Just when it seemed that the battle for world domination had been settled by last August’s takeover of the World Padel Tour by Premier Padel – along come new circuits making big plays for market share.
Last weekend saw the launch of The Ultimate Padel Tour, a 15-stage circuit based entirely in Spain. The first event was in La Coruña and attracted a pretty stellar cast including male players from the world top 30 and world top-10 ranked women.
Pablo Cardona and Javi Ruiz were men’s winners at the first UPT event after a 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 win over Leal and García Diestro. Meanwhile, Claudia Jensen and Jess Castelló achieved victory in the women’s category 6-1, 6-4.
The Ultimate Padel Tour is presumably intended to fill the gaps left by Premier Padel, which in an effort to globalise the sport has spread the tour calendar in 2024 and reduced the number of top-level events in Spain to just four.
Ultimate Padel Tour revealed last weekend that its second stage will be in Leganés from March 8-16 – perhaps timed deliberately between the Premier Padel Qatar Major (March 3-8) and Acapulco P1 (March 18-24).
Meanwhile, over in Miami, the inaugural Reserve Cup presented by Richard Mille took place on February 8-10 – attracting some of the world’s best players in legendary Juan Martín Díaz, Juan Lebrón, Ale Galán, Javier Garrido and Franco Stupaczuk.
The tournament was at the stunning Reserve Miami Seaplane and boasted “the largest purse per player in padel history” and even a celebrity charity match featuring Venus Williams and New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter.
We must also factor in the A1 Padel tour – which has stages in Mexico, Chile and Monaco this year and featured a stunning stop-off in New York’s Central Park last year – as well as the Fabrice Pastor Cup for younger players.
That’s not to mention the recent much-hyped Hexagon Cup team tournament in Madrid, which had team owners including Andy Murray, Eva Longoria and Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski and promises a second edition next year. Plus the expanded Pro Padel League in the USA which also sees some of the world’s top players joins its ranks for this year’s second season.
The calendar of tournaments for padel’s leading professionals is becoming very crowded as the jostling for global dominance continues.
