Pablo Lima on the conflict with WPT: ”They have to recognise us as an association”

Brazilian Pablo Lima, the world star and PPA board member, refers to the conflict between the players and the WPT circuit in his latest interview with Spanish Marca. 
— We want a collective negotiation, and they are looking for an individual one, he says. 

The 2023 season is less than a month away, and many issues must be resolved between the WPT circuit and the professional players.

In an interview with Marca, the Vice President of the Professional Padel Association (PPA), Pablo Lima, referred to the controversy unleashed after the new proposal that the circuit made to the players. 

World Padel Tour sent the offers to the players individually. PPA's response was blunt: collective bargaining, or they would not consider the offer.

— This is a problem because we want collective negotiations, and they are looking for individual negotiations. Hopefully, we can sit down with them and agree on both sides. But first, they have to recognize us as an association, says Lima.

This conflict was taken further by the circuit, which announced that players without a current contract who did not sign the new proposal would not be allowed to participate in any of the upcoming season's tournaments.

— Most of them are young players, and it would be terrible for them not to play. From PPA, we are talking to stop that from happening, but so far, it has had no effect. The most logical thing would be to let them play.

"They will have to come to an understanding."

Although the World Padel Tour had said it would announce its 2023 calendar before the Barcelona Master Final, it wasn't until a few days ago that it unveiled the events for this season.

Under the legend "the most international season in history," the circuit presented (less than a month before its start) a calendar packed with 27 tournaments, leaving a few weeks free.

This delay meant that Premier Padel - which has to carry out the events without coinciding with WPT tournaments - has not yet released the official calendar for this year.

— Premier Padel will let us know the tournaments soon because they depended a lot on the World Padel Tour calendar," said Lima.

For the Brazilian legend, this inter-circuit dispute is difficult to resolve, but they should try to reach an agreement between the two sides.

— Both sides want to do tournaments, and they will have to come to an understanding, although it is difficult because there are a lot of commercial agreements.  I don't see it as easy, but things change a lot from one day to the next, and anything can happen.