Tournament woes in the pádel world

Through Setpoint Events, the World Padel Tour (WPT) has canceled the Buenos Aires Padel Master, reducing its November tournaments to two: the Areco Malmö Padel Open and the Skechers Mexico Padel Open.

The stated reason was delinquent payments from “the local promotors.” This would be the organization of Argentine businessman Lisandro Borges, who once floated the idea of purchasing the WPT – before Qatar Sports Investments swooped in and merged it with Premier Padel – and back in 2021 was establishing yet another league, the Players Padel Tour, in which the players were to hold a 50 percent stake. (See Padel Alto’s video interview with Borges online.)

Borges’s organization, named Buenos Aires Padel Master, after the tournament, has since called the cancellation “untimely, malicious and unjustified,” declared the stated reason to be untrue, and reserved the right to file suit against Setpoint Events and the WPT. It ascribes the payment trouble to Argentina’s present economic turmoil and corresponding restrictions on international payments. It also says that it offered alternatives to the cancellation of agreed terms and would be reimbursing ticket buyers.

According to Padel Alto, however, the organizers also wrote on social media that several players have confirmed they will be present and competing. We shall see.

Meanwhile, the bloodshed in and around Israel has induced Premier Padel to postpone its P1 tournament in New Giza, Egypt – scheduled for Oct. 30 to Nov. 4. Ticket holders are entitled to refunds. Padel Spain reports that, as it happens, a number of competitors were unhappy with the organization of last year’s tournament.

Premier Padel’s next tournament is scheduled for November in Mexico.

Last month the other big league, A1 Padel, was obliged to cancel the Torreón Open in Mexico over “administrative problems.” Less than a month later it was obliged to cancel the tournament in Mexico City as well, over “bureaucratic problems.”

The league found no way to postpone these events, but now, according to Padel Spain, it has found a way to replace at least the first – with a tournament in Puebla, scheduled for Oct. 30 to Nov. 5 at the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP). The official sponsor remains Grupo Simsa, a Mexican conglomerate with energy, food, retail, construction, real estate and transport operations.