"Padel boost" for Germany

For the German padel pros, the first WPT tournament in their home-country was a premiere in two senses. Never before had the local heroes been in the main draw of a competition of the globally highest-ranked padel series. Even though the two men's duos Daniel Lingen/Vincent Jülich and Matthias Wunner/Johannes Lindmeyer as well as the women's team Victoria Kurz/Denise Höfer all lost their matches, the players were able to gain important experience for their future padel careers.

The BOSS German Padel Open presented by SIXT is also of strategic importance for Germany as a padel location. Promoter WWP Group and tournament organizer e|motion firmly expect that the attention-grabbing sporting event in Düsseldorf will further promote the development of the trend sport in this country.

"The BOSS German Padel Open will definitely give Germany an enormous padel boost. With the first WPT tournament on German soil, we were able to bring this incredibly dynamic sport closer to thousands of spectators both on site in Düsseldorf and at home via TV coverage on Sport1. Not to mention the added value that a WPT tournament with global appeal brings to the city of Düsseldorf as host," said Tournament Director Dominik Beier, who particularly emphasized the good mood among the Rhineland audience: "We have all experienced Germany's biggest padel party to date here together. It's great to see that players as well as fans had a lot of fun at the event."

Thousands of spectators and broadcast to 175 countries

The BOSS German Padel Open presented by SIXT spanned a complete tournament week from Sept. 23 to Oct. 1. The tournament was played at the We Are Padel Club in Düsseldorf as well as at the CASTELLO with its 2,500-seat center court. On the final weekend alone, more than 5,000 padel fans flocked to the CASTELLO, and throughout the week up to 10,000 people were on hand for the BOSS German Padel Open matches. The tournament was also broadcast to an audience of millions in 175 countries. In Germany, the matches were shown live and exclusively on Sport1.

"The tournament has made the increasing padel interest measurable for Germany for the first time. At the same time, this is just the beginning. For 2024, our bar will be much higher again. Our goal is to double the number of spectators ", says tournament director Beier.

"We are very proud to have hosted the first and only German stop of the World Padel Tour with the sports city of Düsseldorf. The BOSS German Padel Open impressively underpinned the optimal fit between D.SPORTS and this up-and-coming, young and highly attractive sport, and put an exclamation mark on padel Germany! The CASTELLO has once again proven to be a top location," adds Bastian Becker, Director Sports, D.LIVE.

A push for the long-term goal of world-class padel

In the further development of padel, according to Beier, the sporting professional associations are now in demand, among others. "The basis for strong growth has been laid now at the latest. Now it's a matter of using this springboard. All parties must pull together to develop sensible structures for padel in Germany. In order to significantly increase the number of players in Germany, there must also be nationwide investment in the construction of more courts. Because that is the basis for ensuring that German professionals can also advance to the top of the padel world in the long term."