By RJ Mitchell
JAMIE DELGADO believes that the prospect of holding a Padel Major at Wimbledon is “a big question.”
Delgado, who holds the all-time male record for playing in consecutive Wimbledon tournaments, playing for the 23rd time in 2014 at the age of 37, has looked on in awe as the Italy Premier Padel Major was held at the Foro Italico, the iconic home of the Italian Open tennis championships in Rome.
But Andy Murray’s former coach was left even more wowed by the impressive visuals from Roland Garros where a padel court was erected on Court Philippe Chatrier as the historic site of the French Open tennis championships played host to the Paris Premier Padel Major in July.
Yet Delgado, who has just recently become an investor and ambassador with Game4Padel, reckons that before Wimbledon can come into the conversation another celebrated British tennis venue may be the better option.
In reply to the Wimbledon question the former GB Davis Cup tennis star said: “That is the big question! I could see a big event being played at an LTA venue like Queens Club or a similar facility but in terms of Wimbledon they would probably wait to see how that went. Perhaps after that if it gets to that stage then they will have a decision to make.
“But it is more realistic that you have an event like a Padel Major at say Queens Club, for me that is more realistic at this stage.
“I know there was a tournament at the NTC in August and it is interesting that they have in fact built a padel court at Queens Club just recently and I’m sure it will be fully booked.
“Although I didn’t see the Sky Coverage of the Foro Italico and Roland Garros I did see pictures of Roland Garros and with the blue padel court on Chatrier it just looked amazing visually.
“In fact when I saw it was: ‘Wow!’ That’s amazing and huge progress and what a coup for padel to be playing on that stage at such an iconic venue and it was a huge step forward for padel.”
Being half-Spanish Delgado has spent time living and playing tennis in Spain, where padel is the second biggest participation sport after football with an estimated six million players and over 20,000 padel courts.
Also having criss-crossed the globe on coaching duties for the likes of Murray and most recently Canadian ace Denis Shapovalov, Delgado is well placed to report on the growth of padel internationally and he said: “I’m half Spanish and I am fully aware of how big and popular padel is over there and I know there are conversations as to whether it can get as big as tennis or overtake tennis.
“I think tennis is an incredibly hard sport to play at a high level and it is something you most probably have to play at a young age in order to learn the skills necessary to play at that type of elite level.
“But padel you can pick up much later as it is an easier game to play at a high level, so from that point of view it is interesting although tennis is way bigger than padel but I don’t see any reason why padel can’t catch up tennis and rival it – if not overtake it.
“In other countries like Sweden and Italy and even Spain it really is more popular than tennis so you just don’t know how it will work out.
“On a personal level I’ve seen padel over the years and have been aware of how it has developed in countries like Sweden and Italy and of course, as I mentioned, I’m half Spanish but also Jamie Murray was always going off to play at the Chelsea Harbour Club and the LTA got some courts at the NTC and I’ve just always believed that padel is a game that can be played by people of all ages and skill levels.
“My involvement in padel really started with Jamie (Murray), we’d done a couple of sessions at Wimbledon and started talking about padel and he mentioned Game4Padel and Michael Gradon (CEO of Game4Padel) and I just gave Michael a call to see if I could come on board and he was really enthusiastic.”
The game of padel is proving increasingly popular with footballers and football managers around the world who enjoy the fun, competitive and social elements of the sport.
Swedish icon Zlatan Ibrahimovich owns a major padel club, Argentinean living legend Lionel Messi has his own padel court and former England captain David Beckham, Premiership managers Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp, and French World Cup winning hero Zinedine Zidane are all known to be huge fans.
Indeed Liverpool Football Club and Manchester City Football Club each have their own padel courts at their training venues for players to relax and enjoy after work is completed.
With Liverpool’s Dutch international defender Virgil Van Dyk recently becoming a fellow investor and ambassador with Game4Padel, Delgado has an interesting observation to make on why the sport is so popular with those used to working with a ball at their feet.
The internationally renowned tennis coach said: “When you are involved in sport you obviously enjoy the sport you are currently in and you are passionate about that but you will probably love sport in general, enjoy competing and I think that never leaves you.
“Quite often when you try something new it is that challenge of learning something new and I know that guys like Francesco Totti in Italy are involved over there and they have that winner’s mentality.
“So when they go on the padel court they may be learning it but that winner’s mentality kicks in. It is also just a great way to stay in shape once you have stopped playing your sport at the top level.
“It is active, competitive and just great fun, skilful and they can play with friends and meet new people.”
