Padel is the most practiced sport in Spain and its influence continues to grow throughout Europe. In countries like Switzerland, the paddle tennis boom has led to the opening of a new club that will be managed by two big names in this sport, the player Jose Carlos Gaspar from Malaga and the coach from Almeria José Blázquez, who already assume the great challenge of launching and directing Padelta Zurich.
The new complex will have four paddle tennis courts in the heart of the citylocated in a fantastic enclave in the middle of a shopping center that has different restaurants, gyms and supermarkets among other leisure points that attract a large audience and will make the practice of this sport more visible.
This business adventure arises from the union of experience as a paddle tennis player and the illusion of promoting this sport globally. Jose Carlos, position number 85 in the FIP rankingAfter residing in Sweden, he embarked on this project, since according to his account, Switzerland is a country that meets ideal conditions for the growth of this sport. In addition, it has a great culture focused on racket sports influenced by one of the best tennis players in history: Roger Federer.
A very thoughtful decision
At the beginning of 2021, José Carlos Gaspar from Malaga decided to move to Sweden to continue dedicating himself to padel at a professional level and grow with the opportunities that padel was offering him internationally. “When I arrived I was totally surprised, to verify the existence of Indoor Padel Clubs, with qualities much higher than those seen before, really high occupancy rates and, above all, an unimaginable passion for paddle tennis”, he says.
Given the profitability that the clubs were generating, “investment funds entered that bought them even days before they opened. It could be sensed that we were approaching a financial term known as a bubble that was close to exploding”, says Gaspar.
For this reason, many of the clubs that were built ceased to be profitable. This made Sweden the country with the most tracks per person in the world, resulting in a less sustainable business.
Why run a tennis club in Zurich (Switzerland)?
I wanted to continue in Europe to continue competing at a professional level. The most comfortable thing was to continue in Europe, to avoid an excessive burden of long trips. Due to the stage in which paddle tennis is, it had to be a country in which the sport did not have excessive maturity. And being from Malaga, he highly valued the quality of life and at the same time understood that he had to be in a city with potential and in which I feel as comfortable as “his home”.
After studying all these variables, Switzerland became the ideal destination, where he had the opportunity to join Padelta as Business Developer Manager, which would add to his current position as a member of the board of directors at the PPA (Padel Player Association). The possibility of setting up paddle tennis courts arose in a Puls 5 Shopping Center, located in the center of the city, which would contribute to promoting paddle tennis in Switzerland, due to the large influx of people who pass daily to use its restaurant services, offices, gym etc.
Since its opening, on April 20, the reception has been unbeatable, soccupancy rate exceeding 50%, with a large influx of new players and with expectations of continuing to grow.