ROME (AP) — An unprecedented purse of nearly $1 million during last week’s tournament in Rome. Recent investments by the company that owns the New York Yankees. A successful debut at the European Games, with meetings before enthusiastic crowds the previous month, in the central square of Krakow.
Padel, the fastest growing racket sport in the world among amateur practitioners, is also making great strides at a professional level.
“In Italy and the rest of the world, this sport has no limits,” said Angelo Binaghi, president of the Italian tennis and padel federation in a country where it is growing rapidly.
The nine medals awarded at the European Games in Poland represented the first time the sport had been practiced in an event organized under the Olympic umbrella. Teams from Spain, the world leader in paddle tennis, won gold in the men’s and mixed doubles, while Italy was crowned in the women’s doubles.
“It was a big step for our sport,” said the president of the International Padel Federation, Luigi Carraro. “We show that we have all the characteristics to become an Olympic sport.”
Carraro’s father is Franco, a former member of the International Olympic Committee and still an honorary member. Luigi Carraro therefore has a good vision of how the IOC works.
“I think the IOC is looking at us very closely. He follows us at all our big events,” Carraro said in an interview with The Associated Press.
The International Federation, which already has 71 affiliated national federations, could target its Olympic inclusion as an add-on sport proposed by the organizing committee of some future Games. Brisbane 2032 looks like the closest possibility.
But padel would have problems in a key area and one that has recently become more precious to the IOC: Its appeal among young people.
Recently added sports such as breakdancing, skateboarding, surfing and rock climbing appear to appeal more to youngsters than paddle tennis, which has found success with tennis players changing careers and older adult arenas.
Its similarity to tennis wouldn’t help either.
Played in doubles, inside a court with walls and smaller than a tennis court, paddle tennis is a mix between that sport and squash. Players can smash the ball into the transparent walls and the metal mesh that surrounds the court.
Last year, David Haggerty, president of the International Tennis Federation, lost a vote in his attempt to have that body absorb the International Padel Federation.
Another problem for paddle tennis is that, until now, only two countries stand out at the highest level of the sport. The top 10 players in the Padel World Tour ranking, both for men and women, are from Spain or Argentina.
“Paddle tennis is very strong in countries like Spain, Argentina and Italy, but not everywhere,” said Arturo Coello, first in the ranking. “So it needs to develop in other countries, and that’s why we need the Olympics.”
But the growth rate of paddle tennis is impressive.
There are currently 25 million people playing it in 110 countries, compared to 16 million a couple of years ago. The entire industry is valued at 2,000 million euros (more than 2 million dollars). It would exceed 4,000 million euros by 2026, according to a recent report by the Deloitte firm.
“The numbers are beyond what we could have even imagined a few years ago,” Carraro said. “Once you try padel you fall in love with it and you never stop playing it.”
In addition, the sport is just reaching the United States and India, two large markets that the Federation is targeting for its next phase of development.
In the United States, paddle tennis competes like pickleball, another fast-growing variant of tennis.
“One discipline does not exclude the other,” said Carraro. “Pickleball can grow, the same as squash and badminton, and paddle tennis can definitely grow.”
The Italian Tennis Federation added paddle tennis to its name last year. It’s easy to see why.
There are currently 1.2 million padel players in Italy and 3.1 million tennis players. But the number of those who practice paddle tennis grew 30% last year, compared to 3% in the case of tennis.
If growth continues at this rate, paddle tennis will surpass tennis as the most played racket sport in the country by the end of the decade.
The rise of padel in Italy was partly due to the pandemic, when many sports clubs converted their futsal facilities (known in the country as “calchetto”) into padel courts. It was a response to the suspension of activities involving larger teams.
“It does not make a difference for the growth of paddle tennis if it goes to the Olympics or not,” Binaghi dismissed. “The Olympics are overvalued and paddle tennis shows that. Look what a phenomenon he has become without going to the Olympics. That is why I have told Carraro that he should focus on other issues, not the Olympics. We hardly noticed when tennis was not at the Olympics. It is irrelevant”.
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2023-07-20 05:02:00
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