What a week to be a padel fan. The professional tour rolled into Rome for the BNL Italy Major — the first Major of the 2026 Premier Padel season — and the Foro Italico served up arguably the most dramatic seven days of the year so far. There were toppled streaks, a record-breaking marathon on court, a home hero living the dream, and two world No. 1 pairs roaring back to the top at exactly the right moment.
Closer to home, the next generation of British talent was in action in Cardiff, the countdown to London’s first-ever Premier Padel event ticked a little louder, and fresh figures confirmed that padel’s remarkable British boom shows no sign of slowing. Here’s everything you need to know from 1–7 June 2026.
The week in one line: Arturo Coello and Agustín Tapia ended a four-match losing run against the “Chingalan” to win Rome and return to the top of the Race, while Delfi Brea and Gemma Triay finally broke a five-final losing streak to defend their Italy Major crown.
Premier Padel: Coello and Tapia Reclaim Rome
The men’s final was billed as a “Clásico”, and it delivered. Federico Chingotto and Alejandro Galán arrived on the back of four straight wins over the world No. 1 pairing and two consecutive titles at the Foro Italico, so the momentum looked to be with them. Instead, Arturo Coello and Agustín Tapia produced the kind of ice-cold tennis their ranking demands, edging a tense contest 7–5, 7–6 in front of more than 9,000 spectators.
The opening set stayed on serve until the first break points of the entire match arrived at 5–5 — and the top seeds pounced immediately. A second break early in the next set looked decisive, helped by a missed smash from Galán and an X3 winner from Tapia, but when Coello served for the championship he too spurned a smash to hand the game back. The second set was settled in a tie-break, where Galán clipped the net tape with a volley at 5–4 and Tapia closed it out with one final smash. The numbers told the story of the margins: 58 winners and just 21 unforced errors for the champions, against 49 winners and 24 errors for the runners-up.
Italy Major at a glance: Venue: Parco Sportivo Foro Italico, Rome · Dates: 31 May–7 June 2026 · Prize money: €1,044,849 · Men’s champions: Coello & Tapia · Women’s champions: Brea & Triay
It was a second Rome title for Coello and Tapia after their 2023 triumph, and a hugely significant one: the victory lifts them back to the summit of the season’s Race standings and stretches their run of consecutive finals to a barely believable 23 in a row. “This is a special victory for us,” said Coello afterwards. “Rome is a very important stop on the calendar.” Tapia, ever the emotional one, added that the win “represents what we have been working towards for a long time. It is difficult to maintain this level — but we are happy that this journey continues.”
The Women’s Final: Brea and Triay Defend Their Crown
If the men’s final was about reasserting authority, the women’s was about exorcising demons. Delfi Brea and Gemma Triay had lost five consecutive finals coming into Rome, so there was real relief mixed with the joy as they saw off Ari Sánchez and Andrea Ustero 6–1, 7–5 to retain the title they won here a year ago.
The first set was a procession, the top seeds racing clear before their opponents had truly settled. The second was a different story: Sánchez and Ustero broke back, led 4–2, then watched three games slip away — only to claw back to serving for the set themselves. They could not quite close it, conceding two breaks in a row before an error finally ended a far more competitive set. “Winning this tournament is hugely important for us after losing five consecutive finals,” said Triay. “There were 2,000 points at stake, and we played a great final after a difficult week. How will we celebrate? Definitely in an Italian restaurant.”
The Longest Match in Premier Padel History
The final itself was almost a footnote to what came before it. In Saturday’s semi-final, Sánchez and Ustero needed four hours and twelve minutes to overcome Paula Josemaría and Bea González 5–7, 7–6, 7–6 — the longest match ever played on the Premier Padel circuit.
It was a genuine epic. Josemaría and González arrived unbeaten in 22 matches with five titles to their name this season, and they held four match points along the way — two at 6–5 in the second set, one in the second-set tie-break, and another in the decider — yet could not convert any of them. For Sánchez and Ustero it was a result of enormous character; for the dominant pair of the spring, a first defeat in months and a reminder that the women’s game has rarely been deeper or more competitive.
British & UK Padel: Cardiff Hosts the Next Generation
While the stars were in Rome, some of the sport’s most promising youngsters were competing on home soil. The FIP Promises Tour — the international junior circuit — arrived in Cardiff over the weekend, with six draws contested across the Under-12, 14, 16 and 18 boys’ categories and the Under-14 and 16 girls’.
British names dotted the entry lists, a healthy sign for the domestic talent pipeline. Ben Phillips and Cochise Inde Bennett went in as favourites in the oldest boys’ age group, with pairings such as Stan Hunt and Morgan Mordaunt also in the mix, while Rosie Allen, Elizabeth Vellacott, Morgan May, Lara Mohamed and Lucy Beltram featured among the girls’ draws. Junior events like these rarely make headlines, but they are exactly where Britain’s future Premier Padel hopefuls cut their teeth — and hosting one in Wales is another marker of how quickly the sport is maturing in the UK.
Counting Down to London: Padel’s British Summer
The biggest date in the British padel calendar is now firmly on the horizon. This August, Olympia London will stage the London Premier Padel P1 (3–9 August, with spectator play from 4 August), the UK’s first-ever elite professional padel tournament and a P1 event — the tier directly below the Majors — on the Qatar Airways Premier Padel Tour. It means the very same names lighting up Rome this week, from Coello and Tapia to Brea and Triay, are due on court in west London in a matter of weeks. Tickets are available through the LTA and Ticketmaster, and demand has been brisk.
The timing could hardly be better, because the grassroots numbers are extraordinary. The latest LTA figures show that around 860,000 adults and juniors played padel in Britain at least once over the past year — a total that has more than doubled since 2024. With a marquee professional event now arriving to sit on top of that participation surge, British padel’s mainstream moment looks well and truly here.
The Week Ahead
There is no time to draw breath. The tour heads straight from Rome to Spain for the Valencia P1, which begins on 8 June at the La Fonteta arena — the first time a Premier Padel event has been staged at the venue, with the semi-finals and finals already sold out. Among the talking points is a wild card for Italian tennis star Sara Errani, a reminder of the growing crossover appeal between racket sports.
Expect Chingotto and Galán to come out swinging after their Rome disappointment, and watch closely whether Josemaría and González can reset quickly following the end of their long unbeaten run. With Coello, Tapia, Brea and Triay all back on top form, the second half of the European spring promises plenty more drama before the circuit’s big London arrival.
The Bottom Line
The Italy Major reminded everyone why padel has captured so many imaginations: a sport where the No. 1 seeds can be pushed to a four-hour brink one day and produce ice-cold brilliance the next. Coello, Tapia, Brea and Triay reasserted themselves as the pairs to beat, but the chasing pack has never looked closer. For UK fans, the story is increasingly a home one too — from junior draws in Cardiff to an elite event in London and participation numbers that keep climbing. We’ll be back next week with all the latest. Until then, get out on court and enjoy the game.
