Padel explained: What are the different padel tours?
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As participation continues to grow worldwide, so do the professional padel circuits that are attracting hundreds of padel players to tournaments across the globe.
The padel tours offer a wide range of events for players of all abilities from those at the very top of the professional game, all the way down to players competing at a local or regional level.
With so many padel tournaments taking place every single week, we run through everything you need to know about the tours on the professional circuit from the various categories within them to the prize money on offer, target audience and their impact on the world rankings.
Premier Padel Tour
Starting off with the Premier Padel Tour - the leading professional padel tour in the world.
The Premier Padel Tour attracts the world’s best padel players from multiple countries and offers the largest amount of prize money and ranking points for competitors.
This tour is divided into three categories:
- Major: The highest ranked Premier Padel tournaments, offering winners 2000 rankings points.
- P1: A rank down from majors, P1 encompasses the second-highest ranked Premier Padel tournaments, with 1000 ranking points up for grabs for the winners.
- P2: A step down from the P1 tournaments, P2’s rewards champions with 500 rankings points.
The Premier Padel Tour also welcomes the Tour Finals in December which sees the top 16 ranked players in the FIP Race Ranking in both the women’s and men’s competitions go head-to-head to be crowned year-end champions. The winners of the Premier Padel Finals will receive 1500 ranking points.
CUPRA FIP Tour
The CUPRA FIP Tour was born in 2019 and has rapidly expanded to become the foundation of international padel.
Similarly to the Premier Padel Tour, the CUPRA FIP Tour is split into four tiers, with each division offering varied ranking points and prize money:
- FIP Platinum: The highest category on the FIP Tour, tournaments in this category offer winners 300 FIP rankings points and a prize pot of between €120,000 - €150,000.
- FIP Gold: The second highest category on the FIP tour, offering winners 150 FIP ranking points and a prize point of between €50,000 – €80,000.
- FIP Silver: Tournaments in this category offer winners 80 FIP ranking points and a prize pot of between €15,000 – €30,000.
- FIP Bronze: The newest category of FIP tournament, Bronze tournaments offer 40 FIP ranking points to winners and a prize pot of between €7,000 – €10,000.
In 2021, the FIP Tour launched its FIP Promises circuit, catered towards female and male players under the ages of 14, 16 and 18 to provide the next generation of padel players with opportunities to compete.
Similarly to the Premier Padel Tour, there is a year-end Finals on the CUPRA FIP Tour - the CUPRA FIP Finals, which will see the top players from the compete to be crowned champions.
The winners of the CUPRA FIP Finals will receive 225 FIP ranking points.
Find out more about the CUPRA FIP Tour
LTA Padel British Tour
The LTA Padel British Tour is the highest level of domestic padel competition in Great Britain.
The very best players from across Britain compete in standout events, across full weekends, for prize money and ranking points.
The circuit features multiple tournaments held across Great Britain at various stages in the year and plays a crucial role in the development of padel across the country.
The LTA Padel British Tour is split into two grades, with acceptance onto the events being based on players’ LTA Padel Rankings.
- Grade 1: Grade 1 events are the highest level of domestic padel competition in Great Britain. These tournaments attract anyone from rising junior stars to national level adults and professional British padel players.
- Grade 2: Grade 2 events are geared towards national level players who want to test their skills against the top players in Great Britain and compete at some of the biggest venues in the country.
