Tournament plans supercharge county padel
County level padel is ratcheting up with news of the first LTA County Cup and the first County Championships planned for this year.
First to announce its intentions was Essex, as county LTA Padel Officer William Bailes explained: “Essex has one of the highest number of courts and clubs in the country. Given that, Essex LTA wants to run the first of its kind County Cup, something that no other county has done. Moving forward we’d also like to start an Essex League.”
A date of Sunday, September 24th has been earmarked for the tournament with a venue to be announced and a maximum of 10 teams.
“The format is two pairs per team,” William told The Bandeja. “Two leagues will be drawn and play a round robin in each. Winners of each league will play off for the cup and then second against second, third against third etc for places.”
Entries (£20 per player) are open with the only stipulation being that it is club players only with no coaches permitted to participate.
UK Padel County Championships
The just-announced UK Padel County Championships will be the first inter-county tournament and a chance for the best players from around the country to go head-to-head in men’s, women’s and mixed categories.
Nick Baker, Director of UK Padel said: “The idea of an inter–county event is a much-welcomed addition given the growth and enthusiasm for padel at grassroots level. The time has never felt more right to put more quality, competitive events in the annual calendar.”
The inaugural championships, with Surrey Padel League creator Mark Ayers at the helm as tournament director, will be held at Rocket Padel, Bristol, on the weekend of the November 18/19th. Organisers hope to make it an annual event across different age groups.
Neil Percival, Director of UK Padel, hopes the tournament will attract ‘the finest eligible players from across the UK’, adding: “We believe that padel can engage the widest possible range of people to exercise, stay healthy and build community. A marquee event like this will help padel’s growth as the T20 of tennis. Let’s get the dialogue started within each county to raise the most competitive teams from each to challenge to be the first names on the UK PADEL County Championships trophy.” 🎾
