Padel, the new sports empire

Twenty years ago, padel was a little-known sport, seen as a distant cousin of tennis, played in a few clubs in Latin America or Spain. Today, it fills stadiums, attracts millions of spectators around the world, and gives rise to stars and rivalries worthy of the greatest disciplines. But how did this sport go from obscurity to the limelight? Which circuits have structured its development?

From Mexican origins to Iberian expansion

Padel tennis was born in the 1970s in Mexico, invented almost by accident by Enrique Corcuera. Lacking space to build a tennis court on his property, he created a smaller, walled court, on which he invented his own rules. Enamored by the concept, his friend, Prince Alfonso of Hohenlohe, imported it to Spain, where the sport first attracted aristocratic circles in Marbella.

In the 1980s, padel exploded in Argentina, where it quickly became a popular sport. It was also at this time that Spain began to take ownership of this new game, which spread throughout the country. However, it would still take time before a truly professional structure emerged.

Le Padel Pro Tour (PPT), the first real structuring of professional padel

Until the early 2000s, padel remained a sport without an organized international circuit. The best players competed in local or regional competitions, with no unified ranking or official calendar.

In 2005, a first turning point occurred with the creation of the Padel Pro Tour (PPT). It is a private professional circuit, organized in Spain under the auspices of the Spanish Federation of Padel. It offers a annual calendar, official ranking, appointed arbitrators, and attracts the world best players who live or work in Spain.

The PPT then becomes the benchmark for world padel, even if it remains focused on Spanish territory. Emblematic duos like Fernando Belasteguin and Juan Martin Diaz They dominate unchallenged. But the circuit suffers from a lack of global vision, still timid media coverage, and above all a fragmented organization.

World Padel Tour : the 2013 revolution

In 2013, World Padel Tour (WPT) officially replaces the PPT. It is a circuit designed to professionalize and internationalize padel, with some powerful private partnerships, better legal and media structuring, and a desire to promote this sport beyond Spain.

The WPT establishes a official points system, world ranking, a tournament grid spread across several countries, and above all a free streaming of matches on YouTube, which is causing the popularity of padel to explode.

Steps to Barcelona, Madrid, Buenos Aires, Rome, Miami, Stockholm or Dubai put the sport on the global map. The circuit propels stars like White, Paquito Navarro, Sanyo Gutiérrez, Juan Lebrón, Alejandro Galán ou Gemma TriayPadel is fully entering the modern era.

The emergence of an alternative circuit: APT / A1 Padel

In 2020, a new player emerges: Fabrice Pastor, Monegasque businessman, launches theAPT Padel Tourbecome A1 Padel in 2023. This circuit offers a alternative vision to the WPT model: less centralized, more turned towards theLatin America, with a increased contractual freedom for the players and a desire to give a place to the new padel nations.

A1 thus becomes a springboard for many young talents as well as for emerging countries, even if the stars of the circuit remain mainly Argentinian. It complements the global offering and reinforces the dynamic expansion of padel outside of traditional circuits.

Please note that the circuit is currently on hiatus and may return in a different form...

Premier Padel : towards massive internationalization

In 2022, the International Federation of Padel (FIP) et Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) launch an ambitious new circuit: Premier PadelThe objective: to offer a institutionally supported global circuit, with some record endowments, major tournaments in iconic locations like Roland-Garros or the Foro Italico, and a more equitable vision of geographical distribution.

Premier Padel vs World Padel Tour : a look back at two crazy years

This is in any case the promise of QSI and especially of the FIP which will then suddenly brutally oppose the World Padel Tour.

Cohabitation between the two professional circuits (Premier Padel and WPT) quickly becomes difficult. Players are forced to choose their side, legal conflicts are piling up, and padel finds itself divided between two major competing circuits.

Fusion Premier Padel / WPT: what consequences?

The WPT merger – Premier Padel : historical unification

En 2024, after two years of rivalry, a historic announcement shakes up the padel landscape: the WPT and Premier Padel merge, with the support of FIP, to create a unique world circuit, structured, readable and capable of supporting the international growth of sport.

This merger paves the way for a planned expansion in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, has a stabilized calendar, Has worldwide television rights and to massive investments of sponsors and brands. Padel thus enters a new economic and sporting era, with the promise of unprecedented visibility. The establishment of the FIP Tour also helps to offer a secondary professional circuit (or almost...).

Except that, here too, between promises and reality, many players believe that the FIP and Premier Padel did not keep their word. As a result, several of them now claim that the World Padel Tour et Premier Padel, basically, it's the same thing.

Premier Padel managed to calm things down, but it remains clear that some instability persists on the professional circuit.

Gijón P2 Tournament: Why Professional Players Refuse to Participate

A collective ambition: to become an Olympic sport

From now on, all the players in padel - players, circuits, institutions - share a common ambition : obtain a olympic recognition. With over 25 millions of practitioners in the world, distribution in nearly 100 countries, exponential growth in Europe, Asia and Latin America, Padel has everything it takes to become an Olympic sport in the coming years.