This November Westfield London will play host to the world’s fastest growing sport, padel, from 5-7 November.
Game4Padel will be installing an exhibition padel court in the Central Atrium at Westfield London, with stars including Andy and Jamie Murray, Andrew Castle and Annabel Croft, among others, popping in throughout the three days to play live.
A jam-packed schedule of activities will take place on the court, including an ‘on-the-hour Open Play Session’ where visitors will be encouraged to get on court and ‘give it a go’, as well as Pro-Am matches, exhibitions, competitions and coaching sessions! Game4Padel is also partnering with charity, Give It Your Max who will be bringing local children to Westfield to try out padel for the first time.
Padel is reported to be the world’s fastest growing sport. It was recently described in magazines and newspapers as the ‘biggest fitness trend of the Summer’ and the ‘the sport that fashion-forward sports stars do on their (training) days off’. The game originally started in Mexico and quickly swept through South America and then into Europe. Spain is reckoned to have over 20,000 padel courts, and an estimated six million active players – it is now the country’s second biggest participation sport after football. Padel is played in 91 countries and is the fastest growing sport in many countries such as Sweden and Italy. Fans of the game include Lionel Messi, Ronaldo, David Beckham, Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Virgil van Dijk, Carlos Sainz, Bradley Walsh, Elle MacPherson and Nicole Scherzinger and forecasters predict padel will become an Olympic sport by 2032.
Former world number one tennis player, Andy Murray commented: “Padel is a great game because it’s really addictive, easy to pick up and you don’t need to have any racket sport experience to play. I first tried it in Spain, when I was a teenager, and it’s lots of fun. You play in doubles pairs so it’s really sociable. I encourage anyone who’s interested in trying it out for the first time to come down and see what’s going on”.
The pop-up padel court at Westfield London is an Instantpadel court, a new world-unique design that doesn’t require any major groundwork, enabling the court to be erected in six hours – a crucial factor in making the event achievable.
Katie Wyle, General Manager at Westfield London said: “We look forward to welcoming Game4Padel to Westfield London which is such a sociable and accessible sport for all ages. Visitors to the pop-up experience will not only be able to try their hand at padel but will also get to see a host of iconic sporting legends pay a visit and take part in the game.”
