Players have started to step up in recent weeks regarding harsh playing conditions in extreme heat.

Already in Italy, during the Major, we were able to see a large system put in place by the organization : outdoor fans, misters, parasols, cooling towels to put around the neck and cooling breaks allowed after a long game.

Italy Major heats Lucas Bergamini

Summer, a complicated period because of the heat

As a reminder, the FIP has decided that the four Majors of the year (Doha, Rome, Paris and Acapulco) would be played outdoors. If the sun had not hit too hard in Qatar, it was not the same in Rome. Furthermore, during the Greenweez Paris Major 2023, some meetings had to be postponed due to the high temperatures. We also remember, two years ago during the WPT French Padel Open in Toulouse, extreme temperatures at the Palais des Sports André-Brouat.

This year again, several players have already complained about the difficult conditions in which they played. Martin Di Nenno, Alejandro Galan and, the latest, Aranzazu Osoro. During the FIP Platinum Sardegna, the one we nicknamed the Viking, walked off the track at the end of her meet, telling the camera: “Inhuman. It's inhumane“. In fact, he did more than 33° in the middle of the afternoon, when the matches were being played.

What solutions are possible?

Now, a question arises: should we avoid times when heat peaks are at their highest in summer to favor night sessions and the morning matches?

When tournaments are played indoors, this track can be completely preferred, although it raises a major problem: shortened rest time for the players who would play the last matches. By starting late (especially if there is only one field as may be the case from the semi-finals), the matches will be likely to end at two or even three o'clock in the morning. For gamers, this could quickly become inconceivable, especially if it happens repeatedly.

Additionally, if the tournament is played outdoors, players could be hampered by a lack of visibility. Still during the Italy Major, it is Maxi Gabriel, the coach of Coki Nieto et Jon sanz, who had complained about the external conditions, At nightfall : "The game is awful, it's really awful, but hey, we have to play in these conditions. They want us to play outside so we play outside, but it sucks to play padel in these conditions. That's how it is..."

Always favor two central slopes in summer?

So, wouldn't the solution be to create two central slopes instead of one, during the summer period? Indeed, instead of playing 100% of matches from the semi-finals (and 80% during the quarter-finals) on a single track, the organizers set up two main tracks, to balance the number of matches per track. Therefore, players might have rather similar rest times.

The only drawback, because there has to be one, spectators could only see 50% of the matches. However, by starting matches at 17 p.m., some fans do not come directly, waiting for temperatures to drop before entering the stands.

Once again, this is a very complicated subject and, without doubt, FIP will need time to find a viable solution, which will please the players, coaches and spectators alike!

Gwenaelle Souyri

It was her brother who one day told her to accompany him to a padel court, since then, Gwenaëlle has never left the court. Except when it comes to going to watch the retransmission of Padel Magazine, World Padel Tour… or Premier Padel…or the French Championships. In short, she is a fan of this sport.

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