By RJ Mitchell
ON the eve of the FIP Rise London Padel Open being held at the National Tennis Centre the prospect of Wimbledon hosting a major padel tournament has been served up.
Across the channel the recent success of the Greenweez Paris Premier Padel Major which was held at the iconic home of French tennis, the Stade Roland-Garros, has meant that the Wimbledon question must be asked.
Over 5,000 fans took in the final which was played on essentially a pop-up court on the French equivalent of Centre Court, Court Philippe Chatrier, which left the treasured Parisian terre battue picture perfect.
The epic three set final between the World No.1 pairing of Alejandro Galan and Juan Lebron and Argentine gauchos Federico Chingotto and Juan Tello was screened by more than 100 broadcasters, including a live broadcast on Sky Mix in the UK.
While with 56 teams entered in the main draw of what was the first Paris Premier Padel Major the event proved to be a huge success with 25,000 spectators flocking to the Bois de Boulogne to attend the largest padel tournament ever held in France.
All of which came hard on the heels of a similar success at the Foro Italico, the historic home of the Italian Open tennis championships in Rome and as such this has prompted the LTA’s new lead for padel competition Sam Kemp to admit it would be: “A logical conversation to have in this context to see if we could do something at Wimbledon.”
Kemp, who will be overseeing events at the NTC over the next four days, was refreshingly candid in his reply to the question that has been burning on everyone’s lips since Lebron and Galan’s Gallic masterclass in the 16th arrondissement of the French capital.
The LTA’s Competition Product Partner, as he is officially known, said: “Perhaps in time and maybe that is a question that is better for the All-England Club than us at the LTA at the moment but a Padel Major Event within Great Britain is without question on the map for the future.
“Of course whether that would be tied into Wimbledon or not is still to be determined but a 100% this FIP Rise London Padel Open is just the first step and the first event that will culminate in the delivering of a Padel Major event within this country.
“So who knows where that may be? There are no padel courts at the All-England Club yet but that didn’t stop Roland Garros. So conversations are ongoing as to where that might be based but even the most naïve of persons can see what has happened at the other Grand Slam in Paris.
“In this respect a logical conversation to have over here in this context would be to see if we could do something at Wimbledon, whether that comes into fruition who knows.
“Of course all that it is a little bit dependent on the work we are putting in now and the building blocks we are setting in place but in Tom Murray’s (LTA Head of Padel) original Padel Development Plan, which concludes at the end of 2023, a major event was referenced within that so in our eyes that is something we want to deliver within the next 12 to 18-months.
“All of that is dependent on how the London Open goes and then our ability to deliver another three events in 2023 with two being FIP Rise events and I would love to deliver a FIP GOLD next year and if it is not by end of 2023, then realistically by 2024 we will have a Padel Major event in the calendar and then we will be talking venues.
“But in this country we are blessed with a number of amazing venues like the O2 and Copperbox, so there are a lot of options out there but we want padel to grow to the heights we have seen in other countries.
“It is such an exciting sport and we want to really make it stand out for the average person. So something like that (Wimbledon) would be fantastic.”
Yet as he projected forward towards the action about to unfold at the NTC, where 15 nations will be represented, Kemp admits anticipation levels are soaring: “It’s the highest level of event we have held in Great Britain and it is the first internationally ranked event to be held here in which we have all of the top British men in the draw.
“We have players coming from Japan, Mexico, Belgium, Germany and of course Spain and across the women’s draw we have all our top women and Laura Robson, the former GB No.1 tennis player has also entered.
“But for us above all it is about showcasing padel, it will be a padel takeover at the National Tennis Centre and four days of action-packed matches, we will be live streaming all the matches Saturday and Sunday with Sunday having live commentary.
“In my opinion it is the first opportunity for people to see this level of padel player in the UK and it is completely free of charge. As a padel showcase I hope this will light the spark and that the success of this event will lead on to many other similar events next year and beyond.
“But we wanted to elongate the summer after the grass court tennis season finished and we are determined to achieve that.”
With the game at the very highest level currently suffering a schism caused by a war between its two governing bodies, the World Padel Tour and the International Padel Federation, it is interesting that the London Padel Open will fall under the banner of a FIP Rise event.
It is something Kemp is sanguine about: “I think the partnership with WPT will come but we have started out with a FIP Rise, which is the second level on the FIP structure. This is our first event at this level and we wanted the opportunity for as many British players to enjoy this event as possible as well as the top European players.
“In this respect we felt the FIP Rise was the most suitable event to help us achieve all those aims but we also wanted to deliver an event at the NTC but we only had three courts and that has been a factor.
“But when we start to introduce padel events to bigger facilities that will change and in particular when we are hosting events at Nottingham Tennis Centre and then we can also look at a partnership with the WPT as well.”
However there is one noticeable difference from events on the continent and that is the premise of pay cheque equality between the sexes for all padelers doing battle over the coming four days for the 9,000 Euro prize fund, as Kemp explained: “The NTC is looking great and it is a very exciting prospect for us to be holding the FIP Rise London Padel Open. For us we were always going to ensure that the prize money would be equal across the men’s and women’s event and that is something that we pointed out to FIP internally when we set our budgets.
“So right from the start it is a message we made clear to FIP that the prize money had to be even and that this would be consistent across the LTA Padel Tour and that will be something that we continue to do.
“Over time we hope that will really pay off with the female participation aspect as driving that is very important to us.
“So with the FIP Rise London Open being the foremost tournament to be held in Great Britain we really want to demonstrate that the women’s game is every bit as important to us at the LTA as the men’s game and on an equal footing.”
