By Zac Arney
With Premier Padel set for its London debut in early August, all eyes in the padel community will be fixed on the next steps in the sport’s professional story.
Locally, the London event signals another milestone in the growing relationship between the UK and professional padel, where some of the sport’s best athletes – and Premier Padel’s international audience – will turn their focus towards the UK’s sporting capital.
But before any points are played, however, the courts supporting this ground-breaking tournament must be envisioned, designed and engineered to meet the demands of the modern professional game.
Enter MejorSet: as the court manufacturers for the London Premier Padel event – the official court of Premier Padel and official court of the International Padel Federation (FIP) since 2020 – the Spanish-based company are a leading force in the infrastructural sector of professional padel.
MejorSet have been tasked with providing the courts to match what will be an event of the highest standard, where every aspect is designed to live up to the demands of the professional game.
From MejorSet’s perspective, the London event represents something more than a single tournament: it communicates the UK’s status as a serious market for professional padel, reflecting how a country with already remarkable participation growth is now establishing itself on the elite competitive stage.
The success of MejorSet installations at venues like The Padel Social Club in London, as well as sporting institutions such as the University of Nottingham incorporating padel into their sporting facilities, emphasises the depth of the sport’s domestic expansion that will ultimately support the growing elite game.
But what exactly makes a court suited for the top tier of professional padel? From engineering choices to specialised surfaces, the answer reflects how padel courts have evolved from simply facilitating play, and reflects MejorSet’s long-standing commitment to providing an incomparable experience for both players and spectators.
The evolution of the professional padel court: from playing surface to broadcast platform
Padel’s rapid growth has meant that as localised tournaments are replaced by an established tour, the demands of the modern padel court have expanded beyond simply providing a space for players to play.
With Premier Padel amassing a YouTube audience of nearly 900,000, broadcast has become a central element to growing a sport that is being increasingly experienced through live feeds, highlights and short-form content.
Yet this digital opportunity clashes with features of the traditional court. Structural aspects such as corner posts go unnoticed during recreational padel play but interfere with spectator sightlines at professional events, as well as serving as obstacles for TV cameras.
Olympia London is capable of hosting over 7,000 spectators in its largest hall, and it was with difficulties such as this in mind that MejorSet have developed the ‘Full Panoramic’ concept for its courts: by removing the corner posts entirely, their courts offer a 360-degree view – ensuring the speed, movement and tactical complexity of professional padel will be in full view throughout the tournament.
MejorSet’s consideration of the challenges facing professional padel courts haven’t just stopped at the corner posts. While traditional courts display visible screws at each ‘insertion point’ of the glass panels, MejorSet’s polymer-based approach instead targets a cleaner finish by removing the previously exposed connecting materials. This innovation is aesthetically focused but also reduces potential weak points within the glass structure – a key amendment given the heightened physical demands of Premier Padel matches.
These developments communicate how, similar to sports like football, tennis or Formula 1, infrastructural design is playing an increasing role as to how competitions are experienced for fans and players alike.
Yet while spectator and broadcast demands play a large part in MejorSet’s design philosophy, they remain absolute in their athlete-first vision. The challenge for modern court manufacturers, therefore, is balancing an unimpeded viewing experience with the playing experience of the professional athletes themselves.
As Premier Padel makes its bow in London, spectators may take the unobstructed views and court aesthetics for granted, but these features represent the innovation and meticulous attention to detail that define MejorSet’s creative vision.
What makes a court Premier Padel-worthy? The standards behind elite competition
At the professional level, court quality isn’t a subjective matter, but rather a rigorous set of standards that must be met. For instance, professional footballers expect pitch dimensions to be regulated and F1 drivers race on tracks with consistent safety regulations. Padel is no different – glass needs to behave consistently, the turf must be predictable in its bounce and lighting should maximise visibility.
The best padel courts, however, don’t simply demonstrate the necessary standards required to support professional padel play, but instead seek to elevate themselves by creating an environment that supports the speed, intensity and sense of spectacle that define the modern game. As the FIP’s official court partner since 2020, MejorSet have challenged themselves not just to satisfy international regulations, but to create a court worthy of the world’s biggest tournaments.
Consistency lies at the heart of this challenge. With elite players competing across multiple tournaments in varying locations throughout the season, it is paramount that they retain confidence in the uniformity of their playing environment. Whether in Paris, Rome, Doha or Kuwait, even small variations in bounce, spin and on-court movement can alter shot selection or – ultimately – performance itself.
For MejorSet, this consistency defines what makes a court ‘Premier Padel worthy’. Courts should provide a seamless transition for athletes working within an international schedule, providing a sense of on-court familiarity and a structure that goes beyond the baseline technical regulations required of it.
Performing under pressure: MejorSet’s innovation design approach
For MejorSet, every design decision must support the characteristics of the modern professional game: explosive movement, repeated impact and the need for total consistency across multiple days of competition. Just like the players, a court’s performance in the opening match must mirror how it responds in the final.
This philosophy is communicated in their court design, where MejorSet seek to maximise player performance by providing a sense of consistency for the on-court environment. Their Shock Lock system has been implemented to absorb the forces created by professional play, whilst their Mondo Supercourt X3 surface delivers the predictability in pace and bounce desired by the world’s padel elite.
Whilst these choices support the physical aspects of professional padel, MejorSet’s collaboration with LED Projects ensures that players’ visibility remains uncompromised even when attempting the hardest technical aspects of the game. These innovations are isolated in their curated functions, but together ensure that MejorSet’s courts provide the conditions for players to perform at the highest level.
The London event will showcase this philosophy in practice. As well as featuring five of MejorSet’s ‘Full Panoramic’ courts, it will host a dedicated ‘central’ Premier Padel court, intended to be the tournament’s showcase stage. Although a visually distinct structure, this central court retains their underlying principles: to provide the safety, consistency and performance required to facilitate the world’s leading players, allowing them to place their complete focus on competing to the highest standard.
Premier Padel in London – Infrastructure to support the next step
For Premier Padel and MejorSet, London’s upcoming event represents more than just another location on their international calendar. The competition signifies the continued professionalisation of padel in the UK and demonstrates Premier Padel’s commitment to expand into new territories.
As padel continues its trajectory of international expansion, the importance of elite-level infrastructure like MejorSet’s will only increase. Courts are no longer solely judged by their ability to meet basic regulations, but instead by their innovative contributions towards maximising player performance as well as the experience for spectators and broadcast teams.
MejorSet are more than a participator in padel’s growth, acting as a benchmark against which professional courts are measured. When the London event kicks off in August, spectators will naturally gravitate their attention towards the players within the glass; yet every breathtaking rally will take place on a court meticulously designed to support the athletes on it – which perhaps, in itself, is the clearest indication yet of how far professional padel has truly come.
