Four players, short-handle carbon-fibre racquets and one ball… the fastest-growing sport in the world is open to all. Padel has taken the world by storm — and now it’s returning to SA’s shores for the second year running! From Saturday, 11th February, Camps Bay Sports Ground will host the A1Padel PaySpace Cape Town Master 2023, kick-starting the 2023 A1Padel professional tour calendar, with top-ranked players descending on the Mother City for an explosive battle to win the coveted trophy and a prize purse of $110 000.
Philippe Kjellgren, the organiser and promoter of the A1Padel PaySpace Cape Town Master event, has been a driver of the game’s growth across South Africa. “Padel has grown exponentially in South Africa, and this tournament provides local players with an opportunity to compete against the world’s best,” says Kjellgren. “Last year, the event was televised globally, receiving over 200 million views on ESPN and Star Plus and we believe this year’s event will be even bigger as spectators are given a front-row seat to top-level play, a range of activities at the event venue and opportunities to interact with the players.”
The quarter-finals, semis and final games will be broadcast live, along with highlights during the entire week of the tournament, on SuperSport. Crowd favourite Tolito Leonel Aguirre as well as the 2022 Master’s winners, Maximiliano Arce and Franco Dal Bianco, will be returning to compete.
Padel for the people
To play a game of padel, players across the globe subscribe to the Playtomic app to create a profile and receive a ranking. The app allows players to book at any court across the world and even rent a padel racquet and balls, if necessary. In South Africa alone, there are 40,000 registered players on Playtomic (a ten-fold growth in less than a year!). The accessibility of the game and its use of a democratised technology platform has removed the friction of taking up a sport as well as the need to invest in expensive equipment and training upfront.
The A1Padel PaySpace Cape Town Master further contributes to Cape Town’s socio-economic development through its open nature and wide appeal as a community-building sport. This community aspect goes beyond padel players, with A1Padel committed to bringing the sport to communities within the greater Cape Town area that were historically not provided with access to racquet sports and venues. At the end of the tournament, which expects to draw crowds of more than 2,000 spectators a day, A1Padel and community partner Lavender CARES, will hand over a branded padel court in Lavender Hill, a historically disadvantaged community on the Cape Flats, as well as provide a free padel training programme to engage and find talent within the community, with the aim of creating one or more teams to compete in the professional padel tour.
Warren van Wyk, co-founder and director of PaySpace, the tournament’s title sponsor, says: “PaySpace sees a direct correlation in its own journey and brand that aligns in so many ways with padel, as we are also the fastest-growing payroll and HR solution in Africa. Just like padel, we are also an agile and vibrant company that is disrupting a dated industry by offering a modern and exciting cloud-native solution that is accessible and intuitive to use for any sized business. The A1 Padel PaySpace Cape Town Master represents a significant investment in the future of padel in South Africa and a commitment to promoting the sport at the highest level.”
Get padel-ling
This year’s tournament will open with a festival day — the A1 Padel PaySpace Cape Town Master – Heineken Festival — on Saturday, 11 February from 4 pm to 10 pm. Priced at R200 per person, with free entry for under-12s, fans and spectators can view the exhibition and practice games and enjoy live music, food trucks, giveaways, opportunities to meet and interact with the players, shop at a retail area offering exclusive padel-related wares and entertain the kids in a dedicated play space. Festival tickets will be available throughout the tournament at R100 while grandstand tickets, which includes access to the festival area, are R150 per person.
South African players will also have the opportunity to rise amongst the ranks on an international stage. A qualifying event for local men will be held from 27 to 29 January, with the winning team advancing to the main competition. Ahead of the main tournament, A1Padel will host a South African Ladies’ Tournament on Sunday, 12 February as well as Pro-Am games, which sees pro players teaming up with amateurs, on Monday, 13 February.
For those wanting to be front and centre for all the action, a limited number of VIP tickets will be available at R2,000 per session, and include VIP box seats, access to the festival and the Vitality Players Lounge presented by Discovery Vitality, and full hospitality with food and beverages.
Tickets for the event can be purchased at ticketmaster.co.za. The full schedule can be viewed below.
The A1Padel PaySpace Cape Town Master, proudly supported by PaySpace, takes place at Camps Bay Sports Ground, Camps Bay, from Saturday, 11 February through Sunday, 19 February. The event is further supported by Heineken, KFM, MTV, Travelstart, Lift, Playtomic, Babolat, Village & Life and the Donald and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, with Discovery Vitality as presenting sponsor and Distell as pouring sponsor. For more information on the tournament, please visit a1padelglobal.com.
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