Agustin Tapia—Argentine’s Padel Assassin
In 1999 Argentine Padel player Agustin Tapia was born in the northern region of Catamarca. He is a rising star in the professional padel world. Let’s hear the story of this champion from the start to where he is now!
He joins Franco Stupaczuc, Federico Chingoto, Juan Lebron, and Alejandro Galan as the army of new players spicing up the World Padel Tour.
Humble beginnings
In the quiet and unassuming town of Catamarca, a budding star athlete was born. No one could’ve guessed that this simple town would give birth to one of the greatest padel players of our time. But he would not stay here for long because his talent needed to grow, and his hometown was far from any spotlight and extensive training facilities.
Agustin -nicknamed “el Pollito” or “little chicken”- Tapia started playing padel at the early age of nine. Starting at the lowest ranks of padel, at only thirteen years of age he quickly rose into first class to become a provincial champion.
In 2011 he was ranked country’s no.1 for his age and was called to play the Youth World Championship in Melilla, Spain.
During 2012 he maintained his ranking and was champion in the Panamerican Championships in Brazil. 2013 was again an excellent year for Tapia. He represented Argentina in the Buenos Aires Youth World Championship and was once more World Champion. He continued to play for Argentina in the following years and claimed nearly every title possible until 2017.
This stellar athlete was racking in trophies when I was just learning how to do basic algebra! Amazing right?
El Pollito’s big break
Tapia was, until 2017, a familiar name only to the severe padel fanatics. He was still outside of the big spotlight. But that changed when he partnered with veteran Luciano Soliverez and won the Fabrice Pastor Cup, which awarded an all-expenses-paid trip to Spain and a wild card to participate in the pre-qualification round to the main draw of the Barcelona WPT.
Just when everyone thought this duo was just another pairing that would ride the tide, they proved everyone wrong.
Against all expectations, Tapia-Soliverez won four consecutive matches. They entered the main draw to become the darlings of the tournament. Back in the 2017 Buenos Aires Padel Masters he bagged the trophy for the main draw. Along with his partner Luciano Soliverez both players ferociously fought the legendary Cristian Gutierrez and Franco Stupaczuc in the first round. Finally leaving Buenos Aires as the tournament’s hero.
Here’s another footage of his incredible saves at the Sardegna Open:
Shortly after, he moved to Spain and partnered with veteran Marcelo Jardin. In 2018 he played with several partners until he was spotted by former world’s no.1 Juan Martin Diaz, who invited him to join him. But things did not go as expected, with Diaz injuring his left knee, and later Tapia took a break to recover his left foot.
As the famous song goes, even heroes have the right to bleed. But Tapia’s story is far from over.
He returned in 2019 with a temporary lower-ranking partner, Nacho Gadea, to shock the padel world once more. They defeated the ranking leaders Sanyo Gutierrez and Maxi Sanchez to reach the World Padel Tour Valencia Open 2019.
He seems to be destined to become one of the world’s best. In July 2019, as anticipated, legendary Fernando Belasteguin announced that he will partner with Tapia in what is to become one of the most anticipated padel teams of the year.
Check out this video to see his top 5 winning moves in WPT:
Agustin’s signature playing style
He is elegant, aggressive, and a heavy puncher, but at the same time, creative and challenging to read. This is a rare combination. Accordion to a long-time national team coach of Argentina, Jorge Nicolini, there has never been something like Tapia since Juan Martin Diaz. He has some natural level of anticipation and sensibility that would possibly allow him to become a top sportsman at nearly any sports discipline.
Beloved and nurtured by older colleagues. He is cherished by the crowds, only rivaled in popularity by Belasteguin or Miguel Lamperti himself.
