Cristian Germán Gutiérrez, also known in the padel world as ‘Sanyito’ for being the nephew of the former world number 1, is one of the 15 players who this year has decided to take a turn in his professional life and has signed a new contract with A1 Padel after several years competing in the World Padel Tour and then in Premier Padel.
Cristian, who is over 35 years old and rated 85th in the FIP rankings, reveals to MARCA why he wants to go to more final rounds on the circuit, which is overseen by Fabrice Pastor, with Miguel González, a Spaniard who is ranked 87. “Right now I want to be as high as possible in A1. My goal in padel now is to be very motivated on a day-to-day basis, and I know that if I keep that up, the results will come,” the Argentine explains.
Cristian and his partner have a two-year contract that requires them to participate in all A1 Masters and Grandmasters events as well as at least 60% of the Open tournaments. He does not, however, rule out participating in other events. “We will comply with that and then we will go to play some Premier or FIP tournaments, depending on how we are and the schedule is ,” he says.
Actually, Gutiérrez and Gonza Alfonso (number 1 of A1 Padel 2024) have previously participated in the Premier season’s opening competition in Riyadh. “I was left free and without a partner when I signed for A1 but I wanted to play it, Gonza too… and the truth is that I’m happy. If we all played with the freedom and ease that he does, things would go better for us. He makes the difficult easy,” he said.
He added: “Why can’t I make a living like any other worker? A carpenter goes to a house and does one thing, goes to another and does another… I hope that tomorrow we will be truly free.”
