ITF’s hostile takeover of padel rejected

The International Padel Federation, the global governing body of padel for over 31 years, announced that the attempted hostile takeover of padel by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) has been firmly and emphatically rejected by members of the international tennis community.

At the ITF Annual General Meeting held in Glasgow, a resolution was tabled by the ITF seeking to unilaterally assume the governance of padel, while also seeking to unilaterally lead the development of new disciplines or variations of tennis, such as pickleball. The resolution was definitively rejected by the ITF’s own members.

In the lead-up to the AGM, stakeholders from across the padel, tennis and sports governance world announced their opposition to the attempted takeover – including the Professional Players Association which represents the leading professional players of padel. In the end, the tennis community itself voted to block the takeover in resounding fashion.

Commenting on the result, President of the International Padel Federation, Luigi Carraro, said “Today is a victory for the independence and integrity of sport; for our players, for padel fans; and for all the institutions across world sport who promote and protect the independence of other sports bodies.

“It is also a resounding defeat for self-interested sports executives seeking to rail-road through resolutions to swallow up developing sports. We thank all the national tennis federations who defied their own international federation and stood up for padel – we are excited to continue working together to grow our sport hand-in-hand.

“We thank the Professional Players Association for raising the voice of the players – who are the heartbeat of our beloved sport. We also thank all our national padel federations worldwide for defending the integrity of our sport. The International Padel Federation will now continue to work tirelessly to develop padel at the professional and amateur level in all four corners of the world, in collaboration with stakeholders across sport.”