The Bandeja Magazine Issue 2

feature: padel festival
I’m hitting alongside her I’m
watching in awe. And I start to
understand the rhythm and the
magic of padel. She high fives me
after setting me up for an easy
win. Is this even real?” wrote
Laura. Read her article here.
From CNN to Hello
The festival provided a phenomenal
shop front for padel and was
covered by a host of online, print
and broadcast media including The
Times, BBC, ITV, Sky News, Vogue, Hello,
Esquire, CNN and Channel 5 News.
It marked a UK padel milestone,
giving the game a huge boost and
being ‘successful beyond its wildest
dreams’ for Game4Padel, as CEO
Michael Gradon explained: “We are
over the moon. It definitely exceeded
our expectations and the icing on
the cake was the extensive media
coverage,” he told The Bandeja.
Christoffer Granfelt, of Instantpadel,
said the event was a ‘big success’.
“It was really fun to be part of it and
we were overwhelmed by the great
response the Instantpadel court
received from all levels of players.”
It’s likely that padel will become
a permanent fixture at Westfields
London; Game4Padel has plans to
build three permanent courts (two
covered and an open show court).
West London already has a number
of padel venues, including Rocks
Lane Chiswick, and James Rose,
Game4Padel’s national development
manager was more than happy
that their efforts might benefit other
operators - it’s all about growing
love for the sport, said James.
Any racket sports
“
that the general public
and children can pick up
and have a go at when
they’re younger is really
important. Even if it’s not
picking up a tennis racket…
if it’s picking up a padel
racket I see that as being
a positive thing also for
the future of tennis.
”
Andy Murray
After the festival finished, the
Instantpadel court was dismantled
overnight and Westfield London’s
atrium returned to business as
normal (if a little less exciting!). •
GB Number One Tia Norton
with Andy Murray
School children
trying out padel.
The chance of a lifetime for
this pupil, taking on both
Andy & Jamie Murray!
WINTER 2023
27