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The Gladiator
Every point is the point.
The Gladiator has no friendly mode. There's the match, and then there's the after-match: in between there are no shades. Even the warm-up, if you let it run long enough, turns competitive.
How they play
He goes at the ball. He comes to the net whenever he can, often when he can't, and turns every rally into a question of will. His padel is built on intensity rather than precision: he'd rather close in two shots at forty per cent risk than construct in six at ninety. And when it comes off, the point counts double — because he's won it psychologically as well.
Strengths
He changes the momentum. In flat matches, where everyone is playing within themselves, The Gladiator is the one who raises the level a notch and drags his partner up with him. A break down, he's the player you want on court, because being behind is simply one more reason.
The weak side
Management. The intensity that makes him lethal in the first two sets empties him in the third, and frustration after an error can sit on him for a whole game. Against The Wall he risks burning himself out, hitting harder and harder at somebody with no intention of missing first.
The ideal partner
Works best with The General. Left alone he burns; channelled he becomes a weapon. The General tells him where, he supplies the how. With another Gladiator it's tremendous fun to watch and statistically a disaster.
"Mine!" (it was his partner's)
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