players made the sad decision (we did not want to get to this point) not to sign up for the Gijón tournament as a measure to try to achieve some sporting changes that were modified with respect to 2024 and that we consider to be very important for the future of our sport.
After what happened, the possibility of whether or not to sign up for the next tournament, which will take place in Cancun next week, was raised.
I assure you that the players want to play all the tournaments and this situation is very delicate.
Personally, I won’t deny that I have had a lot of doubts about what the right decision was.
I really appreciate how lucky we are to have the PPA, our players’ association, which fights every day for the good of the athletes and is fundamental for the progress of our professional careers.
However, I also want to value the effort made by Premier Padel, the FIP, the sponsors and the tournament promoters because they play a very important role in the continued growth of this sport at an international level.
After all that has been said, I freely decided not to be in Gijón (I don’t know if I was wrong) and I now decide to sign up for the Cancun tournament because I trust that this situation can be resolved through dialogue.
Whether it is a mistake or not, I also don’t know, but it is a well-considered decision in which I took all the factors into account.”