But what a fly stings the former world tennis n°1s so that everyone (or almost) loves the padel ?

The latest to have been photographed on the palate is the Australian Leyton Hewitt, soon to be 42, who dominated the hierarchy of world tennis in 2001 and 2002. In passing, he won two tournaments in the Grand Chelem, the US Open and Wimbledon, before giving up his throne to Andy Roddick and then to Roger Federer.

Retired from tennis since 2016, he now tries his hand at padel, although the sorrowful spirits will have noticed that he has not yet gotten used to wearing the strap, as shown in the photo below.

At ease in doubles, Hewitt was titled at the US Open in 2000 with Max Mirnyi and finalist the same year at Wimbledon alongside the Belgian Kim Clijsters, who was his partner. It is therefore not surprising to see this combative and quick player, an excellent volleyball player, evolve in padel on the right side of the track.

Murray, Nadal, Wawrinka...

A few of his Instagram fans urge him to “bring back the padel in Australia”, where a first Australian Open Padel was announced from January 26 to 29, 2023. From there to seeing Hewitt associate his image with the padel, or even to invest in it to also benefit from the spectacular growth of this sport, there is only one step.

A step that two other former tennis No. 1s have already taken, Andy Murray (with Game4Padel) and of course Rafael Nadal in his academy of Manacor, in the Balearic Islands. We could also mention the name of Stan Wawrinka (n°1 despite three titles in Grand Chelem), which acquired the rights for organize an APT tournament in Switzerland in 2023.

Maybe Wawrinka will encourage his friend Roger Federer either to invest in the development of the padel, or even to convert to it as a player. A reconversion that the whole planet padel calls for it, because it would allow this sport to enter a new dimension, both media and financial. In any case, the recent images of Federer on a track of padel to Dubai made a great noise.

On the Swiss side, we could also mention Martina hingis, which has just associated its image with Cupra, the car brand that bets big on the padel. Always with the ladies, Serena Williams also initiated the padel in the academy of his former coach, Patrick Mouratoglou. Without speaking about Novak Djokovic, who has already tried his hand at the racket for several years and could also – as a savvy businessman – see it as an opportunity once he has put away his tennis rackets.

Le padel, an excellent “substitute product”

Beyond the financial aspects, it is not surprising to see former tennis players having fun on the tennis courts. padel. A high-level athlete, whatever he is, needs to maintain physical activity when he retires from sport. Even – for these sports addicts – to find an excellent “substitute product” which makes it easier to wean off the adrenaline resulting from the effort.

Continuing to practice the same sport can become frustrating, as it comes with an inevitable regression. On the other hand, for a tennis player, taking a step aside towards a sport as playful and addictive as padel allows you to find a margin of progress and a source of motivation.

And when the pleasure of sport joins the economic reconversion, the benefit is double!

After 40 years of tennis, Jérôme falls into the pot of padel in 2018. Since then, he thinks about it every morning while shaving… but never shaves pala in hand! Journalist in Alsace, he has no other ambition than to share his passion with you, whether you speak French, Italian, Spanish or English.

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