If you follow the padel French, you obviously know Nallé Grinda. Indeed, we no longer present this ex-player of the French team padel, who knew the inventor of padel in Acapulco and who was Tournament Director of the Miami Padel Open.

Nallé Grinda: “Each house had its rules in Acapulco!”

Involved in our sport for several decades, the son of Jean-Noël Grinda, ex-captain of the French Davis Cup team, once again comes to our microphone and tells us about his new project which is already a reality: Padel X.

“I created my first club in 2004, my second in 2024!”

I created my first club padel in Nice in 2004, at Nice LTC. This gave me some experience in club management, until I left for Florida in 2010, where I had to start from scratch.

At the time, regarding the padel, there was nothing in Miami. There was this small club which was set up with Adrian Beltramino. It was more like a showroom in a hangar to show what the padel. That's when I formed a group of friends including Wayne Boich, with whom we built the second court and with whom we began to organize small private tournaments with Top 10 players. This is how we made the activity known at the local level.

Juan Pablo Leria nallé grinda padel x usa

"Do padel a business in the USA”

Later, Wayne was the promoter of the American event of the World Padel Tour in 2022, of which I was the Tournament Director. Following the success of this competition, I became aware of the possibility of doing padel a business, and I thought about building something that could generate a real economic return.

I therefore made the decision to suspend my activities in real estate to focus solely on my passion: padel. It could have been in the construction of trails, snowshoes, but very quickly my choice was directed towards the creation of a chain of clubs padel. We had to create a concept with an innovative training methodology that I call “Level up!” ", where everyone progresses without ever repeating the same lessons. It's an American mentality where we always seek to evolve whatever the level.

I lacked the land and that's where I met my main partner, Juan Pablo Leria, who had exceptional land in the heart of Miami and expertise in hospitality from his 20 years at the head of Youtopia, a chain major sports and wellness centers in Latin America. It's a very good professional marriage, because we were able to merge our different strengths and this gave birth to Padel X with the opening on 1er last April of the first club.

“Fighting for 16 months”

It was necessary to fight for sixteen months to obtain authorizations to build ski slopes. padel on the site where we are. In France, this is already not easy, but in the USA, the complexity of land and permits is increased tenfold. We had to convince the owners of the land, but especially the town hall, of the security of our installations. It was necessary to establish in-depth engineering calculations and modifications to the runways to meet anti-hurricane standards with our partners MejorSet to be able to reassure, convince and obtain permits.

Premium tracks

Today, we have 10 tracks in a unique setting. This club of padel is a showcase of padel in the United States, and brands have understood this well. With MejorSet, we have specific terrains, we have also installed third generation Mondo carpets, the reference on Premier Padel. Our lights are created by LED Project, who takes care of the center courts of tournaments Premier Padel.

Our 4 premium tracks all meet FIP ​​standards with the possibility of going off the track and above all we have set up a unique video system with three cameras per court. The system is very user friendly. No need to log in or identify yourself, from the moment you play on a premium court you are filmed. At the end of the match, simply scan the QR code on the screen attached to the court and you have access to the entire match, but also to the best points in small sequences ready to be published on social networks. We think we will have a lot of success with this here in the USA.

3 clubs padel shortly

PadelX is set to expand soon with the opening of two other clubs this year. We have the one in Miami and have signed two other locations, one an hour from Miami, in Boca Raton. Our neighbor is Sébastien Grosjean and I do not despair of converting him to padel !

We will have 8 tracks of padel indoor. We are on a former IBM building with a height of 9 meters. Our number 3 project will be in Palm Beach, another iconic city on the Florida coast. We will have 7 outdoor trails initially, but we are thinking about covering them. The big problem is hurricanes and therefore standards.

A club for everyone

With PadelX, we really want to reach out to everyone and offer quality services at affordable prices. Normally, in the USA, we are between $90 and $200 for 90-minute sessions for 4. We will be on an average of $135 during peak hours and $105 during off-peak hours for 4. In the United States, the Prices can skyrocket very quickly: in New York, we see prices exceeding $450 for 90 minutes!

We have many projects around training, school of padel and tournaments. We will have to work on the ladies, because as in France, there is a shortage of players. We could welcome the Pro Padel League, this famous American circuit which welcomes many “top players” like Tapia. We have all the equipment to offer a great stopover in the club.

There will also be quite a fewEvents daily. We really have the ambition to democratize this sport. We are a club open to all, “pay to play” but also with a membership fee giving access to personalized services and longer reservation periods. There is obviously a business approach and that is normal but there has been a real passion for so long. The objective is really to establish the padel in American society.

Pickleball and padel : we must not oppose them

I see that sometimes we want to oppose pickleball and padel. But really, I think they are two sports that are so different that I don't agree with that. Pickleball is even easier to access and inexpensive. This is the reason for its dazzling expansion, but also its limit, because in my opinion the game quickly becomes redundant and is not very telegenic.

Le padel is a three-dimensional sport that has no real limits. And at the professional level, it is a very spectacular sport. This is certainly also why it works so well in Europe and the rest of the world, and this is the reason why it will succeed in the USA, the country of "theEntertainment " par excellence. I saw it clearly during the WPT in Miami in 2022!

Team Padel May

Team Padel Magazine tries to offer you since 2013 the best of padel, but also surveys, analyzes to try to understand the world of padel. From the game to the politics of our sport, Padel Magazine is at your service.

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