For a week, the French temple of tennis will reduce the size of its courts and the players that of their rackets. From July 11 to 17, 2022, the Roland-Garros stadium will host a Grand Slam… of padel. Paris is the first European city to commit to hosting one of the four “Major” tournaments of Premier Padel, the new world circuit placed under the aegis of the international federation and financed by QSI, the Qatari structure directed by Nasser Al -Khelaïfi.
Anxious to promote the practice in France, the FFT had recently considered joining the World Padel Tour (WPT), which until a few weeks ago was the reference Tour. Before the QSI revolution… The Paris meeting, already planned for several seasons (but not necessarily for the same period), could give a big spotlight to a discipline whose real take-off in France has been difficult to see for several years.
“The French Federation is working very well, it has dedicated a team to padel (Editor’s note: with former tennis player and DTN Arnaud Di Pasquale at its head) and I’m sure that in a year, a year and a half, France will quietly be one of the big European padel nations and that in three years, there will be a lot of tracks (Editor’s note: the objective of the FFT is 2000 in 2024 against a thousand today), assures Luigi Carraro, the president of the International Federation (FIP). France will perhaps be the most important protagonist of the second phase of our project. I’m sure they will change the way of organizing big padel tournaments with their know-how. It will be a fantastic page in our history. »
The event will be able to count on a planetary broadcast. For its infancy in Doha this week, Premier Padel was already accessible in more than 160 countries. “These tournaments are very important for the players but especially for the amateurs, explains Carraro. They are starting to really see this sport on the courts and on television. This sport needs to be known by everyone. »
From 2024, Premier Padel intends to organize at least 25 tournaments per year, divided into three categories corresponding to the Majors, Masters 1000 and ATP 500 of tennis. This season and the next, QSI will have to settle for ten appointments because the best players in the world will be forced to honor the contract they signed with WPT and juggle between the two Tours.
A new date for the “Grand Slam” under negotiation could be disputed before Roland-Garros. In the medium term, the objective is to manage to evolve on the five continents with a seasonality that would resemble tennis a bit. “From day one, we said that the new official circuit would propel the discipline to the top,” explains Nasser Al-Khelaïfi. The organization of a “Major” at the Roland-Garros stadium bears witness to this…”
