World Padel Day brings an Olympic push as Britain reaches 1.5 million players

FIP names 20 October World Padel Day and renews its Olympic bid. FIP and Premier Padel have formally adopted a date the padel community was already marking, and FIP used it to press its case for Brisbane 2032. It points to about 40 million players in 191 countries, a 47% share of women, more than 91,000 courts, and modular courts that can be put up temporarily, as at the Sydney Opera House in August. Padel already featured at the 2023 European Games and at this year's South American, Mediterranean and Asian Games. A campaign film ends with the line "Padel is ready for Brisbane 2032." Source: FIP

The LTA says 1.5 million people now play padel in Britain. The governing body's latest figures, published for World Padel Day, also count 2,445 courts at 682 venues, and say two-thirds of players play tennis too. Players numbered 15,000 in 2019 and 860,000 at the end of 2025. Head of Padel Tom Murray said the focus is on public courts and wider access, and the LTA is working with the UK Government on funding for publicly owned courts, with pilot projects due to start this year. Source: The Padel Paper

The Hexagon team event becomes a four-stop world series in 2027. Hexagon World Series will open at Madrid's Caja Mágica on 21 to 24 January, visit North America in March and Scandinavia in June (host cities to be named), and finish in Abu Dhabi on 21 to 24 October, where the overall champion is crowned. Eight teams, each with a men's and a women's pair, will play best-of-five super tie-breaks instead of games and sets, with equal prize money for men and women. Seven teams are confirmed, including AD/vantage, backed by Andy Murray and Anthony Joshua, and a new Abu Dhabi franchise; player line-ups follow in the coming weeks. Source: FIP

Tarragona will host the FIP season finale in December. The Cupra FIP Finals take place from 3 to 6 December at the Palau d'Esports Catalunya, with 16 men's and 16 women's pairs selected on the FIP ranking. Pairs who won FIP Platinum events this season get priority, provided they enter together. Catalonia's Pol Hernández, 37th in the race, is among those still chasing a place. Source: FIP

A court maker builds a club inside its factory. Alicante-based Padel Alba has spent €750,000 on a larger plant with two welding robots, which it says could lift output from 10 to about 30 courts a week. Four courts on site, two of them fully panoramic and all lined with acoustic curtains, will act as a showroom and be open to the public for hire. Co-founder Ray Brinkmanis told The Padel Paper he wants buyers to watch how a court is made and then play on one. It opens on 13 November. Source: The Padel Paper

FIP rebuilds its player pages with head-to-head records. Each profile on padelfip.com now has overview, activity, statistics, ranking and head-to-head tabs, with Premier Padel and FIP tour records shown separately. The head-to-head tool compares two players or pairs, with win rates and past results filterable by circuit. The historical title and finals data was reworked with technology partner Crionet. Source: FIP

Siux adds shoes and its own court turf for 2027. At a launch in Madrid the brand showed its first padel shoes, alongside clothing, bags, balls and an artificial grass surface in club and competition versions. The racket range has 12 models across six families, including those used by Stupaczuk, Augsburger and Libaak. Source: Padel Addict (Spanish)

Team Goode win the Pro Am Padel Tour final in London. The tour pairs celebrities with experienced players, and the grand final at Padium in Canary Wharf was shown live on talkSPORT's YouTube channel. Former England rugby player Alex Goode's team, which included GB number one Catherine Rose, finished ahead of the teams led by Jason Manford and Duncan James. Goode gave the £12,000 captain's fund to the Matt Hampson Foundation, and the day also included an adaptive padel session with GB's top wheelchair player, Louis Telford. Source: The Padel Paper