Jon Sanz Calls Out Premier Padel for Blocking Player Teams

Jon Sanz did not hold back after his round-of-16 win at Premier Padel. Paired with Coki Nieto, the Spanish pair beat Juan Tello and Maxi Arce 7/5 6/1, then walked straight into the press conference and unloaded on the tour's management of player entourages.

Sanz's core complaint: Premier Padel is actively making it harder for players to work with their own support staff on site. Coaches, physical trainers, hitting partners. The people who keep a professional athlete at peak level across a grueling tour calendar. Blocking access to those people is not a minor administrative issue. It directly affects performance and physical recovery.

This is not the first time a player has raised concerns about Premier Padel's operational rules. The tour is still young, launched in 2022, and the friction between the FIP-backed structure and players used to the more flexible APT or World Padel Tour environment is real. APT events tend to give teams far more paddock freedom. Premier Padel's model is tighter, more controlled, more tennis-ATP in its approach.

For players ranked outside the top 10 who rely on independent coaches rather than federation support, the restrictions hit harder. Sanz and Nieto are competitive enough to reach the last 16 at a Premier Padel event. That level requires daily technical work, not just match warm-ups supervised by a tour-approved physio.

Sanz is right to say it out loud. The tour needs player buy-in to grow. Putting obstacles between athletes and their teams is the kind of friction that pushes talent toward rival circuits. Fix the access rules or keep hearing about it.