Discover the beginnings of one of the World’s best Padel players with us at Padel1969. Read along to know all about Paquito Navarro, a World Padel Tour professional who is regarded as one of the top padel players in the world and a soldier on the court.
Who is Paquito Navarro
Francisco Navarro Compán, also known as Paquito Navarro, is a well-known Spanish professional padel player. He presently occupies the eighth spot in the world padel tour rankings after racking up an impressive 8195 points. Noteworthy of attention is his victory percentage of 74.10%, which highlights his success on the court, Navarro has won 15 games in a row, a rare performance that highlights his talent and commitment. He has made an enduring impression on the Padel community with 432 victories out of 583 games played, establishing himself as a top-tier player. Navarro’s influence on the sport is evident, and it only becomes stronger as his career develops.
Paquito Navarro is the only Spanish player who has become Spanish Champion in all categories.
Paquito’s Padel Chart
Navarro has one of the best charts in the WPT.
Table 1
| Name | Francisco Jesús Navarro Compán (Paquito Navarro) |
| Birthplace | Seville, Spain |
| Birthdate | February 10th 1989 |
| Height | 5′ 11″ (180 cm) |
| Sport | Padel |
| Playing position | Reverse (backhand) |
| Active years | 2009- present |
| Partners | Jordi Muñoz (2009) and again in (2013) Pablo Cardozo and Pitu Losada (2010) Adrián Allemandi (2012) and again in (2014) Maxi Grabiel (2014) Matias Díaz (2015) Sanyo Gutiérrez (2016- 2017) Juan Martín Díaz, Pablo Lima, Juan Cruz Belluati (2018) Juan Lebrón (2019) Pablo Lima (2020) Martín Di Nenno (2021-2022) Juan Tello (2022-2023) Federico Chingotto (2023- current) |
Will You Rally with Me?… Paquito’s Debut in Padel
He started playing Padel at the age of 5 with his family in Almeria, the town where he spent his summers as a young child. His father and older brother would stay between changes or at the end of each game they played in the town’s padel court, to rally with him. he would famously ask them to rally each chance he could “¿peloteamos?”, only for them to play with him for 5 minutes.
He took his first paddle tennis class at 7 years old, and there and then his training began. At an early age, he knew to follow in the footsteps of his elders and pay close attention to the advanced students. It was there, at the Zaudín club in Seville that Paquito became addicted to Padel Tennis.
Raising Up from the Ashes
Navarro started participating in his first competitions, at the age of nine, impressing everyone who watched him play. By the time he turned ten, he had secured second place worldwide in his age category. At 14, he made another appearance at a global championship for players of his age, once again losing in the final match.
When he turned 16, he entered the next world competition in the junior category, making it to the final but experiencing defeat once more. Following this, he continued honing his skills alongside Adrián Allemandi until he reached the age of 20 when he finally broke the curse by winning World Champion for National Teams (Spain) in Cancun in 2010.
Ambidextrous Will
After Paco’s “last dance” with Martin de Nenno and the phenomenal partnership they had, Navarro decided to switch up his game and try to learn something new. Many think that the future of the sport will involve more chameleon-like players and less defined roles for backhand (reverse) and forehand (drive) players; the ideal is for a player to be able to play on both sides and at the same level. Thus, in 2022, Paquito decided to try and play in the drive position alongside Juan Tello in the reverse position. He wanted to test his ability as a drive player, giving him and his padel partner until the end of the season to decide whether to continue with the project for 2023 or return to his natural position.
Paquito is known for embracing challenges, and this occasion was no different. In the five remaining tournaments that season, they reached two semifinals, and won the Mexico Open. However, retrospectively, Paquito Navarro felt like he did not have a good season and decided to go back to his original playing style and put an end to what he called “a crazy idea”.
Paquito Navarro’s Opinion on Playing Drive
He stated that he came out of this experience as a winner, explaining that after what he went through, he understands better the position of his partners as a Backhand player. Drive players seemed to merely run in parallel and were there to tidy up the play, but it became clear that they did the same or more work than the player on the backhand. He called the experience a non-productive step in terms of outcomes, but a fruitful step in terms of learning.
Tournaments Paquito Won
Paquito’s career is full of extraordinary achievements. He is considered to be one of Padel tennis’s most exceptional legends. He is known to be very demanding on himself and his partners in the padel courts. Paquito Navarro is an exemplary athlete, as is shown in the following table.
| Achievement | Year | Partner |
| Valencia | 2014 | Maxi Grabiel |
| San Fernando Open | 2014 | Maxi Grabiel |
| Barcelona Master | 2015 | Matias Díaz |
| Valencia Master | 2016 | Sanyo Gutiérrez |
| La Nucía Open | 2016 | Sanyo Gutiérrez |
| WPT Master Finals Champion | 2016 | Sanyo Gutiérrez |
| Santander Open | 2017 | Sanyo Gutiérrez |
| Miami Master | 2017 | Sanyo Gutiérrez |
| Valladolid Open | 2017 | Sanyo Gutiérrez |
| Seville Open | 2017 | Sanyo Gutiérrez |
| Andorra Open | 2017 | Sanyo Gutiérrez |
| Bilbao Open | 2018 | Pablo Lima |
| Alicante Open | 2019 | Juan Lebrón |
| Jaén Master | 2019 | Juan Lebrón |
| Valladolid Master | 2019 | Juan Lebrón |
| Sweden Open | 2019 | Juan Lebrón |
| São Paulo Open | 2019 | Juan Lebrón |
| Marbella Master | 2020 | Pablo Lima |
| Spanish Absolute Champion | 2020 | Juan Martín Díaz |
| Barcelona Master | 2021 | Martín Di Nenno |
| Córdoba Open | 2021 | Martín Di Nenno |
| Buenos Aires Master | 2021 | Martín Di Nenno |
| Vigo Open | 2022 | Martín Di Nenno |
| Qatar Major Champion | 2022 | Martín Di Nenno |
| Santander Open | 2022 | Martín Di Nenno |
| Mexico Open | 2022 | Juan Tello |
He also won a premiere title, the Doha Major, alongside Martin de Nenno in 2022.
In 2021, Paquito participated in the World Padel Championship.
Outside of the WPT, Paquito Navarro has also won many titles,
- World Champion for National Teams (Spain) Cancun 2010.
- Champion of Spain for Autonomous Regional Teams (Andalusia).
- Four-time Under-23 Spanish Champion. In 2010 alongside Gonzalo Rubio. In 2011 alongside Pedro Alonso-Martínez.
- Andalusian Team Champion (Sato Sport).
- Runner-up in the 2011 Spanish Absolute Championship, alongside Pitu Losada
- World Runner-up with Spain 2016
- European Padel Championship 2017, played with Juan Martín Díaz
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