The Bandeja Magazine Issue 2

International
NYC’s Padel
Haus
Say hello to Santiago Gomez,
founder of Padel Haus, New
York’s first padel facility. It looks
super cool, with four courts, pro
shop, juice bar, steam room and
even a padel atelier (we’re not
sure either!).
Santiago, a certified padel
coach, is well-known in the
city for co-founding ‘celebrity’
Mexican restaurants Cosme and
Atla. He has played padel for 20
years (he grew up in Mexico and
spent his summers in Acapulco)
so opening Padel Haus was a
logical move.
He told us: “When the pandemic
hit in 2020 I went back to
Acapulco and made padel part
of my routine, playing every day.
When I returned to New York
I realised that the sport was
one of the things the city was
missing and the idea for Padel
Haus was born.”
The 16,000ft 2 club is located at
Kent Avenue in Williamsburg,
Brooklyn.
Grand Slam
hosts first Padel Open
Padel hit the ground running in Australia, with the inaugural Australian Padel
Open played during the AO tennis Grand Slam at Melbourne Park.
The Open, the biggest padel event yet held in the country, has been
endorsed by the Australian Padel Federation and forms the first leg of the
2023 Australian Padel Tour, with international players and home-grown talent
competing to earn ranking points and vying for the Open’s $20,000 prize pot.
The news marks a huge step forward for the game, which was showcased
at the AO last year but still only has 25 courts at six venues in the country –
two each in Sydney and Perth, one in Melbourne and one on the Gold Coast.
A new four-court centre in Albury, New South Wales, is scheduled to open
shortly. The Sol Padel project is being developed by friends of The Bandeja
Erin Purtle and her husband Mark.
North America’s
first professional
padel league
The Pro Padel League (PPL) aims
to create a premier sports league
providing a national stage for
padel, which commentators believe
is about to explode stateside.
Teams will compete for the PPL
Cup and initially play in Miami while
court infrastructure is established
for all cities.
League commissioner and United
States Padel Association President
Marcos del Pilar said the league
will create new opportunities for
fans and players. “The PPL is the
perfect new ecosystem for padel to
grow in North America and boost its
exposure,” he said.
So far four of the six teams have been
announced: Cancun, Miami, San
Diego and Los Angeles.
www.propadelleague.com
34 thebandeja.com