Nike has contacted Nox through intermediaries seeking Agustín Tapia, the world’s top-ranked padel player, confirmed Nox founder Jesús Ballvé. Tapia has been with the Spanish padel brand since 2017 on a contract running to 2028 — any Nike apparel or footwear deal would require Nox’s agreement.
“Nike wants in. It got in touch with us long ago, through some intermediaries.” These are the words of Jesús Ballvé, founder of the padel brand Nox, who was granting an interview to a show called Esto Es Padel (This Is Padel) on Capital Radio, broadcast from Madrid. Marca Padel reported his words on June 17, two days after breaking the Nike news with an exclusive.
Why would Nike get in touch with Nox? Because Nox is the longtime sponsor of Agustín Tapia, also known as the Mozart of Catamarca, the current number-one on the FIP ranking, whom Nike wants to make the face of its eventual padel line. Nox has been with Tapia since 2017, when, at the age of 17, he turned pro. The company helped him move from his native Argentina to Spain.
His contract with Nox, renewed in April 2024, runs to 2028. As Ballvé said in the interview, “Agus isn’t leaving Nox. Agus is under contract through the end of 2028.” But Nike wants in by 2027. Ballvé has a solution.
“If Nike wants to enter now with apparel and sneakers and wants Agus, it’ll have to talk with us, and we’ll have to determine whether an association with Nike is in our interests or not.”
According to Marca Padel’s unnamed sources, Nike has been dispatching scouts to Premier Padel’s tournament venues in Buenos Aires and Rome and been surprised at the fervor of the fans for the sport and for Tapia himself. But Marca Padel points out also the Qatari connection.
Nasser Al-Khelaïfi is the President of both Premier Padel and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), whose chief sponsor is Nike. PSG and Nike have a kit deal, renewed in 2019, that runs through 2032. Apparently, Nike CEO Elliott Hill played padel with Al-Khelaïfi on the occasion of the last Champions League final.
Nike has said nothing so far about entering the padel market. In fact, as far as we can find, it has never said anything whatsoever about padel. The brand’s sole connection to the sport, it seems, is unofficial: the Argentine player Leo Augsburger plays in a Nike tennis shoe, the Vapor 12 Hypersmash, but without an endorsement deal.
As we’ve reported, Nike signed a sponsorship deal with the world’s number-one women’s pickleball player, Anna Leigh Waters, in January.
