The professional paddle returns to Spain. As if it were a pleasant visit, the best shovels in the world have returned to national territory for two weeks in a calendar that already exhibits the emancipation of a sport that live by passport, plane and tours and which tells us see you soon more frequently than previous stages.
Because until relatively recently paddle tennis was a Spanish sport. And, yes, I speak Spanish well. His professional explosion took place in the Peninsula during all those years in which circuits hardly aspired to cross the Pyrenees. Mexico and Argentina -let no one rewrite history- they also have their merit and responsibility.
Paquito Navarro and Martín Di Nenno in a WPT tournament.
Two decades where, due to economy and culture, it was Spain and little else with the well-known circuits Beafeter, Padel Pro Tour and company. With sporadic pioneers proclaiming a new sport similar to tennis, this discipline with a markedly Latin character grew almost in ostracism for the world in that nostalgic country that lives mired in what could have been and was not. And, sporadically, he visited two nations with identical idiosyncrasies: Portugal and Argentina.
A stage that, in turn, would allow the generation of an industry around a buoyantly successful sport and in full social democratization. Even with little rigor and well-known cases of malpractice, it would continue to grow until it formed a sector that needed to puncture a bubble. And we call it internationalization.
Juan Martín Díaz and Fernando Belasteguín in a PPT match
The paddle it had become so big in less than a decade that it needed to jump outside. And the best letter of introduction to take advantage of the spaces opened up by the industry was the professional elite. Or World Padel Tour, which at that time was the same. With a lot of effort, work, investment from groups like Damm and some notable failures in Dubai or Miami, paddle tennis would germinate in various scenarios. Sweden and Italy have not been a coincidence.
For many years, professional paddle tennis had been played solely and exclusively in Spain and although it appeared timidly in sporadic events, it would not appear strongly until the WPT calendar in 2018. Year, curiously, of the embarrassing World Cup in Paraguay and the change of presidency in the IFJ.
The truth is the big change would come in 2020. With the health pandemic involved, many feared an emergency stop and, instead, it ended up ordering itself and emerging towards a globalization that is already a reality.
The first exhibition in London of WPT.
Since then the paddle is another. As a professional sport and industry. The arrival of capital investment, the creation of projects such as Prime Minister has fallen o A1 Padel and the opening to new scenarios have caused it to be more present outside than within our borders. “The paddle is out” is a mantra that is repeated every day in any club, brand or company.
And reason is not lacking. If we stick to the current professional season, the data is incontestable. Of the 53 tests that will be played this season between WPT, Premier and A1 Pádel, only 16 will do so on Spanish soil. Just three years ago, in year 0 of the new paddle tennis, there were 14 of 21. With the large number of opportunities that this gave the fan to continue and experience the professional circuit.
The Roma Major 2022 of Premier Padel.
Seville, Reus, Granada, Alicante, Vigo, Marbella, Castellón, Valladolid, Valencia, Madrid (x2), Malaga, Tenerife, Menorca, Santander and Barcelona They will be their headquarters in this 2023 except for new additions or cancellations.
A reality that responds to a reason. The paddle, a sport still young, is looking for the narrative that allows him to create his own story and from which he will live for the next 100 years. And, for this, it is essential to expand the range of scenarios, incorporate a greater spectrum of nationalities in the players and promote healthy sports competition between nations and identities. That is the nature of sport.
The public in Cape Town watching the A1 Padel test.
Now that paddle tennis has returned to Reus and faces the Granada Open, it’s a good time to be aware that Spain, and the public, is saying goodbye to paddle tennis as we knew it. And even with the bitterness of what was and is no longer, it has the satisfaction of knowing that it is the mecca of a discipline that aims at mass sports. Many have been those who have worked for and for it. In the audience and backstage.
And, all this, if the organizations, politicians and federations know how to exploit it, is one of the best recognitions that can be had.
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