Padel news: London to host Anglo-American Padel Cup inaugural edition
We have the America’s Cup, Davis Cup and Ryder Cup – and now, the iconic century-long transatlantic rivalry between Britain and the United States is set to reach new heights this month as the Anglo-American Padel Cup’s inaugural edition begins in North London.
The world’s fastest-growing racket sport is taking a new form as padel now has its own transatlantic team competition, featuring some of the best players from two emerging nations in the sport, writes Sports News Blitz’s Shameeka Voyiya.
The inaugural Great Britain vs United States annual Padel competition will debut at the Padel Hub in North London this month, with the US preparing to host in 2026.
The Anglo-American Padel Cup will feature the best players in Britain and America across Open and Age Group Divisions for men and women.
The British and American teams will consist of four players (two teams) per category in both Men’s and Women’s competitions, with a total of 64 players participating during two days of competition between 10 and 11 October.
The Cup will see British padel professionals Rafa Vega and Eloise Tait face their American counterparts in different age groups, with the first team to reach 49 points set to go down in history as the competition’s first ever champions.
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Highly-anticipated team competition
British Men’s captain and Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) number one Men’s player Rafa Vega expressed his anticipation in a statement, saying: “I am excited to be captaining the Britain’s Men’s team in the Open category of what promises to be a hugely-exciting debut Anglo American Cup.
“To have the opportunity to lead out the British Men’s team against our American counterparts will be a moment of massive pride.”
The Anglo-American Padel Cup organisers hope the competition will carry the same high energy as its golf, tennis and sailing counterparts.
“We wanted to create something that could become an annual competition, that can play on much deeper trans-Atlantic friendships, build on what people know from other sports and do it in padel,” co-founder Ben Nichols told City AM.
“I always say that the US is probably a couple of years behind the UK with padel. It’s well on its way now and growing very fast.
“We wanted to be first in creating this event and something that can cross the pond each year.”
Could the Anglo-American Cup expand to other countries?
While the America’s Cup and Davis Cup have expanded to include other nations, there is a budding expectation that this will be the case for the Anglo-American Padel Cup as well.
“We wanted to start between these two countries because they’re at similar levels in terms of how advanced they are with the sport,” said Nichols.
“That’s not to say it can’t go wider. Obviously, the Ryder Cup’s gone wider, other competitions have evolved – they’ve got wider concepts of continents against the world. So it could well go that way but I think we wanted to make it manageable in year one.
“There’s definitely room for a discussion of how we can work together. I think the Britain against America thing has legs because of where the countries are in the sport now.
“But a wider continental cup, there’s going to be a lot of top players from different countries that can compete in that, so could there be space for both? Definitely. Could it morph into one? That’s also a possibility.
“I think, for now, we want to grow this, and we’re fully collaborative in terms of others that want to work with us and pull together.”
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