Valladolid junior padel finals crowned six champions in dramatic weekend

Valladolid turned into a stress test for Spain’s junior padel pipeline, with six champions crowned across a packed FIP Promises weekend and the boys Under-18 final decided only after a super tie-break. Pablo Chacon Diaz and Leon David Ruiz Shannon outlasted Ruth Petit Segarra and Aina Etxebarria 7-6, 2-6, 10-8 in the marquee title match, the kind of finish that exposed how thin the margin was at the top of the draw.

The event ran from July 3 to July 5, 2026, in Valladolid, Spain, with qualification scheduled for July 2 if needed, main draw play beginning July 3 and finals day set for July 5. FIP listed six match courts and three practice courts, a setup that kept the action moving across a 32-pair main draw and a 32-pair qualifying draw. On Friday, the order of play spread round-robin matches across all six courts, including U18 girls and U14 boys, a heavy workload that gave the juniors far more live match pressure than a typical one-court weekend.

That depth showed up in the trophies. Ian Garcia Calvo and Jaime Rodriguez Gonzalez won the boys Under-16 title, while Maria Mora Sanz and Celia Alarcon Garcia took the girls Under-18 crown. Samantha Fernandez Call and Marina Serrano Herrera captured the girls Under-16 title, Gabriela Martinez Morales and Kiara Bjorklund won girls Under-14, and Rubern Benito Lozano with Alejandro Perez San Roman took boys Under-14. Six draws, six titles, and no shortage of tight brackets told the same story: this was not a weekend for runaway favorites.

The most revealing part of Valladolid was the range, not just the winners. FIP’s Promises ranking covers Under-12 through Under-18, and its 2026 regulations allow points to carry forward as players move up an age category. That makes results like Chacon Diaz and Ruiz Shannon’s U18 survival, plus the U16 titles for Garcia Calvo, Rodriguez Gonzalez, Fernandez Call and Serrano Herrera, especially valuable. They were not just collecting trophies in Valladolid; they were banking results that can travel with them into tougher FIP competition.

Valladolid’s 2026 edition also fit into a larger pattern. The city hosted a Promises stop in 2025 as well, and this one had the feel of a fixture rather than a one-off, with finals starting at 10:00 AM on Sunday and the courts busy from the first round-robin ball struck. In a week crowded with youth events, Valladolid stood out because the matches were close enough to tell the difference between promise and readiness.