Mike Yanguas on his collaboration with Bela: ”I used to watch him on TV when I was little”

Mike Yanguas has spent part of this year playing with Fernando Belasteguín. The player talks about his partnership and the season in a major interview with the Spanish newspaper Marca.

Mike Yanguas has played with several different partners during the year. Together with Momo Gonzalez he managed to win the Reus Open in April. But the pair broke up shortly afterwards to start new partnerships and that's when the legend Fernando Belasteguín called.  

”It was a strange day, I was playing the round of 16 with Momo in Granada, we had (the day before) beaten Ruiz and Bergamini and played a great match and before I went out on the court (at the round of 16) Momo told me that Sanyo had called him. I understood him very well but it is true that it was a strange feeling”, Yanguas tells Marca.

He continues:

”We lost, I was sad because of the loss but in the afternoon Bela called me and then my mood changed quickly. I used to watch him on TV when I was little, during his time with Juan Martin, and to realise that he calls you to play with him - it's a unique feeling”.

Yanguas further tells the newspaper that he saw the collaboration as a challenge:

”When Bela calls you, the first thing you think is that you have to change things to make it work. I took it as a challenge, very motivated, of course, and from the first moment I told my father that I have to make the most of it. We have played some very good games, but the level of Coello/Tapia and Superpibes (Di Nenno/Stupa) has been outstanding”.

The team's best performance this year on the World Padel Tour has been making it to the semifinals. Yanguas says they get along very well and have a lot of fun off the court.

”I already got along very well with him before we started playing together, we had a very good connection. He is a great father, a great husband, and very responsible. He also takes good care of me, he always has everything ready for me when I visit him. Every time I go to Barcelona we have a lot of fun, we laugh all day, we joke - it's a lot of fun”.

Currently, Mike Yanguas is in Sweden playing the WPT tournament in Malmö. He is playing the tournament with Pablo García as Bela is recovering from an injury. The pair managed to win the first round and will play against Galan/Lebron today.