We’re all set for the second Pro Padel League season following Tuesday’s draft – with world No.1s among the cast, a new format, more teams – and TWO British stars!
Tia Norton’s victory with Las Vegas Smash in last year’s inaugural competition has whet British appetites for the competition – and Welshman Louie Harris’ inclusion by San Diego Stingrays will double the interest from Blighty in this year’s edition.
Louie and Tia’s 2024 PPL campaigns will begin in just six weeks with the first two rounds of matches taking place in Florida on April 1-6 and 8-13. Matches three and four are in California on August 12-17 and 19-24. The PPL Cup Finals will be in New York on November 18-23.
In this week’s player draft, 14 players were drafted from Spain, three from Argentina, two from the United States, and one from the United Kingdom with the remaining players from Portugal, Bolivia and Italy. In total, 11 women and 10 men were selected in the PPL Draft.
“The 2024 PPL Draft was another important milestone in the history of the league and we are excited to welcome the next generation of talent to the PPL,” said Marcos del Pilar, PPL Commissioner.
“Not only did the teams select some of the top padel players in the world including champions and former world no. 1 ranked players, but they secured the next generation of global padel champions to compete in the 2024 season.”
The 2024 PPL Draft selection highlights include:
- Women’s world no. 8 Sofia Araujo (a member of Andy Murray’s winning Hexagon Cup team) was the highest ranked player drafted by the San Diego Stingrays in the first round
- GB’s Louie Harris, the LTA no.1 male in December 2023, was also selected by the San Diego Stingrays
- The Las Vegas Smash (2023 PPL Champions) drafted 27-year-old Argentinean Gonzalo Alfonso and 24-year-old Spaniard Ignacio Vilarino who is ranked 59th in the world
- 2023 PPL Finalists, the Cancun Waves, drafted veteran Carolina Navarro who is ranked 30th in the world and one of padel’s most successful women’s players having spent nine years as the world no. 1 ranked female with over 100 international titles to her name
- One of the newest franchises to the PPL, the Houston Volts, selected a trio of young Spaniards including Claudia Fernandez Sanchez who is ranked 24th in the world. She is joined by 20-year-old Francisco Guerrero ranked 53rd in the men’s standings and 22-year-old Marta Caparros who is ranked 35th
- Victor Ruiz, the highest ranked male drafted to the PPL and currently ranked no. 16, was selected by the Flowrida Goats
- Drafting the youngest player to the PPL this season was the New York Atlantics who selected Spain’s Andrea Ustero (just 16!) already ranked top 40 in the world. Their second pick was Argentinean Ramiro Moyana Toledo who is ranked 24th
- The Los Angeles Beat drafted Spain’s Jon Sanz who is nearing a world top 20 ranking and is joined by Italy’s no. 1 female player, 22-year-old Carolina Orsi, who is currently ranked 27th
- The Miami Padel Club selected Spain’s Jose Jimenez (ranked just outside the men’s top 100) and fellow Spaniard, Lucia Martinez Gomez, who is the women’s world no.21
- The Arkansas Matrix drafted Spanish duo Araceli Martinez ranked 45th in women’s standings and 23-year-old Inigo Jofre who is top 100 in the men’s rankings
- The final 2024 PPL Draft pick went to the Toronto Polar Bears who selected Daniela Ruiz. She previously played in the 2023 PPL season in addition to being a member of the USA team at the 2022 World Championships. The Canadian team’s first round pick of the Draft was Spain’s 17-year-old Noemi Aguilar who is ranked 66th in the world
Some of the most decorated and iconic padel players from around the world will compete in the 2024 PPL. For the 2024 season, over 80% of the newly signed PPL players are ranked top 50 in the world.
Recently announcing the PPL’s 2024 season schedule and increased prize money purse of $1 million, this year the PPL will bring padel to both the East and West coasts of the United States. There’s also an expanded schedule, a new team competition format and more than double the hours of viewer content.
For the 2024 season, 10 teams will compete for the chance to lift the PPL Cup including the Las Vegas Smash (2023 Champions), Cancun Waves (2023 Finalists), Miami Padel Club, Flowrida Goats, San Diego Stingrays, Los Angeles Beat, Arkansas Matrix, Toronto Polar Bears, New York Atlantics, and Houston Volts.
Regular season events will run for six days (Monday – Saturday) and teams are guaranteed four matches over five days.
Teams will be split into two groups and each team will play every team in their group once. The top two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals, winners of semi-final matches will play in the final, and losers will play for third and fourth place.
Men’s and women’s doubles will be best two out of three sets (golden point) with a 10-point champions breaker in-lieu of the third set. The mixed doubles match will be played regardless of the score after men’s and women’s doubles and that match will be one-set (golden point) with a tie-breaker at 6-6.
