After a quiet spring on the news front, padel has come roaring back into life. The Premier Padel circuit has produced its most dramatic week of the year so far, the UK is racking up court openings at a pace that suggests the LTA’s court-count is going to need updating again, and the countdown to August’s historic London P1 is now firmly inside three months. Here’s the week in padel, with a deliberate British lean wherever the story lets us.
Asunción P2: Chingotto and Galán Strike Back — Again
The headline result this week came on Sunday 10 May at the Ueno COP Arena in Paraguay, where the Asunción P2 final once again pitted the two best men’s pairs in the world against each other. World No. 1s Arturo Coello and Agustín Tapia met FIP Race leaders Alejandro Galán and Federico Chingotto in another instalment of what has quickly become the rivalry of the 2026 season.
Galán and Chingotto won it 6-3, 7-5 — their fourth title of the season after Miami, Newgiza and Brussels, and the third time they’ve beaten Coello and Tapia in a final this year. The first set was a controlled rout; the second was tighter and turned on a handful of decisive points midway through, with Galán’s net play and Chingotto’s defensive heroics doing the damage. Chingotto was named MVP of the tournament.
The result reinforces a clear pattern: when the pressure is highest, this is now the pair to beat. The FIP Race standings — the calendar-year ranking, as opposed to the rolling world ranking — now sit firmly with Galán and Chingotto at the top, with Coello and Tapia chasing.
Josemaría and González: Four in a Row, and the No. 1 Spot
If the men’s final was a hard-fought 6-3, 7-5, the women’s was a near-three-hour epic. Beatriz González and Paula Josemaría dropped the opening set 4-6 to Delfina Brea and Gemma Triay before fighting back to win 6-3, 6-3 in the next two and claim their fourth consecutive Premier Padel title.
The fourth title in a row carries an extra layer of significance: it mathematically swaps the FIP Race No. 1 spot from Brea and Triay to Bea and Paula. After a difficult start to the season for both pairs, Josemaría and González have now established themselves as the team to beat heading into the European leg of the tour.
Buenos Aires P1: Already Underway
Padel doesn’t pause for breath. Two days after Asunción wrapped, the men and women rolled straight on to the Buenos Aires P1 — the eighth stop of the 2026 calendar and a step up in prestige, with the P1 bracket carrying more ranking points than a P2. First-round matches got under way on 14 May and the tournament runs through the weekend, with quarter-finals scheduled for Friday, semis on Saturday and finals on Sunday 17 May.
For UK fans, Red Bull TV continues to carry the weekend rounds in selected territories — check the schedule on the Premier Padel website. If you want a single quarter-final to watch, the most likely repeat of last weekend’s clásico would come if Galán/Chingotto and Coello/Tapia both reach the last four on opposite sides of the draw.
The London P1 Countdown: Now Under 90 Days
As of today, we’re 81 days out from the first ever Premier Padel event on British soil. The London P1 lands at Olympia from 4 to 9 August 2026 as part of the Qatar Airways Premier Padel Tour. General sale tickets have been live since late April via Ticketmaster, and LTA Advantage members got priority access the day before.
A few things worth knowing if you’re planning to go:
- Venue: The Grand Hall at Olympia, Hammersmith Road, London W14 8UX
- Format: Six days of elite padel, plus fan zones, food and drink, and a full event atmosphere
- Broadcast: Red Bull TV is confirmed for quarter-finals onwards
- Context: The LTA recorded 1,553 padel courts across 559 venues in the UK by the end of 2025 — nearly double the 870 courts and 293 venues recorded a year earlier. Search interest in padel in the UK grew 121% between 2024 and 2025, faster than any other European market
In short: Britain has been the fastest-growing padel market in Europe for two years running, and the sport’s biggest tour has finally decided that’s worth a stop.
British Universities Get Their First National Padel Championships
One UK story that has slipped under the radar of most international coverage: on 9–10 May, BUCS held the inaugural BUCS Padel Championships at Slazenger Padel Leeds North. It’s the first time university padel has had a proper national title to play for in Britain, and the entry list was strong enough that the competition ran for two full days across men’s, women’s and mixed draws.
Inter-university sport is one of the longest reliable feeders for elite UK athletes, and the LTA has made no secret of wanting padel embedded at university level as quickly as possible. Getting BUCS on board with a national event in year one is a quiet but real milestone — expect this calendar to grow significantly in 2027.
UK Court Openings: Two New Clubs in a Fortnight
The UK club-build boom continues. Two notable openings this fortnight:
PADALL Haverhill (Suffolk) — the town’s first padel club officially opened on Sunday 3 May at The New Croft on Chalkstone Way, following a two-week soft-launch. Three courts, founded by Haverhill-raised Callum Slater after planning permission came through last October. Until now, the nearest courts to Haverhill were at least a thirty-minute drive away.
Powerleague Watford — the football giant opened four covered padel courts at Queens’ School in Bushey on Saturday 9 May, the result of a £2m investment that also delivered a new FIFA-accredited football pitch. Powerleague has been quietly building out a national padel presence under the same roof as its 5- and 7-a-side football sites, and Watford is the most ambitious site yet. An open day with junior coaching, fun competitions and family activities is scheduled for Saturday 23 May.
Layered on top of those, Bobo & Wild — the wellness/cafe brand — has confirmed it’s opening inside En Court Padel in Radlett this month, leaning into the trend of padel clubs functioning as social-and-wellness destinations rather than pure sports facilities. And up in Liverpool, Ignite Padel’s ten-court Speke megasite continues its build-out as the company pushes towards five North-West sites within twelve months of its first opening.
Padel Confirmed as a Medal Sport at the 2027 European Games
One off-court story with significant long-term implications: on 8 May, padel was officially confirmed as a medal sport at the 2027 European Games in Istanbul. The European Games is the continental multi-sport event under the European Olympic Committees, and medal-sport status pushes padel another concrete step closer to the Olympic conversation that has been quietly building since the Paris Games.
For British padel specifically, medal-sport status at a major multi-sport games immediately changes the calculus around national funding, talent identification and elite-pathway development. The LTA’s padel performance pathway is still in its early years; events like this give it a hard target to build towards.
What to Watch For Next Week
- Buenos Aires P1 finals on Sunday 17 May — the most likely shape is another Asunción rematch, but the draw is open enough for a surprise
- UK club bookings: as the spring half-term approaches, beginner sessions at new clubs like PADALL Haverhill and Powerleague Watford tend to fill quickly — worth checking your nearest opening if you’ve been meaning to try the sport
- London P1 hospitality: tickets continue to move steadily; the most desirable session is the Saturday semi-finals, with the Sunday final close behind
Gear We’re Recommending This Week
Inspired by Chingotto’s defensive masterclass in Asunción, here are three pieces of kit worth a look for UK club players this week.
NOX defensive control rackets. If you’re trying to build a more Chingotto-style game built on defence-to-attack transitions, the NOX ML10 range offers the round-shape, soft-core profile that rewards control over raw power. Find NOX ML10 rackets on Amazon UK →
Premium padel balls for indoor play. The Asunción surface and the upcoming Olympia courts are both indoor — if you play at an indoor UK club, pressurised tour-grade balls give the predictable bounce you need. Find padel balls on Amazon UK →
Court-grip indoor padel shoes. Indoor courts tend to favour omni-pattern outsoles over the herringbone you’ll find on outdoor turf. Worth swapping shoes if you’re moving between surfaces. Find indoor padel shoes on Amazon UK →
Bottom Line
Galán and Chingotto are running away with the men’s FIP Race. Josemaría and González have done likewise on the women’s side. The Premier Padel tour is finally landing in the UK in eleven weeks. Two new clubs have opened in a fortnight. University padel just got its first national championship. And padel will be a medal sport at the next European Games. For a sport that didn’t exist as a meaningful UK competitive proposition five years ago, it’s a remarkable week to be writing about. We’ll be back next Friday with the Buenos Aires P1 fallout and whatever else the week throws up.
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