The padel court of Unicum. (Photo: TPC Unicum).
Brand new Dutch champion Uriël Maarsen is working hard in the world of padel sport. The trainer at the Leiden Unicum is the number 238 in the world and notices that the level in the Netherlands is increasing. “Especially in the Spanish-speaking countries, so in Spain and Latin America, the sport is very big. But TV channel Ziggo will also broadcast major tournaments in the Netherlands this season.”
Padel is a relatively new sport within the tennis family. “It’s a kind of mix between tennis, squash and badminton,” explains Maarsen. You follow the rules of tennis, but on a smaller field, with a kind of cage around it. At the back and parts of the side are glass walls. If the ball has touched the ground, it may also bounce against those walls.”
Sport071 presenter Cor van der Velden in conversation with Uriël Maarsen.
Where in regular tennis the players mainly have to run from left to right and from front to back, padel has a completely different dynamic: “It is really a 3D experience, in which you have to turn a lot around your axis and once high, then again should hit low.” Another difference is the team: “Padel is always two against two. One against one hardly exists and there are in any case no official matches of that.” Maarsen plays together with Bram Meijer, the number 234 in the world.
The pair came to the Dutch Championships as the three-time champions, so expectations were high. “We had all won other tournaments in the Netherlands last year, so we played with a certain pressure,” says Maarsen.
“A number of Dutch people have recently started training in Spain, where the level is a lot higher. We were curious about their development and whether we could still beat them. Fortunately, we succeeded.” The NK in March was the postponed edition of 2021. “At the end of the year there will also be a NK 2022, which is special, yes.”
Unique
Maarsen himself ended up in padel through tennis: “I lived in Spijkenisse in 2006 and I played tennis fanatically. A number of entrepreneurs then built a padel court and asked me to give it a try.” The rest is history.
To make a new generation enthusiastic about the sport, Maarsen gives training sessions at the Leiden association Unicum. “You can register via the padelritmo site. You can find all the information there.”
Leiden Sports
