NOS Sports•today, 06:11
When the awards ceremony of the National Padel Championships is over, the brand new Dutch champions Bram Meijer and Sten Richters call their family members onto the court. About thirty of them pose cheerfully for the photographers.
That snapshot had to be taken, because Meijer and Richters don’t see their family that often anymore. In their hunt to join the international padel top, they emigrated to Spain in January.
They live in a small apartment one floor at the back of Terrassa, an unattractive suburb of Barcelona, together with two other Dutch padellers. “The rooms are a kind of broom hut, you can just walk around the bed,” Richters laughs.
But they are happy to talk about it. They felt they had no choice but to leave family and friends behind. Because the only way to get better is to train as much as possible with the Spanish top.
Obliged to their position
In the final of the National Championships in Eindhoven, Meijer and Richters beat Youp de Kroon and Julian Prins 6-2, 6-3 in front of more than 700 spectators. They owed it to their position to win the title. Richters (24) and Meijer (29) were defending champions and are full professionals, of which there are few in the Netherlands. It is Meijer’s seventh national title, and the younger Richters’ second.
“But the pressure was very high,” says Meijer. “A few weeks ago we had lost to another Dutch couple, so we were now really keen to show who we really are.”
‘Strategist’ Meijer and ‘young god’ Richters want to reach the padel top via Spain
That worked: in Eindhoven they were able to show what they have learned in Southern Europe in recent months. Spain has about 3.5 million padel players, making it the most popular sport in the country after football. Roughly three-quarters of the top hundred in the world rankings consist of Spaniards.
Get pissed off
“We are the best in the Netherlands, but if you want to get better you have to go to Spain,” says Meijer. “We are looking for a higher level there. Play a lot and a lot get pissed off.”
Richters and Meijer are around 180th in the world rankings. They want to move up step by step, the top 150 is now the goal. Training and learning with better players should help with this.
“Those top players make very few unnecessary mistakes and play with high pressure,” says Richters. “If you reach that level, it comes down to tactical choices. It is very hard work for us to grow to that level.”
Boring
Because don’t see their stay in Spain as a holiday in disguise. Richters: “When I tell people that I live near Barcelona, they respond enthusiastically. But it is actually quite boring, but we are happy to do that.”
Meijer adds: “We leave home at 8 o’clock and train twice. We come back at the end of the afternoon. Then it’s time to eat, rest and sleep. We hardly see the beach or the city.”
After the National Championship title has been celebrated with friends and family, Meijer and Richters will not be seen much in Spain. The international padel season is starting. They fly to Sweden on Thursday. In the rest of the month they play in the Canary Islands, Italy, Dubai and Qatar.
