Premier Padel Pretoria set to make history on South African soil

South Africa is set to host its first ever professional Premier Padel tournament from 26 July to 2 August at Sunbet Arena in Tshwane. The event will showcase the best padel talents in the world whilst South Africa’s top ranked padel players have received wild cards and main draw slots in the tournament. 

Speaking exclusively to SABC Sport, Badenhorst says the tournament is also a platform to grow the sport in South Africa and to showcase local talent…

"It has been an 18 month long journey to get us to finally stage the Premier Padel P1 at the SunBet Arena from the 26th of July to the 2nd of August. It will really serve as the platform to showcase the world's best male and female padel players.

"This tournament will be the biggest padel tournament on the African continent that forms part of a global series of events consisting of 28 stop overs across the world."

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Badenhorst says the initial conversations about bringing the Premier Padel event to South Africa all started on LinkedIn. 

"As Primedia Sport we have signed a 3-year Promoter licensing agreement to stage the event on South African soil from 2026 to 2028. It really started on LinkedIn by inviting them over to South Africa to come and meet us here, and to see all the great sporting facilities on offer. They were pleasantly surprised by everything we've got over here, and given the growth of the sport in the country it was kind of a no brainer for them to add South Africa as the only stop over in the whole of sub-saharan Africa  to now stage this event.

"A P1 category effectively means that there will be just under R10 million in prize money. P1 is like the ATP 1000 if you were to compare it with tennis."

Badenhorst highlighted Premier Padel P1’s commitment to social responsibility by partnering with Amazeballs - a sustainability-driven initiative. Every ball collected during the tournament will be upcycled to support local sports and community development programs…