Jérémy Scatena, one of the best French players and founder of 100%padel comes back to the differences between traditional tracks called with silica and tracks called (wrongly) “without silica”.
You will see that contrary to what one might think, traditional tracks also have advantages over this new generation of turfs.
Monofilament and fibril turfs require 3000 kg of sand per pitch and fall into the category of pitches with sand.
This type of track is a little faster than tracks with less sand.
The advantage of these turfs is that they are more suitable for outdoor grounds, less abrasive and that the soles do not catch: in other words, you can slide on them.
Sandless or textured turfs are made with twisted (curly) fibers and require less sand.
But if in the naked eye, one can have the impression that there is no sand, it is false. There are about 1600 kg, twice less than on a traditional track.
The game is slower, the rebounds a little less high. It is the player's favorite turf, although it is a bit more demanding on the joints. We advise players with knee or back problems to play on the traditional, softer tracks.
The other advantage of these “sandless” turfs and tracks: they do not require as diligent maintenance as the turf with sand.