Luigi Carraro, President of the International Federation of padel (FIP) sends its wishes for 2023 and looks back on the past season.

Communiqué (translated from English).

Dear family of padel,

Every day, all those who love sport and padel look to the future to improve it, to spread it, to plant the seed of passion where our discipline has just arrived, in order to reproduce its success in dozens of countries. Always looking to the future, therefore, with the objective of spreading our sport and taking it ever higher, as we have done in recent years of work and passion. There is, however, a time when it is good to look back, a time when we all come together in a loving embrace to say goodbye to 2022, the year that is ending, and to welcome the year to come.

Dear friends, I know that I correctly interpret the thoughts of each of you by focusing on the extraordinary success of our sport in terms of socialization, inclusion, confrontation between peoples and cultures, and the joy it brings when we all stay together in the name of sport, whatever it may be. the padel, it is above all this: friendship, the culture of sport, pleasure and healthy competitiveness in a table of a thousand colors and a thousand flags. This is precisely why I want to rewind the tape of 2022 with you, reading every success, every moment of growth and every qualitative improvement not only from a strictly sporting point of view but also through the prism of social responsibility. and cultural.

How can we forget, for example, that the Cupra FIP Tour has traveled to more than 30 countries? It is – as written in a famous novel by Jules Verne – a world tour in 125 tournaments, with thousands of athletes from dozens of different countries. A game of technical, sporting, social and cultural “contaminations” which helped to keep the engine of passion running at full speed.

2022 has been a year of big challenges where we had to play defense and then go to net and finish the point. This is what happened with the attempt to integrate the padel of the International Tennis Federation. This attempt was averted by ITF members themselves. And today, as we salute this victory of independence, we paradoxically thank those who considered the padel as a kind of “satellite sport” or a subject in a certainly larger field. Thanks to the members of the ITF, it has been proven to the world, definitively, how big our sport is today.

I would like to highlight the success of the padel at the Odesur South American Games in Paraguay. I think about Premier Padel, the new circuit that showed the most beautiful and exciting side of the “padel" at the highest level. I think of the expression on the faces of the players who, for a few moments, were brought back to childhood in a playground, when they entered the field in Doha, Rome, Paris, Madrid, Mendoza, Giza, Monterey and Milan.

Premier Padel represents a fundamental pillar in the architecture of the padel world because it is the very first circuit of professional level managed by the International Federation of Padel. The same goes for the World Championships in Dubai, in which 40 countries participated. The great success of Dubai has shown us once again that team competitions can represent an extraordinary page in our sport and in our future.

I would like to thank the presidents, directors, coaches and staff of each national federation that is part of the FIP family. I want to do this with the same energy with which each of you experienced the challenges and wonderful adventures of our sport in 2022. Thank you, truly, to all of you.

Finally, allow me to recall a few “snapshots” from 2022. One in particular: the celebration of children and the hunt for autographs with balls, caps, jerseys… In their dreamy eyes and in their hope to obtain an autograph from the great players, the future of our sport is inscribed.

If 2022 was the year of big winning challenges, we have to kind of look at 2023 as its “twin” in terms of big events and big goals, accomplishments and confirmations. In the long and certainly not easy race to the five circles – which is to achieve the goal of officially becoming an Olympic sport – the beginnings of padel at the next European Games in Krakow, where male and female players will also perform in the “mixed” category, represents a historic milestone. This speaks to a clear and unchanging philosophy of the Federation, which considers that there is only one planet for boys and girls. And besides, I would like to thank all the players, one by one: in 2022, they made padel what it is today.

Let's never forget that the players are the main actors. Our job is to enhance their talent by building a world in which they can express themselves fully, with joy and satisfaction. I would like to thank the PPA and the IPPA, reminding them that they play a central role in each of our projects and that any reflection on new initiatives starts from the “sacred” consideration of the two associations. The Federation considers you a fundamental part of a democratic body in which weights and dignities are distributed equally. We demonstrated it in 2022, we will do it again in the coming year.

Many countries which adhere to the Federation create schools of padel to train new generations of players. I want to emphasize how much, from this point of view, the talent of the youngest will be essential, as will be the World Juniors, the Regionals and the Absolute Championships.

The coming year will also be the year of continued growth through new methods of communicating our sports movement, with the aim of reducing geographical distances and increasing opportunities for the exchange of ideas and planning. We want to create new meeting opportunities beyond competitive activity in order to fuel the passion and desire to improve our sport. We want to do this with an official Federation Gala. A Gala that fully represents the philosophy that drives the work of each of us, in the name of a single world - that of Padel – and a single racquet, the same for everyone.

I wish you all the best and a happy new year 2023.

Team Padel May

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