After attending the recent Brussels P2, Brendan Okoronkwo (aka @BPadel) explains what fans can expect when Premier Padel makes its long-awaited UK debut in August.
At a converted industrial warehouse in the heart of Belgium’s capital, the crowd arrives in waves: first the curious, then the committed, and finally the converted. By the Sunday finals, there are no empty seats left to claim.
Over the course of the week, you can see the shift happen. People who arrive with a healthy intrigue leave something more concrete — following matches intently, recognising players, staying much longer than expected and studying the calendar to earmark future events
For a British audience looking ahead to London P1 at Olympia this August, the question is not whether there is appetite for elite padel in the UK (with more than 10,000 tickets sold already, that is not in doubt), but what kind of live event and experience we are about to inherit.
A place to explore
On arrival, there is a temptation to head straight for centre court. Resist it.
Like a tennis major or the Ryder Cup, padel events work best as a campus rather than a stadium. Movement is part of the experience — drifting between courts, pausing at matches you hadn’t planned to watch, gradually building your own sense of the tournament.
The outer courts offer proximity and immediacy. You’re close enough to hear the players, informal enough to feel involved. At Olympia, unassigned seating across the outer courts means that movement isn’t just possible but encouraged. On centre court, the lights dim, the music lifts, and suddenly the sport feels big.
That balance between openness and spectacle is one of padel’s defining strengths.
Not tennis, not football… something in between
Padel crowds don’t behave like tennis crowds. They are louder, looser, more relaxed. But they’re not quite football crowds either. There is still a respect for the rhythm of the point, a shared understanding of when to hold a reaction and when to let it go.
In Brussels, that balance came naturally. By finals day the venue had an edge to it, a sort of hum of tension building through the afternoon. When Juan Lebrón and Leo Augsburger completed their comeback win over the world no.1s, it wasn’t just applause; it was an eruption. In the women’s draw, Bea González and Paula Josemaría claimed, their third consecutive title, reinforcing a growing dominance on the tour.
The quality of the matches is one part of it. The shared experience of watching them is what lingers.
No manual needed
Padel is unusually accessible as a live sport. New spectators grasp the fundamentals quickly. The use of glass, which feels wrong and unfamiliar, becomes intuitive within a few rallies. Points are long enough to build tension but contained enough to hold attention.
For more experienced fans, there is depth in the detail: positioning, tempo, the decision-making. But that complexity doesn’t act as a barrier. It just gives you something more to come back for.
Padel’s emerging inner circle
Spend more than a few hours inside the venue and another layer becomes visible. Alongside first-timers, there is a group of regular followers. Those who travel between events, recognise players immediately and know the nuances of the tour. They discuss previous tournaments, monitor partnerships and move through the venue with a clear sense of purpose. In Brussels, that group felt established, settled, even.
It gives each tournament the sense of being part of something ongoing rather than self-contained. For the sport, it is a sign of progression: an audience and community that isn’t just growing but returning.
P2 vs P1
Brussels is a P2 event, and you can feel its place within the Premier Padel hierarchy. The level on court is still exceptional, the organisation is strong, and the atmosphere is authentic. But P2 tournaments sit one tier below P1 events in terms of ranking points, prize money, player draw strength and overall scale. They are big stops on the calendar, but not the flagship moments of the tour.
P1 tournaments are where everything lifts. Bigger stakes. More of the world’s top players. Greater international attention. Larger crowds, broader broadcast reach, enhanced hospitality and a sharper sense of occasion from the moment fans arrive. They are designed to feel premium — the events players most want to win outside of the Majors.
That is precisely what makes London P1 at Olympia London so significant. Because the newly renovated Olympia is not just another stop on the tour. It is one of London’s most recognisable venues — a space that has hosted amazing events for nearly 140 years, and one that has just completed a £1.3bn transformation. Into that setting will walk the world’s best players for the very first time.
What fans can expect at P1 London
If Brussels shows how strong the tour has become, London P1 is where padel gets to prove something different, not just to padel fans, but to a city that measures live sporting events against everything else it has to offer.
That is both the opportunity and the stakes. London doesn’t give things an easy ride. It has world class sport, culture and entertainment competing for attention every weekend of the year. For padel to land here, it needs to feel like an event, not simply a tournament.
Anyone planning to attend should take confidence that it being delivered by Sela, experts in live events. Having recently attended Sela’s Fury v Makhmudov fight night in London, I saw first-hand the standard they bring to live events, from atmosphere to execution.
Brussels showed that the potential is already there. The sport holds up, the atmosphere builds and the matches deliver. Now, for the first time in the UK, London has the stage, the audience and the tools to give a whole new market of fans the kind of padel experience the city has been waiting for. London has the chance to help padel level up.
