Lebrón and Galán take over the lead in The Race 2022

With the fourth tournament in the books as the Estrella Damm Alicante Open 2022 concluded last week, The Race 2022 has seen a power shift.

The Race is a ranking based on the current season alone and excluding Challenger events. At the end of the year, the top 16 players (not top eight pairs!) will qualify for the Estrella Damm Master Final 2022 in Barcelona.

Number ones and Alicante winners Juan Lebrón and Alejandro Galán claimed their first tournament win of the season and the Spaniards have now inherited the lead of The Race.

That is one of many changes in the rankings, so without further ado, here are some of the most notable ranking changes after the fourth Open of the year!

A power shift at the top

After their first win of the season, Lebrón and Galán gained 1.000 points, pushing them up six slots to take over the number one position from Agustín Tapia and Sanyo Gutiérrez.

It was the two-time reigning number ones' third consecutive final, giving them 2.285 points, compared to 2.020 points for Tapia and Gutiérrez.

Alejandro Ruiz and Franco Stupaczuk, who announced their split on Monday, did reach the semi-finals in Alicante. This boosted them two slots up to joint-11th.

Furthermore, eight-seed Lucho Capra and Javi Ruiz, still looking to make their first semi-finals in 2022, moved up two places to joint-17th, leaving them just on the outside of the top 16 that would qualify for the Master Final.

Further down the rankings, Rafa Méndez and Salva Oria are big gainers in The Race after reaching their first round of 16 of 2022. They have gone up 13 slots to become joint-23rd, sitting on 295 points.

Also read: Alicante in numbers: Salazar reaches unprecedented milestone, Lebrón equals historic record

Two other qualifiers who made the round of 16 were Raúl Marcos and Javi García, and they were the biggest gainers inside the top 50. The two Spaniards have gained 21 places, going up from 55th to 33rd.

Regular rankings changes

In the regular World Padel Tour rankings, Agustín Tapia has gone up one spot to become the new number five player of the world. Argentinians Juan Tello and Federico Chingotto have both gone up one place too to become joint-ninth.

Both Javi Garrido and Javi Ruiz have gained a single place as well, putting them at 18th and 20th respectively. Garrido was again knocked out in the round of 16 in Alicante, while Ruiz made it to the quarter-finals.

Looking further down, Alejandro Arroyo is the biggest gainer, going up four places to become the new number 36. Inside the top 50, Agustín Gutiérrez also moved up four places, putting him 41st.