Pack Your Racket
El Remate #30 | What's hot in 🇺🇸 & 🌎 padel | May 5-12, 2026
Bienvenidos a El Remate! I’m Aris, a padel-obsessed Missourian who spent 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 weekThe World No. 1s keep losing, and with the Buenos Aires P1 this week, the throne is officially in play. We’re heading courtside to cover it live.
And just in time for summer, padel tourism got a crucial infrastructure play. More on why it might be a billion-dollar vertical.
Also in this issue:
— The flip-flop shot that ends points
— Padel club meets dog park
— “We have to work for padel as a sport and not for money”
— Functional racket, or collector’s item?
— 30 illegal courts
…and plenty more. Nos vemos en La Ciudad de la Furia!
🇺🇸 Club OpeningsComing Soon
Acapulco Roots + Dog-Friendly
Punto Azul is bringing eight outdoor padel courts (3 of which will be covered) to the Oak Forest / Garden Oaks neighborhood of Houston, TX. Founded by Acapulco native (the birthplace of padel 🇲🇽) Jose Castrejon, the club is rooted in importing the sport’s rich culture, with a focus on community, hospitality, and youth development through a dedicated academy. Rounded out by a fully dog-friendly layout, on-site café, workspaces, bar, gym, and locker rooms, the club is slated to open at the end of September 2026.
Now Open
Flagship Makes It Official
Over in Metro LA, Culver City, CA’s Chamber of Commerce officially welcomed Padel Up’s flagship location with a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony last Thursday. The club features three indoor courts with 30-foot ceilings, plus a lounge space, showers, lockers, cold plunge, and sauna. The event included complimentary coaching sessions, open play, food truck bites, hydration stations, and a raffle for a one-month membership.
Additional Club Buzz 🐝
Per our friends at Padel Nation, after nearly two years in the making, Padel Haus’ Denver location is finally soft-opening this week, featuring five indoor courts, 25-foot ceilings, a high-end gym, co-working space, and its signature “Juice Haus.” An official grand opening weekend is slated for June 26 (more to come soon).
Down in Westlake, FL, Xcel Padel teamed up with Love Serving Autism to bring the sport to kids of all abilities.
Our friends up north are getting busy too… Toronto’s District Padel & Pickleball Club just opened, featuring a 55,000-square-foot facility with eight indoor padel courts. 🇨🇦
📈 Up Your Game 
The Chancletazo: Niche, Fun, & Highly Effective
If you didn’t already know this shot, add it to your arsenal now! The chancletazo is one of the cleanest ways to finish points, especially at an intermediate+ level.
In Spanish, “chancleta” = flip-flop. So a chancletazo is essentially smacking someone with a sandal… i.e., quick, sharp, and a little(?) disrespectful.
In padel terms, it’s an aggressive, controlled volley (not smash!) usually taken slightly above net height and designed to jam your opponent at the feet and end the point without needing raw power.
Mind you, it’s very much a setup-dependent play that only works if you build the point correctly. And just like a dejada (aka drop shot), the best players already know it’s coming before they hit it.
After watching this incredibly helpful 14-minute video (in Spanish, but with English subtitles), here are my notes below:
Step 1: In order to “unlock” the chancletazo, you need to build the point first
The entire setup hinges on a deep, controlled backhand ball into the middle… leaning toward your opponent’s backhand side.
This is because from the right side of the court, your opponent’s natural shot after the glass is crosscourt (aka, they’re uncomfortable going parallel, their options get predictable, and their partner might overreach and “steal” the ball)
Step 2: Position is key
Instead of casually drifting forward:
Get set early with an open stance
Keep the racket up and wrist firm, letting the shoulder and body drive the shot
Load off the front of the foot (heel slightly raised)
Take a small, intentional step forward into the ball
Step 3: Hit flat and parallel (i.e., not cross-court), while aiming at the feet. Control > power!
❌ Crosscourt = more glass interaction = more time for your opponent
✅ Parallel = cleaner path = faster, more direct pressure
This should be a 60% power shot, with a focus on precision. This way:
Your shot is still effective and you recover faster for the next ball
Worst-case scenario, if you don’t finish the point right away, it puts pressure on your opponent by forcing a weaker return shot
…and there you go. Happy flip-flopping! 🩴
🌍 International Happenings Padel Tourism Heats Up Heading into Summer
Three months ago, UK-based Padel Business Magazine dropped a killer insight report previewing the rise padel tourism, where more people are more designing their entire trips around padel. From coaching camps in Spain to wellness-heavy retreats in Bali and the Maldives, the model is evolving fast. Demand is clearly there, but now the big question mark (especially headed into summer—at least for our Northern Hemisphere readers) is supply and how well it’s packaged.
Enter Privé Padel, which just officialized a move to productize this trend. Its new “Privé Passport” is essentially a global matchmaking engine between padel players and premium travel experiences. We’re talking 40+ curated hotels across 15+ countries, bundled with perks (i.e., upgrades, late checkout, spa credits) and, more importantly, guaranteed access to padel… either on-site or via local club partnerships. And within this guaranteed access lies coaching, wellness, and destination immersion. To exemplify it even further, our friends at Padel Nation provided great coverage of Privé’s launch at Miami’s THesis Hotel.
Personally, I think padel is starting to follow the trajectory of golf as a global travel driver, but with a model that is (1) more accelerated and (2) better suited to modern behavior. Unlike tennis, which never quite translated into a true travel ecosystem despite its global footprint, padel—and to a lesser extent pickleball—naturally lends itself to group trips, repeat play, and social / community experiences. After all, padel provides:
equipment that’s drastically easier to pack (vs. tennis & golf)
a stronger international footprint (vs. pickleball)
a better workout (vs. golf & pickleball).
As an American that’s played padel across 12 countries spanning 3 continents (more on that here), I’m extremely bullish on the sport’s tourism sector. If you’re heading somewhere this summer, pack your racket!
🏆 Pro Padel RoundupPower Shift in Asunción (🇵🇾)
If you needed confirmation that the 2026 season is starting to tilt, the Premier Padel Asunción P2 just gave it to you loud and clear.
On the men’s side, No. 2 seeds Fede Chingotto / Ale Galán (“Chingalán”) took down Agustín Tapia and Arturo Coello again (6-3, 7-5), marking their third straight win over the world No. 1s. While Tapia and Coello are undoubtedly still elite, cracks are starting to form.
On the women’s side, Paula Josemaría / Bea González keep winning. They once again beat Delfi Brea / Gemma Triay (4-6, 6-3, 6-3), extending their streak to four Premier Padel titles (Miami, Newgiza, Brussels, and now Asunción). Josemaría notched her 50th career title, while González somehow remains undefeated in Asunción across three different partners. Unfortunately, it seems like Brea has physical issues starting to loom, which could obviously matter a lot in the coming weeks.
Overall, the P2 in Asunción carried a €262K prize pool, split equally across men and women. Each champion walked away with €12,750, while early-round players also earned a check.
Looking into this week with the Buenos Aires P1 (which I’ll be attending), the stakes feel higher with both draws flirting with a genuine power shift at the top.
In anticipation for the tournament, Bullpadel installed a pop-up court right next to the iconic Obelisco. Running for three days, the court will host open public experiences, influencers, and pro athletes.
Meanwhile, Some Premier Padel Scheduling Updates
Officially a one-year adjustment, the 2026 Premier Padel calendar has been reshuffled due to geopolitical disruptions, with the Qatar Major canceled and:
Kuwait (October 26 - 31; initially a P1 tournament) stepping up as a Major tournament 🇰🇼
Pretoria (July 26 - August 2; initially a P2 tournament) stepping up as a P1 tournament 🇿🇦
Each upgrade means more ranking points, more prize money, and a stronger field.
🎯 Quick Hits Audemars Piguet just joined Premier Padel as official timekeeper, doubling down with a bet on world No.1 Agustín Tapia (🇨🇭🇦🇷)
Padel GOAT Fernando Belasteguín draws a line in the sand as padel’s boom turns into a business gold rush (🇦🇷🇪🇸🌎)
Despite UK padel exploding, a structural tension is emerging between top-down ambition and the operators actually building the sport, per the LTA (🇬🇧)
Just 13 weeks after releasing the BL.003 racket model, Lamborghini and Babolat have now dropped the BL.001 (🇮🇹🇫🇷)
Sadly, open-air glass courts are killing thousands of birds each year (up to 135 per court). Fortunately, there might be a netting solution (🇪🇸)
Interesting read on how European markets are now looking to adapt from Sweden’s 2020-24 padel boom and bust (🇸🇪🇪🇺)
Padel expansion hits a political nerve in Malta, as 30 “illegal” courts get fast-tracked over archeological land, just days after promises of a public park (🇲🇹)
🤩 Cool Club of the Week📍 Managua, 🇳🇮
More info here!
Missed a recent issue? Todo tranca che ;) we got you covered:
📌 Hot take editorials:
Thanks for reading! My promise: I’ll keep the newsletters coming, you share with a friend if you’re enjoying. Está bien? Forward to a friend.
For more on-the-ground 🌎 padel content from a 🇺🇸 POV, follow @padelyanqui on Instagram! And if you have any feedback, news to share, or are interested in becoming a preferred partner of El Remate, just respond to this email :)
See you next week & keep smashing those volleys 🎾