Great Problems. Search Data. Regretful Decisions.
El Remate #26 | What's hot in 🇺🇸 & 🌎 padel | Apr. 7-14, 2026
Bienvenidos a El Remate! I’m Aris, a padel-obsessed Missourian who spent the last two years living in Argentina and Spain to deeply understand the sport’s strategy, culture, and business. I’ve played and competed across 3 continents and 12 countries, and recently started documenting my journey on Instagram.
Each week, I curate what matters in padel: new US club openings, technique tips, my takes on international headlines and pro drama, plus insider knowledge from the global circuit. Subscribe for weekly updates! 📧
🔍 Topics we’ll cover this weekPadel just crossed 1,000% global search growth. We’ve never been here before. If you’re reading this, you’re still early. Buckle up.
Also, one club is coming soon, while another is having issues meeting demand. Meanwhile on the pro circuit, things get especially interesting on the men’s side given a team’s strategic decision… which in hindsight has not aged well.
Also in this issue:
— Why your grip is costing you matches
— Intel on monthly padel spending + earning sponsorships
— Big-timers bet big across two continents
— Venue announced for London P1 this summer
— A three-generation family of padel champs
…and plenty more. Seguimos!
🇺🇸 Club Openings / ExpansionsTwo Coming Soon
🏔️ Franchise Expands Footprint to Denver
US padel club franchise Studio Arenna (which announced plans to open in suburban DFW two months ago) is now expanding to urban Denver. Located in the city’s Sun Valley neighborhood (just 2 miles from downtown), the club will feature six indoor courts, 32-foot ceilings, locker rooms with showers, and a mix of fitness classes. Here’s a quick preview of how it’s coming along so far…
🦞 Suffering from Success
Padel Boston is announcing an expansion that will double its footprint to nearly 25,000 square feet and bring its total to six courts. Fueled by overwhelming demand since its 2024 launch, the upgraded facility will add new courts, a second lounge, and expanded event space.
📈 Up Your Game Fix Your Grip Before It Fixes You
You’ve been playing padel for a while. You feel decent from the back, okay at net… but under pressure, things get weird.
So you start tinkering with different grips for different shots. Adjusting mid-rally. Trying to “find something that works.” But now, you’ve just overcomplicated it to where your game is hella inconsistent.
Fortunately, Sandy at The Padel School wonderfully provides a detailed solution in this 7-min video.
Reality is, you’re probably overthinking everything except the most vital part, aka your grip.
Instead of it being some “bEgInNeR rEcOmMeNdAtIoN,” the continental grip is the foundation of the entire sport because it provides mobility.
Unlike tennis, you don’t have time to adjust your grip every shot. So you need one grip that lets you do everything. And the continental grip is your answer.
It allows full wrist mobility (i.e., opening the racket face, closing it, adjusting angles on the fly). If you’re in the wrong grip, that flexibility disappears. And suddenly, you’re late, stiff, and guessing.
But what most players (myself included, until watching this video) still get wrong is that they think “continental” just means where you hold the racket.
Rather, it’s also:
The angle of your hand (slightly off-center, not rigidly straight)
The index finger acting like a trigger for control
The freedom in your wrist, not locking it up
And most importantly… how hard you’re squeezing (cc: anyone struggling with elbow pain or wrist tightness). The right way, with 1 being loosest, 10 being tightest:
3 / 10 in ready-position
3-4 / 10 during preparation
7-8 / 10 at contact only → then immediately relax again
So take this advice and run win more matches with it!
🌍 International Happenings We Just Got a Ton of Fresh Data (🇺🇸🌎)
So, the 2026 Padel Global Search Report dropped this week, and boy did I have a field day combing through these numbers. Global search interest in padel grew over 1,000% between 2004 and 2025, with nearly all of that concentrated in the last five years. Worldwide interest is up 49% YoY, and early 2026 is tracking even higher (March hit 96/100 on Google Trends’ index). We’re still in acceleration mode, and far from peaking. Point is, if you’re reading this in April 2026, you are an early adopter. Period. Buckle up!
The 🌎 vs. 🇺🇸 story is where it gets interesting, especially for my fellow Americans of our El Remate fam. In the context of padel search interest, padel beat pickleball every week of the past year globally. But flip to the US, and pickleball still dominates padel search interest by 10x. However, get this: in November 2025, US interest climbed ~65% over five consecutive weeks and held there through March 2026.
Surprise surprise, the mature markets (i.e., Spain, Portugal, Italy) are basically flatlined on growth in terms of internet search interest. The real action is in emerging anglophone and Asian markets: UK (+121%), Australia (+102%), Indonesia (+887%). Meanwhile, six countries (Cyprus, Indonesia, Switzerland, the UK, Tunisia, and Croatia) entered the global top 20 for the first time. The sport’s center of gravity is moving… worth paying attention to where courts get built next. 👀
🏆 Pro Padel RoundupPregamin’ Newgiza (🇪🇬)
This week, the pro circuit heads under the pyramids in Egypt for the Newgiza P2. The tour has already touched Asia, Europe, and the Americas this 2026 season, and now lands in Africa.
On the men’s side, all eyes are on Chingotto / Galán, who return as defending champions and top seeds, especially with Tapia / Coello sitting out (which, after losing in the Miami final, may likely come back to bite them). Chingalán should handle the early rounds comfortably, but things could heat up quickly with a projected quarterfinal clash against González / Di Nenno, a matchup that feels closer to a coin flip than the seeding suggests. On the opposite side of the draw, Stupa / Yanguas (the 2024 champions) are setting up the possibility of a blockbuster late-stage showdown. Meanwhile, Lebrón / Augsburger continue to embody “loose cannon” energy. I swear, you never know with these two…
Over in the women’s draw, Brea / Triay come in as the favorites after back-to-back titles in Gijón and Cancún, but they’ve got a tight pack chasing them, including Josemaría / González (who they most recently fell to in Miami) and Sánchez / Ustero, making the top tier feel pretty rocky. With all seeded pairs entering directly in the Round of 16, expect fewer early-round surprises but a sharp jump in match quality almost immediately.
Beyond the draw itself, this event carries real weight: 600 FIP points are on the line, meaning early-season separation is up for grabs. Can’t wait for this one!
🐝 Off-Court Buzz
Looking ahead, Olympia was just announced to host the London P1 this August. For context, the venue daties back to the 19th century, and has just undergone a massive £1.3 billion transformation into a modern, multi-use destination for entertainment, business, and culture.
🎯 Quick Hits The US National Padel Team heads to high-altitude Quito for the America Padel Cup, taking on Ecuador in a multi-division showdown that blends elite men’s and women’s matchups with a rising U18 squad. (🇺🇸🇪🇨)
Community musings
Pulse check: how much is everyone spending on padel per month?
How do players actually get sponsored? The consensus from players and coaches is it comes down to one of three lanes: strong tournament results, consistent social media presence, or deep club-level networking where brands can repeatedly see and “feel” your influence in action.
Around the world
After discovering padel during Covid, former US Open champion Dominic Thiem is launching Smash Padel Club — a new franchise aiming to scale community-driven padel across Austria and Europe, with more than 200 courts planned. The first flagship location opens May 20. (🇦🇹🇪🇺)
Another step closer to Brisbane 2032! Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games is adding padel as an official medal sport, with its debut set for December 2026 in Riyadh. The initiative is backed by the Olympic Council of Asia and aligned with the FIP. (🇸🇦🌏)
‘90s / ‘00s soccer legend Ronaldo Nazário is backing padel development group Galácticos Rackets with plans to build 100 padel courts across Brazil. The project blends premium clubs and tech-enabled arenas. (🇧🇷)
Padel made a high-voltage crossover into motorsport as the Hexagon World Series set up a court inside Madrid’s Jarama Formula E weekend. The event featured 30,000+ spectators, F1-linked drivers, and Real Madrid’s Raúl Asensio picking up a racquet. (🇪🇸)
This is what it’s like to be a three-generation family of padel champions! (🇬🇧)
🤩 Cool Club of the Week📍 Phnom Penh, 🇰🇭
More info here!
A review from the El Remate fam... 😎
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See you next week & keep smashing those volleys 🎾