When paddle mania broke out three years ago, practically no one thought that this phenomenon could last so long. And instead, Today we come to talk more and more frequently about this sport that everyone likes. Padel is many positive things together: fun, sociability, entertainment and, for competition lovers, it is also a discipline that allows you to constantly compare yourself with other players.
It was all these factors that allowed this sport to grow more and more, both in terms of practitioners and in terms of clubs and fields present on Italian territory (recently exceeded 8000 fields, source: Mrpaddlepaddle.com). And it doesn’t matter that many consider this discipline “the tennis of failures”, because paddle tennis knows how to go far beyond these criticisms and it does so by responding on the field with an increasing number of fans.
This ever-changing motion obviously it has also led to exponential growth at a professional level, in a sport in which Spain and Argentina were light years away from the Bel Paese (and also from the rest of the nations) until a few years ago. now, however, these two countries no longer seem so distant from Italy, that in the last two years has shown itself with ever greater goals.
The first important results came thanks to the women, good at believing it from the beginning and immediately launching himself with great courage into a very difficult reality such as the World Padel Tour (one of the two best world circuits together with the Premier Padel circuit that was only born in 2022). Right away, our standard bearers obviously struggled a lot, but then they quickly made more and more space until they achieved great results, such as the two bronze medals won by the Italian team at the 2021 and 2022 Women’s World Cups, the two quarterfinals recently won by Carolina Orsi in the WPT paired with the Spanish Patty Llaguno (it should be noted that, in addition to the Roman, other Italians, Giulia Sussarello/Emily Stellato above all, are getting great satisfaction) and later, with the help of Marco Cassetta, the three medals obtained at the European Games in Krakow (Poland) since two weeks.
Going into the details of this last point, they obviously gave away the greatest emotions. Orsi herself and her partner Giorgia Marchetti thanks to the magnificent triumph in the women’s doubles tournament, but also Giulia Sussarello/Marco Cassetta and Sussarello herself with Chiara Pappacena have been able to bring great joy to the Bel Paese respectively with silver in mixed doubles and bronze in women’s doubles (It should be noted that in all these events the big names were not present, but in any case there were several high-level players). These three results were really magnificent and confirmed the great growth of Italy in this sport at high levels.
As can be seen from the above, five of the six players who have won a medal at the European Games are women. This is the normal consequence of the different international growths that males and females have had in Italy, but that doesn’t mean men aren’t getting better and better. Indeed, in recent months the Italian men have had a great growth (especially thanks to the many lessons carried out in Spain with the best coaches in the world) and now they too are preparing to obtain substantial results, even if the level of 20 best in the world is still far away.
Now another important test will be the BNL Italy Major Premier Padel, Tournament of the Premier Pade circuit scheduled from July 8 to 16 at the Foro Italico in Rome. There really will be all the best players in the world and therefore, it will be very interesting to see how far the Italians can go. The word goes to the field.
Photo: Padelfip
