WHY I LOVE PADEL: BY MICHAEL GRADON, CEO of Game4Padel
1: My first experience of Padel: I first played at the encouragement of the tennis coaches at La Manga Club in Spain in the early 2000’s and immediately loved it. I was the chairman of the company which owned the resort, so I would always try to play whenever I was visiting for Board meetings. Frustratingly there was nowhere I could find to play in the UK, which was one of the reasons we eventually set up Game4Padel. We’re hoping to make it much more widespread and easily accessible to people all across Great Britain.
2: My club:
Weybridge. There is only one uncovered court which is owned and was built by another padel fanatic, David Garrett. He was kind enough to welcome me with open arms, plug me into box leagues, club matches and introduce me to other keen players.
3: What do you love most about the game?
The amazing rallies and banter!
4: Do you have a regular partner or play in a group?
I have had a wide variety of regular partners for tournaments and because of the nature of my role at Game4Padel, I play with a huge number of people – male and female, young and old. I enjoy playing with anyone for social games – but they are always fiercely competitive!
5: Most fun you have ever had playing Padel?
The most amazing experience was definitely playing for Great Britain in the Seniors World Championships in Las Vegas this year. I learnt a huge amount and met some fantastic people from all around the world.
6: Longest journey you have travelled to play?
Las Vegas!
7: Have you ever been on a Padel holiday? If so, please tell us all about it!
I haven’t yet been specifically on a padel holiday because there are very few such events, but as a business we see it as an exciting opportunity. We hosted our first padel holiday in the Canaries late last year and will be announcing plans for more soon. I do however travel regularly to Portugal where there is far more padel than in the UK, so often end up playing there.
8: How many times do you play a week?
Between one and five times. Our business is growing so fast, that sometimes I don’t get to play as much as I’d like. Luckily part of what I do is introducing decision makers at venues like hotels, sports clubs and business parks to the sport of padel, so sometimes I’m able to combine business with pleasure because I can totally justify playing padel during the working day!
9: Favourite shot?
Slam down the middle off a ball sitting up after bouncing off the back wall. No idea what the Spanish word for that is !
Thank you, Michael. Congratulations on all the progress you have made so far with Game4Padel and good luck with all your plans to keep growing the game in the future.
