London, 15th May 2019 – Wimbledon, US Open and Olympic champion, Andy Murray, has added to his investment portfolio with a stake in Game4Padel. Game4Padel’s aim is to become the market leader in the UK padel tennis market which is widely believed to be on the verge of the same exciting and explosive growth seen in many other countries around the world.
Commenting on the partnership, Andy said “It’s great for young people to play a variety of sports and Padel is a fast-paced game which is excellent for developing hand eye co-ordination and racket skills.”
Padel is a cross between tennis and squash. It uses the tennis scoring system and has very similar balls, but it is played on a court with enclosed glass walls much like a squash court. Padel is often stated to be the fastest growing sport in the world and one of the most fun and addictive.
Game4Padel will work with a wide variety of British sports venues (local authorities, tennis and multi sports clubs and universities) to finance, install, maintain and operate padel courts but also to create bespoke playing programmes and support networks to ensure that success at grassroots level is maximised.
After a successful and heavily oversubscribed first round of private investment, Game4Padel has already received huge interest from a wide variety of sports venues across the UK and hosted a first open day for over 20 interested tennis clubs on the 27th April 2019.
Padel was created in South America in 1969 and is now hugely popular in many European and Latin American countries. In Spain it is now second only to football in participation numbers, with 6 million players on over 5,500 courts. The number of courts in the UK has doubled to over 60 in just 18 months but based on the experience of Spain and many other European nations that number is expected to grow exponentially.
The game of padel is fun, social (doubles only) and accessible for all. It is uniquely attractive to a variety of demographics including:
Young adults – In Spain, 69% of padel players are in the 25 – 44 age bracket. During an hour of padel each player will be actively involved for 50 minutes and burn between 400 and 600 calories. Where physical activities are enjoyable, research shows they are more likely to be habit forming.
Women – Padel appeals strongly to women with approximately 30% of padel players being women.
Seniors – Padel represents the perfect intermediate between tennis and golf. Because of the court surface (artificial grass), underarm serves and the size of the court, padel is not strenuous on the body but still offers great cardiovascular exercise.
Children – Can start playing padel from 4 years old. The hand-eye coordination skills they will learn on a padel court by understanding the use of walls and getting used to different bounces and spins will also immensely help children to develop their tennis skills.
Adding to his previous comments, Andy Murray said: “Padel is one of the fastest emerging racket sports in the world right now, and it’s really exciting to be involved in an organisation like Game4Padel, who are experts in their field and have sports growth and longevity at the heart of their business.”
Jim McMahon, Executive Chair of Game4Padel said “It is fantastic to have one of this country’s greatest ever sportsmen join our business. We have a clear vision on how we can grow Padel in the UK and Andy’s involvement is a key part of that plan – we are all looking forward to working with Andy to achieve our aim.”
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