Premier Padel, the new worldwide tour organized by the International Padel Federation (FIP), has announced that its Paris Major event will be staged at Stade Roland-Garros under a multi-year agreement with the FFT, the French tennis federation.
The venue, best known for its annual hosting of tennis’ French Open grand slam, will hold the inaugural Paris Major from July 11 to 17.
The event in the French capital is the first Premier Padel tournament to be announced for Europe, and the second Major to be announced for the tour following the debut Qatar event that concluded yesterday (April 3).
The FFT has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Premier Padel and “becomes a leading partner and contributor to the international padel scene”.
The Paris Major will be broadcast domestically by BeIN Sports after the international pay-TV operator last week agreed a rights deal for the tour in the country as well as 36 other territories covering the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Asia Pacific (APAC), the US, Canada, and Turkey.
The tournament will also be shown globally by several major broadcasters including ESPN, Sky, Viaplay, and SuperSport.
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By GlobalDataPremier Padel said it is “continuing to engage with broadcasting partners to expand the viewership of this event.”
The organizers have stated they will stage at least 10 tournaments, including four category one Major events, in 2022 and 2023. This will ramp up to over 25 a year by 2024.
The new tour was launched at the start of February with the backing of Qatar Sports Investments and the Professional Players Association (PPA) as a rival to the World Padel Tour (WPT), with the Premier Padel name and brand identity unveiled last month (March).
Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, chairman of QSI (and also of BeIN Media Group), has now said: “Today is a highly significant moment for the sport of padel – in France, in Europe, and on the global stage.
“We said from day one that the official new tour will take the sport to the highest ever level – and holding a Major at Stade Roland Garros is testament to that. This tournament is very special and will be one of our four Majors.”
Gilles Moretton, FFT president, added: “It’s an honor to be the first European country to offer the world’s best players a ‘Major’ padel event.
“The FFT is proud to write padel history by teaming up with FIP and Premier Padel to organize the Paris Premier Padel Major at Stade Roland-Garros. This will propel padel to a new dimension and boost the French fervor for that discipline, which the FFT is supporting through a multi-lever development plan.”