Premier Padel Finals: Up to €100,000 fine for a qualified player who does not participate? Padel Magazine

Qualifying for the Premier Padel Finals normally represents a reward. Only the top 16 male and 16 female players in the Race are eligible for the grand end-of-season event, provided they have participated in at least 15 tournaments. Premier Padel during the year.

But this qualification comes with a particularly strong obligation.

The rule Premier Padel The 2026 regulations stipulate that a qualified player must be present and participate in the Finals. Otherwise, the text provides for a penalty that can reach 100 000 euros , to which is added a rather surprising consequence to the ranking: a result of zero points counted among its 22 results .

And men and women are treated the same.

This provision deserves to be examined in detail, because behind the spectacular figure of 100,000 euros lie several little-known rules.

“Mandatory Participation; Penalties »

The regulation leaves little doubt as to the principle.

Section 5.2.2 (C) is entitled:

“Mandatory Participation; Penalties » i.e "Mandatory participation; penalties" .

It begins with this sentence:

“Players who qualify for the Premier Padel Finals must attend, compete and participate in all mandatory commitments. »

Is :

"The players who qualify for the Premier Padel Finals participants must be present, compete, and participate in all mandatory engagements.

Qualifying for the Finals is therefore not just a right to participate.

It leads to a participation obligation .

Be in the city at least one day in advance

And this obligation begins even before the first match.

Each qualified player must be in the host city of the Premier Padel Finals at least one day before the start of the competition .

The regulations do, however, provide for the special case of a player still involved in another tournament Premier Padel at the time he should normally arrive. He must then make every effort to reach the Finals city no later than the day after the end of his participation in the previous tournament.

Premier Padel Therefore, it does not only ask those who have qualified to play.

The regulations also require prior attendance so that they can participate in the various commitments related to the event.

Up to 100,000 euros in case of absence

Then comes the most spectacular sentence.

The regulations state:

“Any qualified player who does not attend or compete shall pay a fine of up to €100,000”

Is :

"Any qualified player who fails to appear or participate will be subject to a fine of up to €100,000."

The choice of words is important.

The regulation clearly mentions a fine. "up to €100,000" , so up to 100,000 euros .

It would therefore be incorrect to write that an absent player automatically receives a fine of 100,000 euros.

However, the ceiling stipulated in black and white by the regulations is indeed that one.

And it is considerable.

But the fine is not the only penalty

The rest of the text is perhaps even more surprising.

The qualified player who does not participate also receives:

“zero (0) Ranking points”

or, zero points in the standings .

But most importantly, the regulation specifies that this zero:

“shall count as one (1) of their best twenty-two (22) tournament results in the Ranking calculation”

In other words :

This result of zero points counts as one of the 22 results taken into account in calculating the player's ranking.

So it's not simply a missed opportunity to score points.

The regulation truly imposes a zero in the calculation of the results taken into account .

And this consequence can have a sporting impact that goes far beyond the week of the Finals.

A "justified withdrawal" is not valid for the Finals.

Another important feature: some exit gates normally available during the season are explicitly closed.

The rule Premier Padel normally provides a mechanism for "Justified Withdrawal" , or a justified withdrawal.

A player can, under certain conditions and with a medical certificate submitted on time, use this device to withdraw from a tournament without incurring the late withdrawal penalty.

But one sentence is unambiguous:

“No player may use a Justified Withdrawal for the Premier Padel Finals.

Is :

“No player can use a justified withdrawal for the Premier Padel Finals.

And the section specific to the Finals goes even further: qualified players cannot withdraw using the mechanisms of Justified Withdrawal, Prize Money Withdrawal or Consecutive Withdrawal .

The Finals therefore clearly benefit from a special status.

But what actually happens in case of injury?

This is where we need to avoid jumping to conclusions too quickly.

The regulations themselves stipulate that a qualified player may be "unable to compete" , that is to say unable to play .

In this situation, the highest-ranked replacement player takes his place and the FIP may designate other replacements according to the established criteria.

The text states:

“If a qualified player is unable to compete, the top-ranked alternate shall replace them. »

Is :

"If a qualified player is unable to participate, the highest-ranked substitute will replace him."

The regulations therefore do indeed provide for the possibility of being unable to play.

However, in the passages devoted to the Finals that we have examined, The text does not allow us to state that an injury automatically results in a fine of 100,000 euros. .

Therefore, we must be particularly careful on this point.

What we can say for certain is that the usual withdrawal mechanisms mentioned above are not applicable to the Finals and that the regulations also provide for the replacement of a player unable to participate.

Even the announcement of the package is regulated.

Another rather surprising detail: a qualified player who withdraws cannot necessarily announce his withdrawal immediately on his own social media.

The regulations state:

“Any qualified player / qualified pair who withdraws must notify this in writing and must not make any public announcements about their participation until the FIP has confirmed receipt of the notice. »

Is :

"Any qualified player or pair who withdraws must notify the FIP in writing and must not make any public announcement regarding their participation until the FIP has confirmed receipt of this notification."

Even communication surrounding a package is therefore regulated.

Substitutes are also subject to the obligations

The system becomes even more interesting when we look at the status of the alternates, the replacements.

Once the 16 qualifiers have been determined, the next players in the ranking can be designated as substitutes.

If a qualifier cannot participate, the highest-ranked among them takes their place.

But the regulation adds a clarification:

“Alternates are subject to the same obligations and sanctioning provisions as qualified players, regardless of whether or not they enter the competition. »

Is :

"Substitutes are subject to the same obligations and sanctions as qualified players, whether or not they enter the competition."

In other words, being called as an alternate is not simply a last-minute possibility: this status also creates obligations.

And that's not all: losers sometimes have to remain available

The Finals have other particularly unusual rules.

During the semi-final and final days, the The two highest-ranked losing pairs from the previous round must remain on site and be ready to play an exhibition. in case of a flat rate.

And if a qualifying pair that should have remained available is not present when it is supposed to replace a standard pair, the fine corresponds to 50% of the prize money won during the Finals .

Even more surprising: if one pair withdraws from the final, the other finalist must play the scheduled exhibition with the replacements.

If he refuses, he too may lose the prize money stipulated in the rules.

We will return to this rule in another article as it deserves to be detailed in its own right.

Men and women: no difference on this point

Unlike other aspects of the regulations Premier Padel which may present differences, The 100,000 euro rule is the same here for men and women. .

For female players, the regulations include the same obligation of attendance and participation, the same ceiling of 100 000 euros and the same result with zero points included among the 22 results of the ranking.

The same applies to alternates and the notification procedure for the plan.

And what about tennis? The ATP Finals are also mandatory.

Premier Padel is not the only circuit to consider its end-of-season Masters as a mandatory event.

The parallel with the ATP Finals is particularly interesting.

The ATP 2026 regulations stipulate that a player who is directly qualified or designated as an alternate who “fails or refuses to participate” i.e "does not participate or refuses to participate" Except in cases of actual injury or other valid reason, it is no longer considered to be "in good standing" with the ATP. (ATP Tours)

The ATP also requires qualifiers and alternates to show up at the event venue and participate in the press conference preceding the tournament.

And the financial penalty for absence is calculated very differently from Premier Padel : 5% of the total ATP prize money earned by the player during the year on the circuit system. (ATP Tours)

For a superstar who has accumulated several million dollars in earnings during the season, the amount can therefore become extremely significant.

However, one difference in wording deserves to be highlighted: the ATP text expressly mentions the exception for a “bona fide injury or other reason which constitutes good cause” i.e "an actual injury or any other reason constituting a valid reason" system. (ATP Tours)

A fine that could represent a huge portion of the Finals prize money

The amount of 100,000 euros takes on even greater significance when compared to the sums planned for the event.

The 2026 women's regulations notably establish a Minimum prize money of 150,000 euros for the Final Rounds .

This obviously does not mean that an absent player will automatically have to pay 100,000 euros, since the regulations refer to an amount up to this ceiling.

But the order of magnitude shows how much Premier Padel considers the Finals as a separate event.

Why such a strict rule?

The most obvious explanation lies in the very nature of the Finals.

Premier Padel builds its end-of-season event around the 16 best players and 16 best female players of the year.

The presence of stars is therefore an essential part of the sporting, media and commercial value of the tournament.

A last-minute absence can have consequences for the schedule, the spectators, the broadcasters and the partners.

The regulation clearly seeks to reduce this risk by making participation mandatory and providing alternative mechanisms.

Professional tennis follows a similar logic with its own Finals, although the methods of sanction differ.

Up to 100,000 euros, but not automatically

Ultimately, this is the essential nuance to remember.

Yes, The figure of 100,000 euros is clearly stated in black and white in the official regulations. Premier Padel 2026 .

Yes, it concerns both men and women.

Yes, a qualified player who does not show up or participate can also receive zero points counted among its 22 results .

Yes, there are several classic mechanisms for withdrawing from a tournament. Premier Padel are explicitly unavailable for the Finals.

But it would be excessive to summarize the rule as:

"Injured and absent from the Finals = €100,000 fine."

The regulation sets a ceiling of up to 100 euros , organizes the replacement of players unable to participate and does not allow, on the basis of the passages studied only, to assert that a recognized medical incapacity would automatically trigger this sanction.

The rigorous formulation is therefore much more interesting:

to Premier Padel Qualifying for the Finals doesn't just grant the right to play. It creates a genuine obligation to be present and participate, with penalties that can reach up to 100,000 euros.

And for a tournament meant to reward the best players of the season, it's a small line in the rules that considerably changes the way we understand the word "qualified" .

Franck Binisti

Franck Binisti discovered padel at the Club des Pyramides in 2009 in the Paris region. Since then, padel has been part of his life. You often see him touring France to cover major French padel events.