Padel is taking over Europe: ”It is really madness”

June 2, 17:42, 2021

Filip Björne Editor-in-Chief

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After an explosion of interest in padel in European countries, the sport is no longer concentrated in Spain and Argentina. Padel Alto explores how the phenomena of padel have grown in different countries in a series of articles. First out: Belgium.

— It is really madness, Thomas Janssens, the President of the Belgian Padel Federation, says.

After being a sport with broad popularity in Spain and Argentina, padel has become a success in several European countries. With newly established courts and clubs opening every week in many European countries, the sport is the fastest growing racket sport in Europe.

Belgium is not an exception to this expansion of the sport.

— It is like getting a ticket to the festival Tomorrowland to reserve a padel court. You need to be out on the second when the ticket office opens and need to refresh the button. It is really madness, the President of the Belgian Padel Federation Thomas Janssens says.

From 115 courts in 2017 in the whole country, only the northern part of Belgium had 551 registered courts at the beginning of 2021.

These numbers are already history, according to Thomas Janssens.

— We will almost double the number of courts this year.

Helena Wyckaert is a professional padel player from Belgium. She is currently ranked as number 80 in the world, making her the highest Belgium player on the World Padel Tour, excluding players from Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy.

With a background in tennis, she started playing padel five years ago when she was studying in the city of Gent, Belgium.

— I was trying to mix it up between the sports, but I had to choose after a while. Padel, for me, was more fun, and it was new. I have not regretted it since then.

In about two years, she lived and practiced in Madrid, and in the season of 2019, she went to the main round in the World Padel Tour twice. In August last year, she decided to move back home to Belgium to train and have classes at a club in Antwerp.

— It feels good to see that the sport is growing really, really fast here. In our club in Antwerp, for example, we have twelve courts, all the courts are taken from 7 am until 11.30 pm. It is amazing, Helena Wyckaert says.

She now believes that padel will go more international by time, with more spread out tournaments on the World Padel Tour over the whole of Europe.

— This year with Covid is difficult. Last year would have been a great year for expanding the sport because you saw that tournaments in the World Padel Tour went more international. This year we have the tournament in Sweden. I think the next year will be the same in other countries.

An Open tournament will be held in Malmo, Sweden, in November. The country where padel grows fastest.

— It is not like Sweden here. I think that is impossible, she says and laughs.

— But we are on a good way.

Belgium has not had a World Padel Tour Open or Master competition, but this summer, the WPT lands in the city of Knokke in Belgium for an exhibition.

Players like Paquito Navarro, Martin Di Nenno, Arturo Coello and Miguel Lamperti on the men´s side is coming. On the women´s side will stars like Marta Marrero, Marta Ortega, Eli Amatriaín, and Sofía Araujo come among other top players.

Helena Wyckaert thinks that padel will stay this popular and keep growing in Belgium and other European countries.

— It will stay and be bigger. It has been crazy in four or five years in Belgium. This year, for example, I know that 30 to 40 clubs will be constructed.

– The best trainers are still in Spain, but I can see that the Spanish trainers are searching for other locations like Belgium or Sweden with good opportunities also, Helena Wyckaert says.

Padel in Belgium in numbers between 2017 and 2020

Two regional federations organize padel in Belgium. AFP Wallonia, the French-speaking part and Padel by Tennis Vlaanderen, the Flemish speaking part. The presented numbers are from both federations except for 2021, where the numbers only represent the Padel by Tennis Vlaanderen.