Is padel at Wimbledon a pipe dream?
Padel at Wimbledon?
With Wimbledon in full swing and plans on the table for a massive expansion of the SW19 site, padel fans may be forgiven for wondering if the sport taking the world by storm will ever make it past the gates at Church Road.
The Australian Open got the ball rolling, becoming the first Grand Slam to embrace padel when it welcomed an exhibition court to Melbourne Park in 2022, followed in 2023 by the Australian Padel Open. (Read more about this in The Bandeja Issue 1, click here).
Roland Garros also opened its doors to padel in 2022, hosting the first of many Premier Padel events – but not at the same time as the French Open.
That leaves Wimbledon and the US Open padel deprived – so what’s the chance of our favourite sport getting a look in on the hallowed turf of South West London?
Very little according to Tom Murray, Head of Padel at the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), the governing body for both tennis and padel in Britain.
Speaking previously to The Bandeja, he explained that the LTA is the only national governing body for tennis that doesn’t run its Grand Slam – in the case of Wimbledon it’s the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club (AELTC) delivering the tournament.
The two organisations work hand-in-hand and the LTA receives funding from the AELTC but it holds no sway when it comes to introducing padel to Centre Court – or any court/car park/spare parcel of land within the rarefied environs of Wimbledon.
Apparently the conversation has come up and the AELTC is aware of padel’s stratospheric growth worldwide (including the UK) but there are, as yet, no plans to incorporate one or more padel courts into ‘the fortnight’ or make room within Wimbledon’s expansion plans for padel.
Interestingly sailing may be the one other sport to benefit from the AELTC’s plans for 39 tennis courts and an 8,000 seat show court on the grounds of the former Wimbledon Park Golf Club; Olympic sailor Sir Ben Ainslie is reported to have thrown his support behind the scheme because it may lead to the clean-up of a lake within the park, making it suitable for public use.
Premier ambitions
There was a glimmer of Wimbledon hope when global padel tour Premier Padel appointed Eno Polo to CEO – and he expressed his desire to see padel in SW19.
Speaking exclusively with The Bandeja, Eno said they ‘would love’ to hold a tournament in the UK, adding: “I’m sure if Wimbledon gave me Centre Court for padel we would leap at that for 2025, and maybe one day they will, just like the French Open did. We would love that opportunity and it would be an excellent reason to be looking at a major in the UK.”
However, his tenure was short (November ’23-May ’24) and it seems the ambition may left with him.
