Do you know what is the average age of a player padel in the World Top 10 ? This interesting statistic is brought to us by Martin Echegaray Vales, old Technical Director of the Spanish Federation of padel.

For men, 2019 marks a turning point

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For many years, the elite of padel masculine resembled a caste. A private group, very selective and which admits into its ranks only members who have already proven themselves. The changes of partners may well exist, they never really called into question the established order.

This is how over the years, the average age of the players making up the top 10 has continued to climb, going from 30 years old in 2005 to 35 years old in 2018!

But the appearance as impressive as brutal of the young guard ended up shaking all that. For the second year in a row, the average age is down sharply, even reaching its lowest level in 17 years. The emergence of players like Lebron, Galan, Tapia, Tello or Chingotto metaphormosed the Top 10 as much as the game itself.

It is now likely that this average will stabilize and increase in the years to come as these young players gain experience. It remains to be seen how long the older generation will be able to resist the assaults of this new wave of ultra promising players (Di Nenno, Rico, Nieto, Stupa ...)

4 rico defense players

A renewal of the elite among women

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On the female side, the decline was not as pronounced as for men, but it is indeed a structural trend that we are witnessing. Since 2014, the world top 10 has continued to grow younger thanks to the arrival of young players like Bea Gonzalez (youngest player to win a WPT title) to the detriment of more established players like Carolina Navarro, Cela Reiter or Ana Catarina Nogueira.

bea gonzalez marta ortega celebrate victory Marbella

The various academies, especially in Spain, have been able to identify talented young people and bring them very quickly to a level that allows them to fight against the best in the world. Although Spain's hegemony is total at the highest level (the top 12 players in the table are Spanish), it is also important to note thatbeyond the Top 10, we see young players of various nationalities arriving on the circuit. Whether from Portugal, Argentina or France, the women's circuit today seems more open than ever to seeing young foreign players arrive who will come to lower the average age of their elite even further.

Malick N'diaye padel chronicler

If tennis is a sport that drives you mad, then multiply that madness by 2 and you will get the padel.

An expatriate in Malaga, passionate about sports and photography, Malick immediately fell for the padel. If you can't find him on a short working his “bandeja”, He will probably be hiking, GoPro in hand.

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