Padel, the Foro Italico is preparing for the first Major

And now it’s up to the padel. The Foro Italico does not stop, on the contrary, it doubles, because from 21 to 29 it will host the second Major of the Premier Padel Tour, a great international padel event supported by the Professional Players Association and the Qatar Sports Investments of Nasser Al Khelaifi, president of PSG and of the eca. After Doha, played in March and won by the Di Nenno-Navarro tandem, it will be up to the capital to welcome the Major, the one that for the mayor Roberto Gualtieri is “the cradle of this sport in Italy”. Just take a walk along the Tiber to understand. By now most of the sports centers have dismantled the soccer fields to replace them with padel ones. Lazio is the region with the most facilities ever and over 1200 fields, a thousand of these in Rome alone. It is now a reality, not a fashion.

The big ones

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After the success of the last international tennis tournaments, public record (230 thousand admissions) and revenues (over 16 million euros), the record of a single sporting event in Italy, the Forum is preparing to welcome the padel. That of the big names who put on a show all over the world. In the presentation conference of the tournament, Federtennis president Angelo Binaghi talked about the sold out over the weekend and an excellent response from the public in ticket sales. It will be played on the Grand Stand Arena, all the big names of the circuit will participate: from the “Messi of the padel” Fernando Belasteguin to the number one in the ranking Juan Lebron and Alejandro Galan, then Stupaczuk, Chingotto, Lima. Among the great absent Agustin Tapia and Sanyo Gutierrez, third couple in the ranking. The first, also out of the Doha Major, will have to give up for contractual reasons due to his sponsor Nox, while the second has chosen to stay close to his pregnant wife. The rest all.

Success

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At the Forum there are already a couple of camps set up long ago. The first international symposium was a success: around 800 people attended, including important players and coaches such as Cristian Gutierrez, Daniel Panajotti and Martin Echegaray. Also present was Marcela Ferrari, captain of the women’s ItalPadel. Between one set and another, the challenges of Djokovic, the always full Pietrangeli and the comings and goings of people on the secondary fields, the fans were also able to witness some exchange of padel. An increasingly engaging sport. Italy has about one million practitioners. From 21 May, all the big names will arrive at the Forum. The cheering will not fail.