Inside the London P1 so far…
Premier Padel’s announcement that it was heading to the UK for the first time, bringing a P1 level tournament to London and with it the world’s very best padel players, was seismic news for the game here. Following the announcement a media event was held at Racketeer, North London, attended by a clutch of world-class players flown in for the day. Minter Dial reports for The Bandeja.
There’s a peculiar sensation I’ve come to know well in padel circles. It’s halfway between a goosebump and a pinch. It’s the feeling you get when something you’ve been banging on about for years suddenly becomes official. When the PowerPoint fantasy turns into a press event with real Champagne (OK, it was prosecco) and real people standing in a real venue saying real words like ‘multi-year partnership’ and ‘world-class’.
That’s exactly what happened at Racketeer in London’s North Acton when Premier Padel officially launched the London P1. Even the BBC carried the story. The event drew the kind of crowd that tells you the UK padel ecosystem has graduated from scrappy upstart to something more serious. Padel media, three of the world’s top professionals (Alejandra Salazar, Ari Sánchez and Lucas Campagnolo), a few of the best Brits, content creators, community figures and brand partners mingled alongside organisers and industry players.
Venue sets the tone
If you haven’t been to Racketeer yet and live within striking distance, you need to recalibrate your padel social life. The brainchild of Stephanie McCaffrey – former US women’s international footballer, current Leyton Orient player-manager and all-round force of nature – and co-founder Patrick Lafuente-Gray, a hospitality veteran with 25 years in the trenches, Racketeer is 90,000ft2 of ambition wrapped in burgundy branding. Eleven panoramic glass courts (with three more coming), a bar and restaurant with a pizza oven, a sauna, cold plunge, co-working space and a motto that tells you everything: ‘Play First, Hang Later’. There was even a branded London taxi driven inside the building for the opening party. Subtle, this is not. But effective? Absolutely.
When but not yet where
Here’s the headline that matters: the London P1 will take place from August 2nd-9th (qualifiers are 2nd-3rd, main draw 4th-9th). It is the UK’s first-ever Premier Padel event and will be staged at P1 level – the second-highest tier on the circuit, just below the Majors. It will feature the world’s elite men’s and women’s players competing professionally on British soil for the first time.
The event is the product of a multi-year partnership between Premier Padel and Sela, the Saudi events firm connected to Newcastle United’s Public Investment Fund ownership, with the backing of the LTA. That’s not a tentative toe in the water. That’s a cannonball, knees-up.
When the P1 was announced, David Sugden, CEO of Premier Padel (and a Brit), put it plainly: London offers ‘an unparalleled opportunity for the global expansion of Premier Padel, with its world-class venue, passionate fanbase and strong sporting commercial strength’. Scott Lloyd, CEO of the LTA, spoke about the event’s potential to ‘inspire even more people to try padel for the first time’. And Stewart Hosford, CEO of Sela International, dropped the line that pricked up everyone’s ears, referencing the ‘recent transformation of Olympia’ as part of the opportunity to ‘build something exceptional’.
The Olympia question
While the official venue has yet to be announced, Olympia in Kensington is widely reported as the overwhelming favourite [the venue has now been confirmed]. Hosford’s reference to it at the launch was about as subtle as, well, driving a taxi into a padel club. With Premier Padel P1 events typically requiring capacity for more than 8,000 spectators at peak sessions, broadcast-ready infrastructure and strong transport links, Olympia – freshly transformed thanks to a multi-million makeover – ticks every box. The rumour has it that there will be a grandstand for just 4,000 people, so you’d better get your tickets early!
What to expect in August
Let’s talk practicalities. The London P1 sits within a packed 2026 Qatar Airways Premier Padel Tour calendar of 25 tournaments across 18 countries, with nearly 75% of events held indoors. It had been 26 tournaments but the ooredoo Qatar Major from April 6th-11th has been postponed due to what Premier Padel and FIP described as the ‘unprecedented situation in the wider region’. London follows directly after the Pretoria South Africa P1 (another new addition to the tour calendar and a first for the country), meaning the tour will be at full throttle when it lands in the capital.
If you follow the Premier Padel pro tour, you’ll know it’s implemented a few new wrinkles to the game, including the new Star Point scoring system (aka the bronze point, where the third deuce becomes the decisive point). This change was driven by the desire to balance tradition with innovation, improve player welfare (no super long matches that continually go to deuce), broadcast appeal and fan engagement.
Tickets
Get yourself in line by signing up for the official pre-sale here. Sport on Spec is taking expressions of interest for standard tickets and premium hospitality packages and ticket re-sale sites are prepping their web pages. My advice: don’t wait for a reminder. If you’ve ever complained that London never gets the big events, this is your moment to put your money where your mouth is and bag tickets before they sell out.
And if you’re not lucky enough to get tickets for the final stages? Red Bull TV will carry live coverage from the quarter-finals onwards.
Why London P1 matters
I’ll confess: I spend more hours than is reasonable watching pro padel. It’s high quality and supremely entertaining. The pros are totally inspiring. As an amateur player, I learn more from watching the women because it’s more accessible and closer to the game I might aspire to play. But truth is that most British players just prefer to play and don’t know the names of the pros. I understand, because the game is entirely addictive. But if the UK is to become a padel powerhouse, it will need to up its game. I exhort players who want to improve to watch the pros more often. There’s so much more to the game than meets the eye. The UK, which finally eclipsed 1,000 padel courts, has a presence in the world top 100 women’s players in the form of Aimée Gibson (#91), followed by Catherine Rose (#111) and Tia Norton (#130). Christian Medina Murphy leads the GB men’s squad at #186, followed by Alex Loughlan (#291) and Louie Harris (#291).
What the Racketeer launch said – quietly, confidently, with a glass of something decent in hand – is that the bypassing is over. The bandeja, the vibora, the chiquita, the glass-wall recovery that makes your heart stop: come August, they won’t be things we watch on our phones from Madrid or Milan. They’ll be here. In our city. In front of us.
Luigi Carraro, President of the International Padel Federation, put it well: “London has long been a global capital for sport, and bringing Premier Padel to the UK marks an important milestone in our mission to elevate padel worldwide.”
I’ll raise a flat white from Racketeer’s barista to that.
See you courtside in August. 🎾
