🔍 TL;DR
Happy New Year, dear readers! May 2026 bring you joy, prosperity, and more court time! ;)
📰 In This Week’s Issue:
Florida goes “flapjack”
A debatable merger
A “financially significant” investment in 🇨🇦 padel, whatever that means…
…and plenty more. Seguimos!
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🇺🇸 US CLUB OPENINGS
🌴 Florida Man Opens Padel/Pickleball Club, Gives It Weird Name
Flapjack Social Club is opening in early 2026 in Tampa’s Carrollwood area, pitching itself as a high-end pickleball-first (🙄) club that also happens to include padel. The name is a wink to pickleball’s “flapjack” shot. The club features an AI concierge, cold plunges, coworking spaces, and 13 mixed-use courts. While we selfishly wish padel were the main focus, at least this inches the US closer to 1,000 courts.
🌍 INTERNATIONAL PADEL SCENE
🐻❄️ Canada’s Only Pro Padel Team Gets a Rainmaker (🇨🇦)
One-Sentence Rundown
Edward Rogers, executive chair of Rogers Communications, just bought a minority stake in the Toronto Polar Bears, adding legit institutional credibility to the country’s still-nascent padel scene.
The Details
The Polar Bears compete in the Pro Padel League alongside 8 U.S. teams and 1 Mexican team
Founder Zale Turner says Rogers’ investment was “financially significant,” and promptly closed the door to new investors
Rogers isn’t just some wealthy Canadian dude. He plays padel and founded the Canadian Padel Tennis Association
Toronto has gone from one private padel court to 30+ courts across the metro area in just a few years
Last season, the team reached 300M households in 100 countries via TV and YouTube
OUR TAKE
Rogers already sits atop Canada’s sports-media stack (Blue Jays, Raptors, Maple Leafs), and his move into padel quietly validates the sport as broadcastable, sponsor-friendly, and scalable. Canada may still be early, but when figures like Rogers show up this soon, it usually means the inflection point isn’t far behind.
🐫 A Historic (but Questionable) Merger (🇦🇪)
One-Sentence Rundown
The UAE has officially merged its Tennis and Padel Federations into a single governing body, a move designed to “streamline governance and accelerate growth”… however, this has quietly raised questions about who really steers padel’s future when it shares the wheel.
The Details
The new UAE Tennis and Padel Federation was approved by UAE Minister of Sports Dr. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, consolidating both sports under one umbrella through 2028
The new org is striving for better governance, unified development pathways, expanded participation, and talent identification to position the nation as a regional hub for both sports
The model echoes approaches seen elsewhere (most notably the UK’s LTA), which has deliberately overseen padel’s growth while balancing tennis infrastructure and community concerns
OUR TAKE
On paper, the UAE’s merger of tennis and padel governance looks efficient and very “on-brand”: alignment, scale, institutional muscle. In reality, padel has a different culture and growth engine vs. tennis, and when it lives inside incumbent structures, the key risks are de-prioritization, underfunding, or overshadowing of the narrative. For investors & operators, governance architecture matters as much as market size, because it determines who controls capital, courts, and the sport’s long-term trajectory. Patty Camps provides a wonderful breakdown here.
🏆 Pakistan Launches Premier Padel League (🇵🇰)
One-Sentence Rundown
Pakistan just kicked off the inaugural season of its Premier Padel League, offering a ~$106K prize pool for top players.
The Details
The league will visit Islamabad/Rawalpindi, Lahore, and Karachi, featuring six franchise teams
Each franchise sold for nearly $9 million, and player auctions wrapped up December 22. Teams include 8-12 players
Partnerships are in discussion with the US’ Pro Padel League, Asia Pacific Padel Tour, and International Padel Federation
Pakistan currently has 350+ courts and ~50,000 amateur padel players
OUR TAKE
This is huge for padel in South Asia, as the league sets up a professional ecosystem for players and sponsors alike. Expect more pro padel leagues to soon emerge from nearby nations!
🏆 TOURNAMENT ROUNDUP
👯 Pairings Shake-Up in 2026
One-Sentence Rundown
The 2026 Premier Padel season kicks off Feb 9 in Riyadh 🇸🇦. The top teams will stay mostly intact, despite some shocking splits and new alliances are set to shake both the men’s and women’s draws.
The Details
New Pairings 🐥
Men’s
Lebrón & Augsburger
Coki Nieto & Jon Sanz
Paquito Navarro & Fran Guerrero
Martín Di Nenno & Momo González
Women’s
Ari Sánchez & Andrea Ustero
Paula Josemaría & Bea González (former partners from 2020)
Claudia Fernández & Sofia Araújo
Martita Ortega & Martina Calvo
Same Pairings 🧓
Men’s
Coello & Tapia
Chingotto & Galán
Franco Stupaczuk & Mike Yanguas
Women’s
Gemma Triay & Delfi Brea
OUR TAKE
Men’s top spots are mostly frozen, but mid-tier shuffles could make the season unpredictable. Women’s draw, on the other hand, is throwing the rulebook out the window. The Ari-Paula split, for example, could redefine rivalries for years.
🎯 QUICK HITS
Padel superstar Ale Galán opens up about the current state of padel
Oldie but goodie (from Feb 2024): if you’re a fellow Padel School fan, peep the life-changing phone call that started founder Sandy Farquharson’s padel journey
🤩 COOL PADEL COURT OF THE WEEK
📍 Malcesine, 🇮🇹
More info here!
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See you next week & keep smashing those volleys 🎾