The conflict between the WPT and professional players breaks out

In recent weeks, padel is experiencing a lot of tension due to the disagreement that is taking place between professional players and the World Padel Tour circuit itself, generating a lot of controversy between experts and fans, with a possible demand of 25 million euros .

This competition is one of the most important championships in the world, which has more than four million viewers who do not miss a single match, as it has been gaining more and more notoriety in recent years.

The World Padel Tour was founded in 2013, replacing the previous Padel Pro Tour and today brings together more than 100 players with signed contracts. Every year between 15 and 20 tournaments are usually organized, as well as a Final Master in December that brings together the best couples in the ranking.

Premier Padel: origin of the disagreement

The conflict begins when a new competition is born that comes directly from Doha (Qatar) and is called the Premier Padel Tour . This new championship was born from the idea of a man named Nasser Al-Khelaïfi , a former Qatari tennis player and businessman who decides to be one of the first to bring an official padel competition to Qatar.

This week the first tournament was held, with several prizes to be distributed that reach a whopping more than half a million euros. If you want to see it, you can find it on the competition’s own YouTube channel. In addition, an agreement with Spain has recently been announced to broadcast the semi-finals and the final on Teledeporte .

However, this new Ooredoo Qatar Major circuit does not have a female modality, something that a large part of the WPT players did not like. They have simply limited themselves to announcing their intention to include them in 2023.

Possible causes that have influenced

One of the reasons that can drive the change of players could be economic, and that is that this new tournament comes as one of the biggest competitions on the World Padel Tour, with a prize for the winners of more than half a million euros . In addition, the winners will collect 2,000 points since it is the first Major circuit.

Some players have spoken these days, it is the case of Paquito Navarro who has given an interview in which he stated that they are not looking for a conflict and that they only want paddle tennis to be a completely free sport in which players can decide their own terms.

This may be another of the reasons why the players have decided to go against the competition and that is that they demand better conditions in the circuit as well as that they be much more involved in this sport, a factor that the WPT has been able to leave aside. .

World Padel Tour exclusivity contract

Many familiar faces of professional padel in Spain are beginning to go to this new tournament, going over the World Padel Tour with which many have contracts. These were signed by more than 100 male players and 56 female players in which they committed to playing with the firm until 2023.

In it you can find one of the clauses that stipulates:

Players may play any tournament in compliance with the WPT rules except for circuits that could be direct competition, and may not participate in tournaments outside the competition the days before and after a WPT competition.

This is where the first regulation of the contract would begin to be breached, and that is that the Qatar tournament began on March 28, which coincided with the Getafe WPT Challenger (Madrid), which many players were unable to attend, thus breaking another clause that Its the:

players agree to play in all WPT events and those that are part of the competition except for force majeure”

After having broken the regulations of said contract, all the players who have breached it could be facing a fine of more than 25 million euros by the WPT .

Opinions of those involved

On behalf of the International Padel Federation (FPI) , which is part of the new circuit, one of the first to speak was the president, Luigi Carreraro, requesting the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to mediate between both parties and requesting your support in this dispute .

Luigi Carreraro declares that they are a private organization that is governed by its own rules since they only want padel to continue to grow internationally so that it can reach many more people. He also accuses the World Padel Tour of only holding competitions in places where this sport is already well known, so they do not allow it to continue growing.

Finally, the World Padel Tour has spoken saying that they are not pressuring the players and that they are only following the regulations that were stipulated in the contract with each athlete.

Our opinion is that the solution to this conflict that is dividing the world of padel could be dialogue between both parties, holding a meeting in which both the World Padel Tour and the players can find an intermediate point in which both benefit. parties involved.

In fact, some of the players have already recognized the desire to find a solution to avoid ending up in court, so there is already a predisposition to dialogue.