Focus on… Chile, big numbers! Federation-affiliated courts doubled in a year

The Banco de Chile Santiago Premier Padel P1 is getting into full swing. Today is the day of the round of 16, with the fans at the Movistar Arena admiring the best players in the world. Chile, by the way, is the country on the South American continent where the strongest growth of the sport has been taking place in recent years. After Argentina, Chile is the country with the largest number of clubs and courts: more than 550, with 2,000 courts to play on, and several hundred thousand amateur players.

This is confirmed by data from the FIP Research & Data Analysis Department and those of the FIP-affiliated Federación de Pádel de Chile (Fepachi), which governs padel in Chile, which show a big increase in the number of affiliated clubs and courts in 2023 compared to 2022 (the latter almost doubling, from 98 to 172) and more than 2,100 registered members.

Since the CUPRA FIP Tour was created, 19 tournaments have already been held in Chile, including 11 men’s and eight women’s: of these, six in 2023 and already four in 2024. Two (one FIP Rise and one FIP Promotion) in Viña del Mar in February and two (one FIP Rise and one FIP Promotion) in Santiago in March. The Banco de Chile Santiago P1 is the first tournament of the Premier Padel circuit to be played in Chile.

Chile is the fourth country in the world after Spain, Italy and Argentina to have the most players in both the men’s and women’s FIP rankings (177 men and 62 women). Currently, the best Chilean player is Javier Valdes, number 55, who made it through the qualifiers at the P1 in Santiago, reaching the second round of the main draw. He is followed by Cristobal Molina (204) and Cristobal Martinez (207), who reached last February the quarter-finals of the FIP Rise in Vina del Mar as a pair, having triumphed together in 2022 in both the FIP Star in Santiago and the FIP Rise Ecuador in Quito.

Among the women, the best Chilean players are Gabriela Roux Vidal and Gianina Minieri (both at number 154), winners this year of the FIP Promotion in Viña del Mar in February, the FIP Rise Santiago in March and able to reach the final in the FIP Rise in Buenos Aires in April. Roux Vidal and Minieri were awarded a wild card for the main draw by the organisers of the Banco de Chile Santiago Premier Padel P1. Talking about national teams competitions, Chile has participated in 14 FIP World Padel Championships (skipping only the first in history, in 1992, and the one in 2022) and the last five FIP Juniors World Padel Championships.