The Finals Dance of Ari and Paula, queens of the new world

“The Finals Dance” by Ari and Paula: “We have one last tournament together, the most special one.” They wrote it on social media yesterday, making official the end of an extraordinary era. Theirs. Ari Sánchez and Paula Josemaría will play together one last time, then each will continue on her own brilliant path, after five extraordinary years. Reflecting themselves in the legend of padel, they will hug one last time in a special way: after winning the first historic world title at the FIP World Cup Pairs, a triumph that engraves them even more deeply into history. The Barcelona Finals will be their last tournament together. “The Finals Dance.”

To tell the story of Ari and Paula, you must start with the numbers and “play” them, because when you are this great, numbers become music. They won 44 titles together in 5 years, an incredible record that made them the winningest pair ever, reaching and reclaiming the top of the world ranking multiple times. But the greatness of Ari and Paula isn’t carved only in these figures.

Their dominance arrived in padel’s “New World”, in a completely new, modern, global context: a fully professionalized padel, radically transformed by the global vision of the FIP and Premier Padel—architects of a circuit that has revolutionized standards, expectations, pressure, spectacle, and the relationship with fans, opening itself entirely to a world that couldn’t wait for it.

To sum it up: Ari and Paula dominated the “New World” of women’s padel. Their reign—because we are indeed speaking of queens—came at a time when padel became pop and global at every level, technical and media-related, when every rally generates content, every loss fuels debates and—at times—poisonous gossip. A time in which pressure is ferocious, constant, infinitely amplified by the social media world. One bad tournament, a dip in form—something completely normal for any athlete—and suddenly speculation erupts, imagined tensions, rushed verdicts, and rumored farewells.

And yet Ari and Paula resisted all of this by remaining simple. Smiling. Positive. Always. They were an incredibly strong pair, yes, but above all an example of sincere friendship, complicity, and respect. They won because they were strong: technically, physically, mentally.

But they conquered the world because they were genuine. Their padel was a reflection of their character: bright, direct, enthusiastic. Their way of living the court, the tour, the fans taught us that winning is essential, but it’s not everything. That you can dominate without stopping the fun of it. That you can lead a movement without losing your lightness. That you can become a global symbol while staying true to yourself. Now The Finals Dance arrives. The last dance. The last embrace after an impossible point. The last exchange of glances before a break point. The last knowing smile worth more than a thousand words.

It won’t be a goodbye, because stories like theirs never truly end. Literally. This is the magic of padel, ladies and gentlemen: having won the World Title, the FIP World Cup Pairs, for the next two years they will remain together in glory and history, and reigning world champions, even while facing each other as opponents. But it will be a moment to remember: the celebration of a pair that changed padel, that showed what it means to be number one in the New World, that taught that you can win a lot without ever losing your soul. And when in Barcelona the last dance begins, The Finals Dance, all of padel—the fans’, the clubs’, the social networks’, the amateurs’ and professionals’—will pause for a moment. Just one moment, to say “thank you.” Simply.