The World Padel Tour suffered a crippling blow this week as the Commercial Court of Madrid kicked out their request for interim measures to halt the Premier Padel circuit and prevent players from participating.
Legal proceedings initiated at earlier this year were met with astonishment by the padel community as the World Padel Tour brought a claim against the International Padel Federation (FIP), the Professional Players Association (PPA), Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), and seven individual players on grounds of breaching exclusivity clauses in their contracts by participating in Premier Padel events.
Since then, the World Padel tour have suffered several setbacks in their litigation. In July they attempted to stop Premier Padel’s first European tournament going ahead at the WiZink Center in Madrid, but their case was thrown out by the Madrid Commercial Court for not being properly served.
Shortly afterwards, long-term backers Rucio Investments jumped ship and were reportedly in discussions with FIP about investing in their new tour. More recently, we reported that the WPT had threatened to drop the lawsuit if the players joined their Super League.
This week’s development is the latest in a long line of failures which has many padel insiders posing the question: “How much longer can the World Padel Tour sustain this?.
The latest request for interim measures was rejected by the Commercial Court as having no legal basis, with the court also noting in its findings that the current WPT contracts are anti-competitive, that professional players have every right to seek better conditions on other tours, and furthermore that the WPT’s offer to withdraw legal actions if players commit to their new tour proves in itself that players’ participation in other tours is not harmful to WPT.
It is believed that the findings of the Madrid court will be of interest to the European Commission, which is separately considering a complaint in relation to the anti-competitive behaviour of the WPT under European law.
Alejandro Villaverde, General Secretary of the Professional Players Association, commented: “This week’s legal decision in Madrid shows that the rule of law always prevails – the PPA will repel every attack and stand firm in defending the players’ rights to open competition, freedom of choice and basic professional decency.”
Ziad Hammoud, member of the Board of Premier Padel, said: “WPT’s actions are the antithesis of responsible sports administration and fly in the face of supporting the global development of a sport, player freedoms and player welfare.”
Luigi Carraro, President of the International Padel Federation, said: “This past week has been definitive for anyone in doubt about the future of padel. The ITF lost its hostile vote to takeover padel, and WPT has emphatically lost its latest legal case seeking to enforce its monopoly according to news reports. The International Padel Federation will continue to work night and day to promote the sport of padel – both at professional and amateur level – across the world, while defending the right of the professional players to have the very best opportunities to play and pursue their amazing careers.”
Many involved in padel globally continue to look on in wonderment as the battle between those governing the sport wages on, with many questioning how this will affect the credibility of the sport and whether that could impact on Olympic inclusion in the future.
WPT are being contacted for comment.
