This week I had Christoffer Granfelt, the founder of InstantPadel on the podcast, who makes padel accessible for the masses. It is really important for him to point out that he wants padel to grow from grassroots up to the highest level. He is an entrepreneur from Sweden with a clear vision and his company, InstantPadel (which is in the transition of changing their name, we will explain why), came up with a brilliant idea that padel and pickleball (yes, pickleball), could be played on one court! Great chat, worth a listen!
With a background in finance and having lived across Europe in Paris, London and Milan, I spoke to Francesco Belloni, the founder of Padel Hero padel facilities in Italy and an investor in New York's first padel club: Padel Haus. He has seen the world, speaks English with an American accent and he said is a 100% Italian! Great chat, have a listen!
Another great episode with how a worldwide known brand was formed. Pedro Brito e Cunha established Volt Padel, and boy oh boy was it worth it. We talk about why Volt is different from all the other brands and we touch partly on the sponsorships as well. Tune in! false
Pasquale is back while Head came out with one of the most exciting things, which happened in padel since the Extreme One. He is such a great person to chat to all things padel and we talk about the new Head innovations, the Libaak/Augsburger/Chozas controversy and why Head looks at the whole market a bit differently than everyone else! false
Talk about enthusiast padelaholic! Padel with Holly on Instagram has been catching a lot of attention, while she is great, funny and genuine! We had a great time chatting away with Holly, who found her love towards padel and trying to raise awareness anywhere she goes! Certainly a must listen to all fellow padelaholics! false
This week we are staying with the padel apparel brands! Cuera is super special for me while Padel Shift's Jack Chaplin and Jack Hazlewood (great friends of the show) are sponsored by them, and I have known about the brand for quite some time. Ulrik reached out a few weeks ago and we instantly connected. I think it's fair to say that the Danes know how to create goods for the consumers. This is a must listen for all padel gear lovers false
Pulco is a specialist padel apparel brand and Joe Middleton is the founder. He has unbelievable knowledge on garments through his life long experience with clothing brands and what better way to utilize it than in the fastest growing sport in the world. He is not someone who I had to ask a lot, that is for sure! Hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I have! false
Dori is just simply awesome! She is the number 1 ranked Hungarian female player and she is just climbing up the FIP rankings! She is ambitious, has amazing work ethic and brought a lot of vital skills over from tennis. As a college tennis player in a previous life, she has learnt how to compete and she brought that attitude on the padel court! A real gem who was amazing to have on the podcast! false
Pasquale joined Head, one of the main padel brands in the world, even before Padel started to make waves. He is an unbelievably strong squash player, who is the current Swiss and German over 35 champion, and rightly so, he loves to compete! Whether it is in business or on a squash or padel court! If you want to hear how he spoke without languages during a lunch with Bela, or what is Arturo Coello's specs, tune in! undefined
The Padel Pod is an amazing weekly podcast which is talking about Premier Padel and the main players! Gonz and Hugo are just passionate about padel like no one else, and it helps a lot that both of them are bilingual (Spanish and English). It was great to get to know them better and we chatted away about the new pairs and what they think which new pair will be the best. undefined
Ray has extensive knowledge of how to run a business, so he thought what better way to actually jump into a new business as to get into padel court building! He has a real passion for the game and his courts at Padel Alba certainly don't disappoint! But how did a guy from Latvia become a court manufacturer owner in Alicante, Spain! Listen to the episode to figure it out! undefined
Mr UK Padel on the podcast, ladies and gentlemen! Toby knows, plays, builds, sells everything padel! A true renaissance man of the UK padel scene, he is part of the LTA Padel coaching, knows everything about the gear, and also builds padel courts around to make this sport accessible for all! And first and foremost a great sport, who has been amazing with his knowledge on the pod! Go and have a listen! undefined
This week I thought it would be useful to talk about the pair changes and what has happened lately in the padel world. Yanguas-Stupaczuk, Di Nenno-Lebron, Paquito-Cardona and Alex Ruiz-Garrido are the new pairs I talk about in a bit more depth and also about the fastest final of the season and one of the best matches, which ended in a weird handshake, oh well, we all know Lebron now, don't we? Please enjoy and let me know if you would like to hear more about me blabbing... undefined
Tito Moreno has been there since the beginning of padel in the US! As an enthusiastic kid he got to play his first competitive match against Agustin Tapia and he didn't disappoint! He came up with the brilliant full turnkey service company, AMET International and still trains every day to become one of the players who will represent the USA in the 2032 Olympics in padel! Really interesting chat and definitely worth a listen to the longest episode there has been in the podcast's tenure! undefined
Gilles is one of the 50 most influential people in the padel scene! When you hear how measured he is when he talks about padel, you can just feel that he oozes confidence, while he has seen so much in padel! He know MATCHi inside and out, and the same applies for Playtomic. He is now a freelance helper around the padel world, and in general just an absolute gem of a person! When will Mongolia become a proper padel nation? If you listen closely you will know! undefined
Tomi is the owner of the channel, Padel in Hungary, and he is a real padel enthusiast! He is a national team player, coach and in general, lives and breathes padel! We are planning on doing quite a bit of content together, so the first step is to get to know him! Please welcome him with open arms, he definitely deserves it! false
Alfonso Patacho is the most humble and kind hearted individual I came across in the padel world! Not only is he one of the best players in the UK, but also has a strong Spanish heritage which makes him formidable on the padel court! He was a bit reluctant to come on the pod, but boy was it worth it. Great guy and a really interesting insight on where the British are in the world of professional padel! false
Jesper is a real renassaince man as we say in Hungary, but in England we would call him a 'Jack of all trades'. He won 2 WSOP bracelets in his previous life, which I can certainly appreciate a lot as an enthusiastic poker player and nowadays he is dedicating a large chunk of his life to padel! Co-owner of Rocket Padel and great senior competitor, he already won the Euro Champs in the over 40s and now focusing on making Rocket Padel the UK's biggest padel club chain! It was great to meet him in person and hope you enjoy this episode! false
One of the guys who I definitely wanted to get on the podcast was Joan Suasi, who is the commercial director for the Rafa Nadal Academy! He is a humble, down to Earth guy, who knows a lot about how to run an academy, while the pressure was always going to be massive, when you are directing in some capacity the goat's academy! They are putting a lot of focus on the padel side of things, and they have some exciting plans ahead! Today is the last but one episode on the Padel Summit Week series, and tomorrow is the grand finale! From next week we are back to normal! Enjoy this episode! false
Bill is one of those guys, who has been there from the beginning! We instantly connected even before the Summit, and we definitely wanted to sit down and have a chat about what he has been doing in padel for the last 30+ years! He told me what he has experienced and why he thinks padel is going in the right direction! He even called himself a Tyrannosaurus Rex of padel, which I think isn't suiting, but hey, he definitely knows what he is doing. false