Big names battle for padel bragging rights
● Prominent South African businessmen are fighting a proxy war on the padel courts, swapping jackets for rackets in a race for supremacy in the country’s fastest growing sport.
The Hersov and Wiese families are part of South Africa’s boardroom bedrock, both rooted in the mining and finance sectors.
They are now both also invested in padel, a new ball sport that merges elements of tennis and squash. The sport is particularly appealing to digital-savvy young professionals who use a popular app to arrange matches according to their ability.
Rob Hersov is a prominent shareholder and chair of Africa Padel, the country’s biggest padel club, while the Wiese family is involved in the second-biggest company, Virgin Padel.
Both companies are rapidly expanding their national footprint in a race for market share, opening courts in most major urban areas. To cater for the demand some sporting clubs are now converting tennis courts into padel courts.
Players say the sport also provides a new social connection that combines networking and exercise.
Hersov this week confirmed his involvement in the sport and his role in appointing new Africa Padel CEO Mike Lumb. “Yes I brought in Mike whom I met through padel — he is new to our business,” he told the Sunday Times in response to queries.
Hersov, the son of AngloVaal founder Basil Hersov, is still involved in mining, notably in African Gold Acquisition Corporation. But he is better known in recent years for his scathing assessments of the service delivery performance of the ANC. More recently his outspoken support for Israel at a public gathering in Cape Town, captured on video, prompted a backlash and a call to boycott African Padel facilities.
Sources this week said Hersov was instrumental in a leadership shake-up at the helm of Africa Padel, which now has 92 courts and 21 club affiliates countrywide after launching in 2020 — making it the biggest player in the fast-growing padel market.
Lumb confirmed he had been appointed to consolidate the business after an initial rapid growth spurt: “It is getting more competitive, with a couple of guys coming into the arena, with more offerings and quite a bit of opportunity.”
Heavyweight investors were required to breach the relatively high barrier to entry into the business end of the sport — it costs around R800,000 to R1m to build a court.
“It is aimed at high LSMs (living standard measures) at the moment,” Lumb said, adding that he expected a broader appeal as costs fell due to competition.
“Hopefully we’ll head towards having a Springbok side. There are influential people who have been bitten by the bug, and it’s an interesting space to be in,” Lumb said.
One of those influential people is rival padel investor Jacob Wiese, padel-playing son of billionaire Chriso Wiese of Shoprite and diamond-mining fame.
The Wiese family stake in Virgin Padel has helped catapult that company into second place in the padel stakes, with about 50 courts countrywide and valuable brand affiliation with Virgin, whose founder Richard Branson is reportedly a padel fan.
“Yes I do play — it is a fantastic game it has got me active again for the first time in many years, because it is so much fun, so social, so easy to learn,” Jacob Wiese said this week.
Virgin Padel CEO Adam Fine said the company aimed to have 100 courts by the end of the year.
“We’re now in PE (Gqeberha), Pretoria, Joburg, Durban and Cape Town. In March we opened four clubs in four cities, in 10 days.”
But some stakeholders say the padel business rush lacks the good sportsmanship often associated with racquet sports.
Partly this was due to the lack of an umbrella body to govern the affairs of the estimated 600 courts that have already sprung up over the past three years — with some estimating a carrying capacity of around 1,200 courts.
“There is politics in the industry. There are only three or so larger operators and the rest are independents. Everyone is jostling as to who will run the structures in the country,” said one well-placed source involved in the business.
“At the moment it is who has most money, and who puts in the most money. It’s still in its infancy.”
Many of the padel clubs have clubhouses where players meet for social events. There are also indoor courts, including at Paarden Eiland adjacent to the Cape Town port.
Padel first started in Mexico in the 1960s but only really took off in recent years. The court is about 25% smaller than a tennis court and is usually played in doubles format — a pair on either side of the net.
Unlike tennis, players can only serve underarm and shots can be played off the side of the court walls. In an interview late last year padel commentator Paulo do Carmo described the growth of the sport in South Africa as spectacular.
“When we started playing there were only a handful of us — we needed to find people to play with us.”
“Then just before Covid it started taking off — I don’t really know why.”
He said the sport was currently played in 90 countries and may be included as an Olympic Sport by 2028.
Hersov and Wiese families get the ball rolling in SA's trendy new sport