Padel in Australia by Joaquin Granados

In this article, we have Joaquin Granados who is currently living in Sydney and is going to explain to all our HELLO PADEL ACADEMY community the potential of padel in Australia. Joaquin is a professional player from Barcelona (Spain), he is one of the best players in Australia, a member of the New South Wales team and he is currently working on growing padel in the country collaborating with Padelines as an ambassador and consultant.

Clubs

Currently, Australia has five padel clubs and two more which will be built very soon. There are 2 in Sydney, 1 in Gold Coast, 2 in Perth, and the next 2 will be built in Sydney and Melbourne. Out of those seven clubs, four of them have been or are going to be built in this last year, which is a sign of the beginning of the growth in the country.

Players

Similar to what has happened in most of the other countries, in the beginning, the best native players of the country are former tennis players that switch into padel after discovering their love for the sport, and foreign players from countries where padel is more extended and they have competed there before. But there are more and more amateur people starting to practice it and very soon many of those will improve. Additionally, parents also enroll their kids to train from young ages and those kids will be the future of the padel competition in the country.

Circuit

Up until now, there have been one-off FIP tournaments and club tournaments. This year, the first national circuit came out but it’s been canceled because of COVID, unfortunately. 

In Australia, there is also a tournament called “Padel State of Origin”, which is copied from a very important Rugby tournament in Australia where the team of New South Wales plays against the team of Queensland. Those teams are a selection of the best players of those regions. In 2021, we were able to play the 2020 edition after being postponed several times due to COVID restrictions, Queensland was the first winner and NSW is looking forward to the next edition for our rematch.

Growth & Potential

Considering that padel is growing all over the world and succeeding in every country, Australia also has everything for padel to succeed. It has a very big tennis community and culture and the weather is perfect for both indoor and outdoor facilities.

We are at a point where native Aussies are starting to discover it and getting more interested in having more places to play at, meaning that from now on it will not only depend on foreigners to build new courts, Australians will start investing very soon and the growth will be exponential.

There are companies such as Padelines and people such as Albert Escofet and Pere Valdivieso that are working very hard to have more courts built, create a good circuit, increase the awareness, etc, Brands are also starting to come and support players.

Australia is a country where people are very social and like to do a lot of sport, therefore it’s a matter of time that Australia will be full of padel courts, similar to what has happened and is happening in Europe and America.

Lastly, on this topic, there has been very good news recently that can’t be told yet, but I can say that it will be a game-changer for the sport as well.

We appreciate Joaquin for keeping us up to date about padel in Australia and we look forward to seeing the borders open. GRACIAS QUIM! #differentlevel