Hexagon World Series: your time to shine
The Hexagon Cup re-wrote the elite sport rule book when it launched its team-based format in 2024. Now it’s gone one step further, launching the Hexagon World Series to tour the world. With FIP ranking points on the line, fan events and a show-court atmosphere built to raise goosebumps, this is padel engineered to thrill. Adam Black reports.
Would you like to go behind the velvet rope at one of the biggest padel events in the world? Well now you can as the Hexagon World Series, the biggest padel team tournament on the planet, has launched and fans can be a part of it.
Not only do you get the chance to play at the event itself by winning amateur events, you can still get close enough to the best players in the world in a way no other sport offers. Imagine being feet away from Harry Kane at Wembley, or Djokovic at Wimbledon, that’s the sort of close contact padel offers fans, and the people at Hexagon are hell-bent on bringing this experience to fans: “People tune in to be part of an atmosphere that they can feel through the screen,” said Gary Davidson, of 54, a London-based sports media and marketing agency instrumental in the success of LIV Golf.
The first thing the architects of the Hexagon World Series talk about isn’t format, or rankings, or even prize money. It’s the hair standing up on the back of your neck, as Gary added: “It’s the speed, it’s the athleticism, it’s the excitement.”
The Hexagon World Series has done something that’s truly rare for fans. It’s cast aside boardroom rivalries to unite the biggest businesses in the game to create one event: its backers are the Qataris of Premier Padel – the Saudis of Liv Golf – and FIP, the governing body of padel. But why should fans care?
“The fact that we’ve got FIP rankings means it’s going to mean something,” said Gary. “They’re not just playing to be a Hexagon World Series champion. They’re playing to be world number one.”
There’s simply no other sport where the rivals who run the game collaborate to create something even better for fans.
Hexagon is chasing the kind of night where the arena crackles and where viewers watching from a sofa feel like they’ve been dragged into the stands. That’s the bet at the centre of this event, to take the team-based theatre that made the Hexagon Cup pop and scale it into a tier one sport like tennis, football or F1.
Hexagon founder Enrique Buenaventura is, however, realistic. “Big ambitions don’t make a ‘tier one’ product; only a fanbase does.” He concedes that success is down to the audience: “Tier one… it’s not on us, it’s on the fans… the fans are the ones that are going to judge.”
Details about the Hexagon World Series are sparse at present, but a further announcement is expected shortly. We do know that the Hexagon Cup counts as the first tournament of the series and that three further dates are to follow this year. No locations have yet been announced but London was the chosen city to announce the series – could it be a sign that it will be heading our way? 🤞
So, what makes this padel event different? And why should we give it the time of day?
It starts with the intention to stage padel as a show. Gary’s promise is that Hexagon World Series will keep the entertainment edge that defined the Hexagon Cup and expand it: “We take the best parts of Hexagon, all the entertainment and the razzmatazz that they bring and amplify it.”
But a show only becomes a top global sport when people care who wins. That’s why the series format matters: it gives fans time to build loyalty, not just curiosity. “It’s quite difficult for a fan to really build an affinity to a team when it’s one week of the year. So running multiple events means that you can be more invested in teams,” added Gary.
Building the connection between fans and teams is essential and matches aren’t treated as separate exhibitions for men and women who represent the same team. Gary explained: “The fact that we’re going to have men and women cheering for each other because they’re playing for the same team…their prize money…their ranking points are going to depend on each other. That’s unique.”
Then there’s the format that says this is the main event: a single show court, like boxing, designed to concentrate the spectacle. Gary explains the logic like crowd physics: “The fact that we’re using a single show court…means that we can make sure that all the atmosphere and all the energy is focused.”
And the winners again are fans. As Buenaventura added: “Fans…will just feel a better product…more exciting…better produced, in the top cities of the world.”
But perhaps it’s the players who sum it up best as top 20 world ranked Pablo Cardona and star of the Rafa Nadal Academy team that finished runner up last year, told me at the launch event.
“We are not playing for ourselves. We are playing for the whole team. We feel the competitive part, the nerves, the pressure, differently…now it’s for the team it has more power.”
That’s the Hexagon World Series distilled: a travelling show, the Formula 1 of padel, built to be big and engage and thrill players and fans alike.
So get ready for the new Hexagon. Padel built for fans, with the top men and women on the planet playing padel at its scintillating best. 🎾
