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 Ale 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 this second Major of the Premier Padel circuit, including new broadcasters coming on board: Sky Germany (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg & South Tyrol), Sky UK (UK & Eire), Arena (Czech & Slovak) and Cosmote (Greece).
They joined an already world-class list of rights holders including ESPN, beIN SPORTS, Sky Italia, Supersport, and Viaplay.
Luigi Carraro, International Padel Federation President was delighted with the record-breaking week at the Italy Major Premier Padel. 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. To the fans, just wow! A sell-out of 7,000 fans on centre court for the final, over 30,000 visitors throughout the week.
“I would also like to place on record my thanks to the Italian Government, Italian Tennis Federation and Sport e Salute for their work and enormous support in the hosting of the Italy Major Premier Padel 2022. We now look forward to the Paris Premier Padel Major at Stadt Roland Garros in July.”
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, México on 28th November to 4th December.
Argentina Premier Padel P1 taking place from 8th to 14th August will be the inaugural category two tournament. More announcements on additional tournaments to follow very soon.
