Professional Padel Tournament Aug 19-25 at Barnes Tennis Center – Free Event (Updated)

Article updated to include the schedule for the San Diego Stingrays. See the end of the article.

Whether you play padel daily or are wondering what it is and how to pronounce it, you can watch the world’s best players at the Pro Padel tournament at Barnes Tennis Center from Aug 19-25. General Admission tickets with chairback seats and on-site parking are free so be sure to come out to experience the excitement of padel!

To get a sense for why the sport is growing rapidly and why you might want to attend, this padel highlight provides a great introduction to the game.

Many describe padel, pronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable according to Ryan Redondo of the Barnes Tennis Center, as a mix between tennis and racquetball. Similar to tennis, there is a net that divides the court into two sides, a low-pressure tennis-like ball, and the same game-and-set scoring as tennis. Similar to racquetball, there are glass walls that the ball can bounce off of during play. The walls afford players multiple opportunities to hit the ball, so shots that would be winners in tennis are often returned after they hit one or more walls. The most common format for padel is doubles.

The Tournament

The tournament at Barnes is the third in a series of five week-long events and the first hosted on the west coast. Events one and two were played in Miami. All ten teams in the Pro Padel League will compete in San Diego for the week. The teams are the Las Vegas Smash, Cancun Waves, Miami Padel Club, Flowrida (not a typo) Goats, San Diego Stingrays, Los Angeles Beat, Arkansas Matrix, Toronto Polar Bears, New York Atlantics, and Houston Volts.

Each team plays one men’s doubles, one women’s doubles, and mixed doubles. The women’s and men’s doubles play the best two of three sets, with no-ad scoring, and a 10-point super tiebreaker for the third set in lieu of a traditional set. The mixed doubles counts as much toward the team’s score as the other two events, one point, but the mixed doubles teams only play one six-game set.

Play begins with a round-robin format for the first five days. The ten teams are divided into two groups, and each team in the group plays every other team one time. After the five days of round robin, the top two teams in each group progress to the semi-finals, held on Aug 24. The finals and the playoff for 3rd and 4th place will be held on Aug 25.

Coronado local Gabriel Perez Krieb is the co-founder and chair of Taktika Padel housed at the Barnes Tennis Center and the San Diego Stingrays Padel team. He invites “all sports enthusiasts and the local community to witness the excitement and energy of the Professional Padel League.” “It’s a chance to experience world-class padel right here in San Diego,” he said. 

San Diego Stingrays

The Stingrays’ ten players are from all over the world. They include Spain’s former number one, Lucia Sainz, currently ranked ninth in the world, and Argentinian Miguel Lamperti, formerly ranked number two in the world. The team’s most successful event has been mixed doubles. They have won seven of eight of their mixed doubles sets.

The top eight teams progress to the Pro Padel League Cup Final in New York, Nov 18-23. Currently in ninth place, the Stingrays would love hometown support to help boost them into eighth place or better. “Come support our local team,” said Perez Krieb. “Bring your family, friends, and fellow sports fans to cheer us on and enjoy a week of thrilling matches, top-tier athleticism, and community spirit.”

Tickets and Schedule

General Admission chairback seat tickets are free; front row reserved seats are $40; and VIP tickets (that include lunch and two drinks) are $150. Use the special discount code Coronado15 for 15% off reserved seats. Secure your tickets, including the free tickets, here. Every ticket includes access to all of the action, concessions, bar, DJ, sponsor tents, and more. Doors open one hour prior to the first scheduled matches.

Schedule

Barnes Tennis Center, 4490 West Point Loma Boulevard, San Diego, 92107