Focus on…Saudi Arabia: where there is 30% of the courts in Asia

Premier Padel 2024 started in Saudi Arabia with the Riyadh Season P1 and on a continent, Asia, where padel is rapidly growing. Although it has only been around for a few years and not yet in all countries (it is however present in almost two-thirds of Asian countries) there are 1,200 facilities and more than 3,200 padel courts on the continent, with a very strong presence (around 85%) in the Middle East. Since 2022, the Saudi Padel Committee – the Saudi padel federation – has been affiliated to the FIP, and Saudi Arabia is the Asian country with the largest number of clubs, more than 320, most of which are affiliated to the Committee, and courts, around 900, almost 30% of the facilities in the whole of Asia. According to the FIP Research & Data Analysis Department, there are around 300,000 padel fans in Saudi Arabia. The province where most padel is played is Riyadh (almost 40% of clubs), followed by Eastern Province and Mecca Province.

Saudi Padel Committee has almost 1.000 professional licences: there are four women with FIP ranking points (Raghda Binwathlan and Rana Alsheri, Sara Mohammed Salhab and Rana Alshehri) and 12 men, among them Sattam Alshahrani, world number 770 and the only Saudi player to have won a qualifying round for an FIP tournament, the FIP Star Riyadh in June 2023. The other 11 are Fahad Sulaiman Al Saad, Faisal Alrebdi, Omar Althagib, Salman Alshahrani, Abdullelah Alqhtani, Abdulrahman Alhabeeb, Abdulrahman Aljebreen, Fahad Alsubaie, Marwan Almulhim, Mohammed Al Subaie and Rakan Alshahrani.