Maybe it is the peak we see in the Nordic countries? Could it be? That's the question Padel Alto's Nordic writer Gustaf Straht asks in the latest Nordic Padel Blog.
As previously reported, the boom of Padel in Sweden has been insane, and I think the sport has passed nobody by in the last few years. Every person you talk to is playing, maybe not as much as they did before, but every time I mention my passion over a dinner or in a business meeting, the person sitting in front of me happily tells me they are playing.
However, birds are whispering that the sport has had its peak…
Well, maybe it has, but to be honest, if you look at it from a bigger perspective and over time, the sport has never been bigger globally, in Sweden and the Nordics.
What is even crazier is that it never seems to be an end to anything regarding padel. Tournaments are starting while others haven’t finished, and every week we see progress happening. We had the first visit to Denmark for World Padel Tour two weeks ago, where Daniel Windahl leapfrogged into the big scene, being the first man from Scandinavia to win in the main draw. He was not the first Scandinavian to win, as Amanda Girdo reached the same accomplishment in the Brussels Open of the ladies category a few weeks ago.
The latest week, we’re seeing several swedes and one Norwegian (Fredrik Ask) competing again in the Premier Padel Major tournament in Rome and the World Padel Tour Challenger in Mallorca and making marks. Something we couldn’t even imagine a few years ago.
”Can Windahl, Girdo, and Vasquez reach the top level in the world?”
However, maybe it isn’t that strange – success and progress are often a result of investment and, to be honest – money. And money has been spent in Scandinavia to build a sport that has shown to be extraordinal. Sponsorships have risen, and in the last few months, we’ve seen well-known players from Spain and Argentina agree to contracts with brands that launched in Scandinavia only a couple of years ago. Who would have imagined that? Well, I think no one, but how far can it go?
Can Daniel Windahl, Amanda Girdo, and Simon Vasquez reach the top level in the world?
My answer a few years ago would have been: ”No way, Josè” – however, nowadays, I don’t know. And when do we see the Danes, Finns, and Norwegians start moving? Well, the Danes at least had their first World Padel Tour.
A few weeks ago, I talked with Fredrik Ask, the so far most famous Norwegian player, who told me that the hype was over the top in Norway and investments are skyrocketing – and I guess, from my experience – being part of the growth in Sweden since almost the beginning that we can expect the unexpected from our neighbors too – and they have the blueprint just in front of them.
So no clouds in the sky?
There is a decline, maybe because the pandemic is now regarded as less harmful, and people are back to work from the office rather than playing padel. Perhaps because the summer is coming and most of the courts in Scandinavia are indoors, who knows. I think we reached some plateau, but I’ve seen this happen before, and I guess that the clubs will be crowded again in September.
What can be told is that there have been reports of clubs shutting down – something that is not only a matter to the enthusiast but also in finance press nowadays – but if you ask me, we can remain optimistic because while we are seeing this tremendous progress of our beloved sport in Scandinavia driven by business ventures, we also see the economic growth globally. So much to the extent that it affects us here up in the north.
”Can imagine it negatively affected the progress we have had so far”
Last week World Padel Tour announced a new set of competitions. In addition to the expanded circuit and the competition from APT Padel Tour and the Premier Padel, it will be a crowded calendar this year.
To such an extent that the tournament America vs. Europe has been canceled this year, and last week, the Scandinavian Tour – Eurofinans Invitational sadly had to withdraw their entire circuit for 2022 due to the competition over the high caliber players – and effects might also be hit the Swedish Padel Tour hard. The impact of this will have been hard to tell, but one can imagine it has negatively affected our progress so far.
Maybe it is the peak we are seeing? Could it be?
Read the earlier blogs
”The Padel hysteria that began a few years back had become widely known as the padel pandemic”
