Alejandro Ruiz Granados is a professional padel player born in Malaga, Spain, on June 12, 1994. Interestingly, this left-handed padel player fought for his sporting career despite his diabetes and is now one of the most important players in the world in this discipline.
His talent and professionalism contributed, to a large extent, to a top 10 ranking on the Word Padel Tour. Alejandro, also known as Alex, has played the drive position throughout his career, is about 1.78 m tall, weighs between 85 kg and 95 kg and is one of the most versatile players on Tour.
Trajectory
Alex Ruiz and Matías Marina began to write their history as padel players at a very young age. They have known each other since they were kids and played together in smaller tournaments, but when they made the leap to professional padel, they separated.
They did gain experience from other players and eventually chose to pair up in 2015. Eventually they won their first title in the professional category; Cordoba Challenger of Kaos.
In the following years:
- The Malagués finally opted for Fernando Poggi’s experience, but in 2018 Alex was already ranked 23rd in the men’s padel ranking and was considered a promising talent.
- With a determined pace, it continued to develop and consolidated its intentions by incorporating Agustín Gómez Silingo. The duo, homonymous as ‘Marvel Team’, includes Gomez as the Hulk and Alex as Captain America.
- During the 2019 season he played a total of twenty tournaments and although he did not win any, he and his partner Martín Sánchez Piñeiro were finalists in two tournaments; Cascais Padel Master (Portugal) and Paris Padel Challenger (France).
- Later in the 2020 season, Ruiz teamed up with Pablo Lijo Santos, a 29th ranked player. As Alex had one of his best seasons with Martin Sanchez Piñeiro, Pablo Lijo could help him continue the previous work as both have very similar backhand characteristics.
- 2021 he partner up with Stupaczuk and they won 2 titles: Sardegna Open 2021 and México Open 2021 both against Di nenno and Paquito Navarro
- 2022 he is plays with Momo Gonzalez. They won against pair number 1 in Marbella Master 2022, and they reached the final.
His track record shows us how the lefty player prefers to team up with younger and more energetic backhand players. He tries to push as soon as possible to an offensive position and shows a lot of maturity during his game.
Strenghts:
- Tall Lefty: In addition to being young and tall, he is left-handed player, which allows him to form a team with a lot of offensive strength on both sides.
- Maturity and agility: During his career he has given us an impressive demonstration of maturity, but his agility is one of his main attributes on the court. When regaining position at the net, Alex not only chooses the right method most of the time, but also manages to consolidate his offensive position for a longer period of time.
- Kick Bandeja: As the Malagués is an energetic and tall athlete, he has the ability to strategically place the ball. He can make an excellent smash, but his famous sidebar kick layup causes great uncertainty under the bounce and is usually a reliable option.
- Smash recovery: Thanks to his height, he is able to quickly recover his opponent’s smash at the net. His athleticism allows him to get up and use his wrist to attack the opponent’s smash. He usually throws the ball over the three-meter-high sidebar.
Weaknesses:
- Aggressiveness: Being a tall and agile player, his style of play is more objective and aggressive. His defensive skills and batting decisions, therefore, are not always adapted to all game situations.
- Defense: He has difficulty returning shots that bounce too low in the corner. On the other hand, he makes poor decisions because he is not comfortable in a defensive position and prefers to create transition as quickly as possible.
Tactical Summary
In terms of his tactical game, Alex really has an energetic and aggressive padel style. He is constantly looking to transition quickly into attack, which is similar to many other young offensive talents who continue to move up the ranks.
At the end of the day, we can summarize Alex’s style of play as direct and upfront. He feels most comfortable near the net and presses hard with cutting moves, flat volleys and trays to the sidebar. His offensive power, moreover, compensates for his defensive problems with constant net recoveries and attacking shots.
How do you see your future?
Until 2015, Alejandro was looking for a partner to act as his mentor. That is, an experienced player to play alongside him who could guide him and teach him on the way up. As a counterpart, lately he has preferred to play with players who use pure strength and this meets the more modern style of padel.
He was able to reach the 2019 Masters Finals, where he was just one win away from his best performance. Players like Agustín Gómez Silingo, Stupaczuk or Momo let Álex manage the game and the risk with more shots to the net and doubling the offensive force while subtracting consistency to the game. And is that partners with this style of play, can be more relaxed and focuses both on developing the scoring and keeping the pace with a strong attacking style. Given that his padel style is more modern, fast and offensive, Alex is on the right track if he manages to stay injury free during the ongoing exponential growth.