The fastest-growing sport in the world had an unforgettable week as the Italy Major Premier Padel saw records tumble further enhancing the position of Premier Padel as the leading Tour in the sport.
Premier Padel, the official global padel tour – governed by the International Padel Federation (FIP) and backed by the Professional Padel Association (PPA) and Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) – attracted the biggest crowd ever for a match in Italian padel history, where a capacity crowd of almost 7,000 fans took their seats on centre court for the final of the Italy Major Premier Padel. In all, over 30,000 passionate, padel loving fans visited the Foro Italico over the week of the tournament.
The final also welcomed special visitors, with the European Olympic Committee President Spyros Capralos and Secretary-General Raffaele Pagnozzi in attendance, ahead of padel’s debut at the European Games in Poland next year.
The Italy Major Premier Padel saw 125 pairs from 18 global countries register, breaking the participation record set at the Ooredoo Qatar Major where 123 pairs registered for the tournament earlier this year. In Italy, it was Alejandro Galan and Juan Lebron – the number one seeded pair who reigned supreme. The Major was viewed by the biggest audience in the history of the sport. 167 broadcasters covered the second Major of the Premier Padel circuit
Luigi Carraro, International Padel Federation President was delighted with the record-breaking week in Italy. He commented: “I want to thank the players, fans, stakeholders and everyone involved in helping to produce one of the best weeks in our sport’s history. We already know padel is the fastest-growing sport in the world, but this week at the Foro Italico showed us just how far the sport has come, in a short space of time since the launch of Premier Padel. No tour can boast a reach of 167 territories with the biggest broadcasters in the world.”
Premier Padel will host at least ten (10) new tournaments in 2022 – including four category one “Major” events. The first major – the Ooredoo Qatar Major 2022 – took place in Doha in March. Together with the Italy Premier Padel Major, the other category one tournaments are the Paris Premier Padel Major at Stade Roland Garros taking place from 11th July to 17th July, and the Mexico Premier Padel Major at the Club Sonoma en Monterrey, Mexico on 28th November to 4th December.
Argentina Premier Padel P1 will take place from 8th to 14th August and will be the inaugural category two tournament.
Spanish top seeds Juan Lebron and Alejandro Galan (left) came from a set down to defeat the second seeds Francisco Navarro and Martin Di Nenno in the final of the Premier Padel Major in Rome.
