BELA’S STORY
Fernando Belasteguín is a professional padel player. Born in Pehuajó-Argentina in 1979, now living in Barcelona, Spain. Bela lays the backhand position in pairs with Tino Libaak. He was the youngest player to hold a World Nº1 title at 22 years old. Merits include being Padel World Nº1 for 16 years (2002-2018) and winner of 230 out of 286 finals played. Now, at the age of 45 he is still playing at the highest level.
BELA’S STORY
Fernando Belasteguín is a professional padel player. Born in Pehuajó-Argentina in 1979, now living in Barcelona, Spain. Bela lays the backhand position in pairs with Tino Libaak. He was the youngest player to hold a World Nº1 title at 22 years old. Merits include being Padel World Nº1 for 16 years (2002-2018) and winner of 230 out of 286 finals played. Now, at the age of 45 he is still playing at the highest level.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
1990
Bela begins to play padel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at the Club Atlético Gral in 1990. As you can see in the photo above, Bela was also playing football at that time. He soon began to stand out in padel and decided to continue with this sport that years later would lead him to glory.
1995
He became professional in 1995 at the age of 15. In 2000 he was proclaimed the best player in Argentina. Just a year before, Belasteguín had decided to stop playing padel at a professional level, but a call from one of the best players of the time, Roby Gattiker, made Bela return to the competition. In the first two photos Bela is with Mauro Ferracci and Gonzalo Díaz
2002
Fernando Belasteguín joins Juan Martín Díaz and begins the story of the most glorious couple in the history of padel. That same year they managed to finish as number 1 in the world. They will maintain this position during the 13 years that they are together.
2005 – 2007
1 year and 9 months. It is the longest winning streak in the history of padel. Bela and Díaz were from September 2005 to June 2007 without losing. They achieved 22 tournaments in total, 17 of them in the 2006 season, when they didn’t lose any game.
2015
After 13 years being Juan Martín Díaz’s partner, Belasteguín decides to face new challenges and joins the Brazilian Pablo Lima. With him she will manage to maintain the number 1 in the world for 3 more seasons.
2018
An injury leaves Belasteguín out of the fight to keep the number 1 in the world. Bela acknowledges that he was close to leaving the paddle. The hardest moment in Fernando’s career. But Bela was back.
2019
He started the season playing alongside Pablo Lima. In the middle of the season Augustín Tapia became his new sports partner, achieving victory in the “Madrid Master” and the final “Master Final”.
2021
Belasteguín teams up with Daniel “Sanyo” Gutierrez. It is a year marked by injuries. But together they get 3 titles before breaking the couple. Bela ends the year with Arturo Coello.
2022
Fernando Belasteguín plays all year 2022 with the young Arturo Coello. They win the first tournament of the year in Miami. They did a great performance in the second part of the season, reaching several finals and winning in Madrid, Amsterdam and Mexico. In addition, Belasteguín won the World Cup with Argentina by winning the decisive match.
2023
Bela returns with “Sanyo” and they had a good beginning joining the final in Doha. The 286th final in Bela’s career.
Since May Bela is playing with Miguel “Mike” Yanguas, one of the youngest players with the most future of padel in Spain.
2024
Bela faces the last year of his career. He has finished his career playing with the young Argentinian Tino Libaak. During the year he experiences very exciting moments such as saying goodbye as a professional in Argentina (photo). At 45 years old, he continues to give his all every day to be competitive until the end.
….
