Fears that the International Tennis Federation are looking to mount a padel takeover have been assuaged after it was revealed that their aim is to collaborate with the existing padel governing bodies rather than annex the sport.
An ITF spokesperson has stressed that the overarching motivation is to bring international governance to a sport which is currently the subject of a war between the World Padel Tour and International Padel Federation (FIP).
Also high on the ITF agenda is the equality issue; currently female padel players are neither paid the same as their male counterparts nor have access to the same quality or number of competitive tournaments.
The ITF are holding their AGM in Glasgow today and is made up of 213 member nations, many of which are asking the ITF to provide support and infrastructure for padel.
“Over 100 of the ITF’s national tennis association members already lead or are actively contributing to the development of padel tennis around the world,” said the International Tennis Federation spokesperson.
She added: “As such, much of the growth of the sport is happening in tennis clubs given the crossover and ability to share infrastructure, including players, coaches, officials, and facilities.
“As a result, the ITF has been asked by its members to consider how we can support them in the global development of padel and they will vote on this at our AGM.
“Should the national associations vote in favour of us playing a role, the ITF would endeavour to progress in collaboration with existing stakeholders, including the Federación Internacional de Pádel (FIP) and other tour organisers.”
The Padel Paper was also advised that the ITF is there to service their National Tennis Association membership and that nothing decided at the ITF AGM will prevent FIP (International Padel Federation) from its activities.
Furthermore it was revealed that the ITF had already signed a three-way Memorandum of Understanding to form a collaboration between FIP, the ITF and GAISF in 2019, prior to the pandemic with the hope being that all bodies can come together in a spirit of collaboration for the ultimate growth of the sport.
The Padel Paper also understands that many professional padel players are desperate that the conflict between the rival WPT, FIP and ATP Tours – which means there are three ranking systems – is ended to provide one globally-binding ranking system – as there is in tennis.
Gender equality is another key issue which is high on the players’ agenda as currently women can’t play in FIP Premier events and in WPT the draw sizes are smaller for women and with less prize money.
As such the ITF believe they can bring true equality and fairness to the sport.
It is also understood that the ITF wishes to work with FIP, APT and WPT and the ITF is currently having positive conversations with the WPT about collaboration. The ITF is a signatory to WADA, and the spokesperson reiterated that as a leading IOC-recognised International Federation, it is perfectly placed to assist in developing padel worldwide.
