The 2023 season has not yet started that relations between the PPA, the Players Association and the World Padel Tour are already complicated.

WPT, PPA: tensions that are not new...

It has now been a little over a year since relations between players and World Padel Tour have greatly deteriorated. The arrival of Premier Padel in the dance of the professional circuits has generated a conflict which today seems hopeless. Indeed, the reasons for disagreement are always more important. This time it's the calendar published by the circuit managed by Setpoint Events SA which is in question.

PPA vs WPT – Players complain about the schedule in an official way

As you probably already know, many people expressed their dissatisfaction last season because of a busy schedule. Indeed, in the tests of World Padel Tour were added in 2022 those of Premier Padel, which means that the athletes have not been able to rest much during the past year. And the prospect of playing 27 WPT tournaments in 2023 doesn't really seem to make them happy...

The players rush into the breach

But via the PPA, players may have found a way to greatly reduce the number of tournaments they are forced to participate in. Remember that many of them have a contract that binds them to the World Padel Tour until the end of this year, and which requires them to participate in tournaments organized by the circuit. But a change in nomenclature on the WPT side could change the situation somewhat…

Indeed, when the said contract was signed, the obligation related to three categories of tournaments: Open, Master and Master Final. But this year, the WPT wanted to innovate by offering not one but two categories of Open tournaments: the 500 and the 1000. We are therefore now dealing with four categories of tournaments. However, as said above, the contract signed by the players in 2018 covered three types of tournaments, not four…

The WPT stuck?

Thus, the PPA considers that one of the categories is in excess of the agreement between players and the circuit almost five years ago, as expressed in its last press release:

The new calendar presented, without consultation with the players, four types of tournaments (Master, Open 1000, Open 500 and Master Final) while the contracts only provide for three types of mandatory tournaments (Master, Open and Master Final) . These are undoubtedly four different types of tournaments, as each of them has its own technical characteristics and awards different points and prizes.
On this subject, clause 28 of the contract stipulates that "the player has the right and the obligation to participate in tournaments of padel and to the other activities that make up the WPT circuit according to the terms and conditions defined in this contract”. Based on this clause, the players under contract asked the WPT to clarify which of the Open categories is the newly incorporated one, in order to be released from the obligation to participate in it.

First problem, at the regulatory level, it would seem that the newly incorporated category is the one called Open 1000. Indeed, these tournaments have in addition to a higher prize-money than the old Open, an operation that is closer to the Master category , since the first four seeds are supposed to start in sixteenths, while in the Open 500 and in the old Open they start in eighths.

Second problem for the WPT, the Open 1000 are 18, compared to 3 for the Open 500… Which means that if the players decide to boycott this category, they will miss 18 of the 27 tournaments planned for 2023 by the circuit financed by Estrella damn. We can therefore imagine that Premier Padel will step into the breach by offering more competitions.

Finally, as the players rightly point out in two other points, “the said contract establishes in its article 12 that the regulatory framework must be approved before the start of the season, adding that any subsequent modification will only take effect in the following season” et “the inclusion of new events not appearing in the Official Calendar” is not provided for in the contract. The WPT will therefore normally not be able to remove the Open 1000s and replace them with Open 500s…

The best players absent from the Open 1000?

Lebron galan volley victory semi final WPT Malmo Open 2022
Will we see Lebron and Galan on the Open 1000

We understand that the Open 1000 are in great danger. Indeed, if the players succeed thanks to their arguments exposed above to free themselves from the obligation to participate in these competitions, what will the tables of these tournaments look like? We can assume that some players wanting to stock up on points and prize money will still attend these events, but what will the very best do? Will they still participate in certain competitions according to their desires? What will happen if Premier Padel decides to offer tournaments on the dates scheduled for the Open 1000? If the best are absent, will the organizers want to maintain their events?

Many questions and so far very few answers. We hope to know more in the days to come. Logically, the World Padel Tour should soon respond to the press release published on January 25 by the players.

Xan is a fan of padel. But also rugby! And his posts are just as punchy. Physical trainer of several padel, he unearths atypical posts or deals with topical subjects. It also gives you some tips to develop your physique for the padel. Clearly, he imposes his offensive style as on the field of padel !

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