Search
ANNONS
Blogs and Columns
BJÖRNE: They are the winners after the WPT and Premier Padel announcements
ANNONS

After yesterday's big bombshell that Premier Padel and the World Padel Tour are starting talks with each other, there are two big winners, Padel Alto's Filip Bjorn writes. 

Let's be clear: Nothing concrete has happened yet, and Premier Padel via Qatar Sports Investment and the World Padel Tour via Damm have not yet agreed on anything except to talk to each other. 

Still, yesterday's news is incredibly important. 

The sport has been tied up since the birth of Premier Padel, and the conflicts between the new FIP/PPA-backed tour and the established World Padel Tour started. 

I can't count how many times I've published articles about this war in international padel. The focus has been on who should be the winner rather than how to develop such a young sport from a defiant teenager into an adult. 

Gaining ground and gaining a position of power over the world's currently growing sport has left the sport itself paralyzed to develop.

”WPT feel threatened.”

That the two great enemies and opposites: the modern and brash Premier Padel and the more traditional and classic World Padel Tour, are now talking to each other means one thing first: 

The whole sport of padel is the winner. 

So, what will the circuits now talk about? Game schedule, ranking system, a merger? No, a merger between the WPT and Premier Padel is not likely.

But the World Padel Tour reaching out to Premier Padel indicates that they feel threatened because of one thing: the WPT doesn't have the players with them after 2023. They are stressed and need to make a move to survive as a circuit, no matter what it will look like. 

”Free from the contracts?”

Although the players (men) through the PPA have taken a clear stand for Premier Padel/FIP against the WPT in the war - they have talked about a form of coexistence. The PPA's main issue is to be free from the contracts they have signed with the WPT that bind them exclusively to the tour. 

Instead, they want freedom.

Is freedom from contracts from either the WPT or Premier Padel to be discussed between the partners? Just that the enemies talking to each other means one thing: 

The players in the PPA are the winners, too. 

The article is about: