What is the World Padel Tour?

4 minutes

If you love paddle tennis, you can't lose sight of the WPT shows. The best exponents of this worldwide discipline come together regularly to measure their skills.

Last update: 13 July, 2019

The World Padel Tour is a very popular event in Hispanic countries. If there’s a sport that has grown in popularity in recent years, it’s definitely padel. The World Padel Tour has had a lot to do with this increase in popularity. It’s the circuit of professional players who bring the best of this sport to different cities in the world.

In the following article, we’ll explain everything there is to know about this event. Plus, you’ll know who the current world champions are, among which Argentinian and Spanish athletes are favorites.

All there is to know about the World Padel Tour

Founded in 2013 and with its headquarters in Madrid, the World Padel Tour is the most important paddle competition in the world. Not only does it regulate the dates during which the competition takes place, but it’s also the place where the best players in the world can meet.

Every year, during the season, every team faces from 15 to 20 teams. The World Padel Tour takes place in different parts of Europe and America; still, Spain is the country holding most of the dates.

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On each encounter, 32 couples face each other. Out of these, 28 of them classify directly, while another four come through from a previous phase. At the end of each year, the best-qualified pairs are measured in a final event, called a master’s degree.

Regarding the rules of the games, logically, all padel competitions are supervised by the FIP (International Paddle Federation), the AJPP (Association of Professional Players of Paddle) and the AFEP (Spanish Federal Association of Paddle). These rules are used in other padel competitions, such as Padel Pro Tour.

Since 2017, the World Padel Tour has received an important boost in marketing and advertising, since the games are broadcast live on Spain’s Gol TV channel. In addition, the circuit’s official website offers a streaming service to watch all matches. Plus, you can always access the feed through the circuit’s YouTube channel.

World Padel Tour 2019 calendar

In this season, the World Padel Tour will visit many places in Spain, as well as other countries. From March 19 to December 15 and in this order, the venues will be the following:

Marbella, Spain: the winners were ‘Sanyo’ Gutiérrez and ‘Maxi’ Sánchez in the men’s category. Marta Marrero and Marta Ortega were champions in the women’s category.
Logroño, Spain
Alicante, Spain
Vigo, Spain
Jaén, Spain.
Buenos Aires, Argentina (only males).
Valladolid, Spain.
Bastad, Sweden.
Valencia Spain.
Mijas, Spain.
Madrid Spain.
Lisbon Portugal.
Menorca, Spain.
London, United Kingdom.
Santander, Spain (WOpen, women’s tournament).
Granada, Spain.
Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Mexico City, Mexico
Final Master in Barcelona, Spain.

World Padel Tour current stars

As mentioned, the World Padel Tour has a rating system in which players are rated individually according to the points earned in every match. Currently, these are the main male and female padel champions:

Men

The Spanish and Argentine players, along with the Brazilian, Pablo de Lima, are currently ranked as the world’s best padel players.

1st and 2nd place: Daniel Gutiérrez and Maximiliano Sánchez (Argentina). They share the same score.
3rd: Francisco Navarro (Spain)
4th: Pablo Lima (Brazil)
5th: Juan Martín Díaz (Spain)
6th: Alejandro Galán Romo (Spain)
7th: Juan Mieres Petruf (Spain)
8th: Fernando Belasteguín (Argentina)

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Women

In recent seasons, the World Padel Tour has included a female section, so more professional women can join the events. In 2019, women will participate in 18 of the 19 dates of the circuit, including the master.

Paddle athletes — Image: Facebook World Padel Tour.

In addition, women’s prizes are slowly but surely increasing their value. This represents a great step towards gender equity in this discipline. With the particularity that they are all Spanish, the best players today are:

1st place: María José Sánchez Alayeto
2nd: Marta Marrero Marrero
3rd: María Pilar Sánchez Alayeto
4th: Alejandra Salazar Bengoechea
5th: Gemma Triay Pons
6th: Lucía Sainz Pelegri
7th: Marta Ortega Gallego
8th: Ariana Sánchez Fallada

In short, we can say that padel is an exciting competition that gathers more followers every day in every corner of the world. It won’t be a surprise if in only a few years padel becomes a sport enthusiastically followed by many.