The Bandeja Magazine Issue 1

News
News
No mingle singles!
Small(er), beautiful and a record
breaker – this is believed to be the UK’s
first* singles padel court, just finished
by Pro Padel Courts for a private client
in Oxfordshire. Compared to a doubles
court it is 6m rather than 10m wide, but
with the same length of 20m. Which
means that singles is probably harder
work than doubles given that each player
has to cover 60m 2 rather than 50m 2 . And
hit every ball. Anyone for doubles?!
*Liverpool FC has a ‘standard’ padel court
but there’s a suggestion it also has a singles.
If you know let us know!
StarVie boosts
production
Spanish padel racket manufacturer
StarVie is extending its factory near
Madrid to enable it to produce 15,000
rackets a month. See how it’s done
here: click here
Equality in WPT
International Women’s Day in March saw
the World Padel Tour (WPT) announce
equal prize money for men and women,
with the prize pot at women’s tournaments
increasing by 250% for Challenger events,
178% for Open and Masters and 160% for the
Master Final, which the WPT described as
‘unprecedented’ increases.
takes on the world in Vegas
Well done to the GB team who
represented their country at the
recent Electrolit Seniors World Padel
Championships in Las Vegas, taking
on some of the best players in the
world and recording great results
during the six day team and
pairs tournament.
Almost 600 players representing
32 national teams and 18 countries
(including Spain, Argentina, Portugal
and Uruguay) played more than 500
matches during the event, which was
hosted by the United States Padel
Association under the authority of FIP
and the American Padel Federation.
breaking news...
Brilliantly the GB ladies finished 8th
overall in the team event. The GB men,
who only played their first LTA national
tournament last year, were up against
stiff competition, finishing 15 th in the
team tournament.
In the individual pairings, Libby Fletcher
& Claire Smith made it through to the
quarter finals in the +35 years women’s
doubles and Michael Gradon/Matt
Lansley won through to the quarter
finals in the +55 years men’s doubles.
A huge well done to all the players. Full
details of the championships in the next
issue of The Bandeja.
Just as The Bandeja was going to press Rocks Lane Padel, London,
announced plans to develop two padel sites in Cornwall - The Point at
Polzeath and Trevose Golf Club, Padstow (which should be open for the
June Bank Holiday. Playtomic is the booking platform). Chris Warren,
Rocks Lane co-founder, said in announcing the plans: “So pack your
golf clubs, bucket & spade, surf board and now your padel racket!”
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Photo courtesy Trevose Golf Club
Derby Calling
We Are Padel has launched onto
the UK scene with news that it
is opening the country’s largest
indoor facility in Derby, with
another multi-court site to
follow in Shoreditch, London.
Both schemes revolve around
Powerleague facilities; the company
took over the Powerleague operation
at Derby’s Pride Park in mid April with
ambitious plans to have 11 indoor
courts up and running in the next few
weeks. Until then Harrogate’s Surge
Padel will retain the title of largest
indoor club, with six courts.
We are Padel (a LeDap club)
proposals are also progressing for
the Powerleague site in Shoreditch,
where it will have seven outdoor
‘semi-covered’ courts.
The company is pursuing a further
25 potential new locations in England
with the intention of opening up to six
clubs this year and expanding into
Scotland and Ireland in the future.
We are Padel UK spokesman Rosco
Muller told The Bandeja that their
vision is to build a community at each
of the locations, which will operate
on a pay-per-play basis. “Our DNA
is the personal touch, a premium
experience and really connecting
with the community. We are not a
business that will just build clubs,
the UK padel magazine - May 2022
get a booking system in place, install
electronic gates and issue QR codes.
Our customers will receive a warm
welcome from our team who will,
if required, take them by the hand and
into the world of padel,” said Rosco.
Derby club manager will be
Matthew Baker and his assistant
Jennifer Truong.
LeDap is owned by private equity
company Triton and already
operates some 100 padel centres
and more than 800 courts across
Europe and the Middle East. It has
stated its aim to become the
world’s leading platform to drive
the growth, innovation, digitalisation
and professionalisation of the
game, making it ‘available to all’
and contributing to it becoming
an Olympic sport.
Have a lake or water frontage but no physical space
for a padel court? Us neither! But if you do then checkout
Flodel, a rather lovely floating padel court. It’s a
collaboration between Swedish companies World Wide
Padel and Pontech and can include spectator/lounge
areas with a bar and cafe. Just don’t hit the balls out…
Find out more about Tom Murray, the
LTA’s Head of Padel, in Rob Salmon’s
My Tennis Journey podcast. Rob chats
with Tom about his early career, from
teaching English to becoming a young
tennis hopeful, and then going on to
drive the growth of padel in the UK.
www.serveandvolley.net
It’s coming...
A mini padel court, a racket
specialist and racket sports brand.
Full details in the next issue!
Phew...
we can all breath a sigh
of relief. Garmin has
made padel official by
including it in the latest
firmware update for its
Fenix 6. Now we just need to
work on Strava, since we all
know that if it’s not on Strava...
If you’re using it and comparing with
other racket sports let us know, we’d
love to see your stats.
“If tennis is chequers,
padel is chess. It is really
a thinking person’s
sport but the great thing
about padel is that it is
easy to learn and hard
to master.
”
Lee Sponaugle, All Racket Sports
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