Every Second Counts For Padel Powerhouse Agustín Tapia

One's craft becomes second nature with enough repetition, especially after doing something every day for nearly two decades. For Agustín Tapia, it means knowing where the ball will land before it gets there, finding angles that barely seem to exist and making split-second decisions look deceptively simple. The Argentine has built a career around the difference a fraction of a second can make. In padel, that difference is often the whole point.

We caught up with one of the most exciting names in the sport’s history at Audemars Piguet's first Pro-Am Padel Tournament on Île de Bendor, off the Mediterranean coast of France. Here, padel sat alongside hospitality and the slower rhythms of island life. The appeal is not difficult to understand. A sport built around attention, timing, and shared effort lends itself to a setting designed for people to, in turn, slow down and make the most of an extremely rarefied time and place.

“I think it's a very, very dynamic sport,” he says. “It's a sport where every second counts–you get to the ball a second late, and you can lose the point.”

Tapia has been in the game since he was just eight years old. His family introduced him to padel as a young boy in his hometown of Catamarca, in north-western Argentina. Ever since, the court has been a daily stop. “I think I've stepped onto a padel court every day of my life,” he says.

The sport rewards quick thinking as much as physical ability. Tapia sees the balance clearly. “First, you have to think a lot to be able to play, and play well. Technically, too– the physical side matters a huge amount as well.” Watching him compete, the calculation can be easy to miss. A shot that looks improvised may have been decided several exchanges earlier.

His nickname, “El Mozart de Catamarca”, has followed him from the Argentine junior circuit to the highest level of the professional game. Tapia moved away from home as a teenager to train in Rosario, then headed to Spain at 17 to pursue a career on the international circuit. He became world number one alongside Spanish player Arturo Coello in 2023. The partnership has since collected major titles and established them both as defining forces in modern padel.

Tapia sees accessibility as one of the sport’s greatest strengths. There is something unusually democratic about a sport that can be picked up quickly, even if mastering it is another story entirely. “I think it's a very easy sport to start playing,” he says. “But once you get to the professional level, obviously, it becomes much more complex.”

That accessibility has also been central to the sport’s rapid expansion. Padel is no longer confined to the places where it traditionally thrived. New courts are appearing globally, bringing with them a new generation of players who are drawn to its social side as much as its competitive edge. “It's a sport that attracts all kinds of people, of all ages,” Tapia says. “I'm really happy that padel is growing so much in so many countries.” For someone who has spent almost his entire life in the sport, watching that transformation from the inside must be a strange thing. The game he grew up with is becoming something much bigger than the world he first knew.

That growth has made the court a meeting point for people who might otherwise have little in common. Professionals, first-timers, and athletes from other disciplines have all found reasons to play. Tapia has shared the court with plenty of familiar faces beyond the professional circuit. “For me it's always a pleasure to meet new people through the sport,” he says.

For Tapia, though, the best moments still come down to the game itself. Asked to name his favorite victory, he points to the Paris Major, where he and Coello won the final. Asked who he would most like to play with, he does not hesitate. “A padel match with Arturo Coello, my partner? Yes, always, always.”