Premier Padel London 2026: everything we know about the Olympia P1

Britain's first-ever Premier Padel event arrives at Olympia London from 4–9 August 2026, bringing the world's top professional padel players to West Kensington in what organisers are calling a landmark moment for the sport's fastest-growing European market. Announced on 18 December 2025 as part of the 2026 Qatar Airways Premier Padel Tour calendar Padel FIP +2 and confirmed at the newly redeveloped Olympia on 8 April 2026, London TV the London Premier Padel P1 will feature full men's and women's draws, sportindustry a prize pool approaching €495,000, and broadcast coverage on Red Bull TV. Red BullRed Bull Tickets go on general sale via Ticketmaster UK on 24 April 2026. London TV The event lands at a pivotal moment: UK padel participation surged past 860,000 players by the end of 2025, Racket Business more than doubling in a single year, sportindustryPadel Tonic and the country now hosts over 1,553 courts across 559 venues. LTA PadelLondon TV

How the announcement unfolded across two stages

The London P1 was revealed in two phases. Premier Padel and the International Padel Federation (FIP) first confirmed the event on 18 December 2025 when they unveiled the full 26-tournament 2026 calendar. Padel FIPpadelfip David Sugden, CEO of Premier Padel, LTA Padel and FIP President Luigi Carraro issued a joint statement from London and Doha, alongside Scott Lloyd, CEO of the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), and Stewart Hosford, CEO of event delivery partner Sela International. The Padel Paper +2 At that stage, the dates were listed as 3–9 August, with the venue to be confirmed. SportonSpecLTA Padel

The second announcement came on 8 April 2026, when Sela confirmed Olympia London as the host venue and opened ticket registration. The dates were adjusted to 4–9 August 2026. London TV This announcement was accompanied by a promotional event at padel courts in North London, where world No. 3 Ariana Sánchez, Alejandra Salazar (world No. 12), and Lucas Campagnolo (world No. 25) played alongside Padel Magazine British No. 1 Aimée Gibson, former England footballer Darren Bent, and reality TV figures Harry Clark (The Traitors) and Luca Bish (Love Island). Padel Magazine

The event is delivered through a new multi-year partnership between Premier Padel and Sela International, Padel Magazine with the LTA providing national governing body support The Padel PaperLTA Padel and Villages serving as event production partner. Padel MagazinePelekan Design Ltd Sugden framed London as strategically essential: "London offers an unparalleled opportunity for the global expansion of Premier Padel — offering a world-class venue, a passionate fanbase and strong sporting commercial strength." LTA Padel +2 Carraro described it as "an important milestone in our mission to elevate padel worldwide," LTA PadelThe Padel Paper while LTA CEO Scott Lloyd said the event would "help strengthen the sport from grassroots participation to professional players." The Padel PaperLTA Padel

Men's world No. 1 Arturo Coello added: "Premier Padel arriving in London is incredibly exciting. The energy of the city, combined with such an iconic setting, is going to make it a really special week." London TV

Inside a P1 event: the tour's second-highest tier

Premier Padel operates a three-tier structure analogous to professional tennis. The four annual Majors Padel Magazine (equivalent to Grand Slams) sit at the top, Italymajorpadel awarding 2,000 FIP ranking points Padelvoz and approximately €525,000 in prize money. ItalymajorpadelMejorset Below them sit 10 P1 events Red BullPadel Magazine (comparable to ATP Masters 1000 tournaments), each offering 1,000 ranking points Padelvozpadelution and prize pools of €475,000–€495,000. The third tier comprises 11 P2 events Red BullPadel Magazine (akin to ATP 500s), worth 600 points PadelvozPadel Magazine and roughly €265,000. The season concludes Padel Magazine with the Barcelona Finals, carrying 1,500 points for the winner. Red BullPadel FIP

For the London P1, the expected draw format follows standard P1 specifications: 40 men's pairs in the main draw padelution (34 direct entries, 4 qualifiers, 2 wild cards) and 28 women's pairs Padelutionpadelution (22–23 direct entries, 4 qualifiers, 1–2 wild cards). Qualifying rounds begin on the opening day, with the main draw running through to the final on Day 6. All matches use best-of-three sets with the new Star Point scoring system introduced for 2026 Padel FIP +2 — after three deuces in a game, a single decisive point is played, designed to improve broadcast pacing and player welfare. Padel FIP +2

Prize money is distributed equally between men's and women's draws. Based on the Riyadh P1 earlier this season, winners earned €26,000 per player, with finalists receiving approximately €14,300 Padel Earnings and quarter-finalists €4,500. Padel Alto The top four men's pairings receive byes into the Round of 16. Padelvoz Critically, the ranking system punishes absence: Mejorset skipping a single P1 event means forfeiting up to 1,000 points to rivals, Red Bull so virtually all top players Mejorset — Coello, Agustín Tapia, Alejandro Galán, Federico Chingotto, Juan Lebrón — are expected to compete.

Why Olympia London suits a debut padel spectacle

Olympia London sits on Hammersmith Road, W14, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Wikipedia The venue is undergoing a £1.3 billion redevelopment London TV led by Yoo Capital and Deutsche Finance International, transforming it from a traditional exhibition centre into an integrated destination for events, entertainment, hospitality, and business. Visit LondonLondon TV The renovation, designed by Heatherwick Studio and SPPARC, Mash Media has been opening in phases throughout 2025–2027, with the heritage exhibition halls, a new International Convention Centre, two hotels (citizenM and Hyatt Regency), and over 30 bars and restaurants either open or opening in 2026. TravelDailyNews International

The padel tournament will use Olympia's heritage halls London TV — principally the Grand Hall, which offers approximately 14,000 m² of floor space Travel2fair beneath a barrel-vaulted glass roof, with gallery levels providing natural elevated spectator views. Olympia Wikipedia lists the venue's overall capacity between 4,000 and 10,000 depending on configuration, Wikipedia though the specific seating arrangement for the padel event has not been announced. Gareth Lloyd, Business Development Director at Olympia Events, noted this will be "one of the first professional sports tournaments to be staged at Olympia's heritage halls" post-redevelopment, London TV calling it an opportunity "to showcase the scale and versatility of our world-class heritage halls." Access All Areas

Transport access is strong. The dedicated Kensington (Olympia) station serves London Overground and the District line (weekends), with Olympia securing a deal to fund 16 extra peak-time Overground services per day from May 2026. TravelDailyNews International Five additional Underground lines are accessible within a 15-minute walk TravelDailyNews International via Barons Court, West Kensington, Earl's Court, Shepherd's Bush, and Hammersmith stations. The venue sits roughly 20 minutes from the West End and 25 minutes from the City of London. TravelDailyNews International

Olympia has a long pedigree hosting major sporting events, Wikipedia including world championship boxing (Naseem Hamed, Chris Eubank Jr), Boxing Only the annual Olympia International Horse Show (since 1888), ATP tennis (1998), StubHub and WCW wrestling. However, the Premier Padel P1 will be the first padel event of any kind held at the venue.

Where London fits in the 2026 Premier Padel calendar

The 2026 Qatar Airways Premier Padel Tour spans 26 events across 18 countries Padelution +2 from February to December. Padel Magazine London is the 16th event, positioned at the approximate midpoint of the season and serving as the final tournament before a mid-August break. The schedule surrounding London is:

Málaga P1 — 13–19 July World Padel Network

Pretoria P2 — 27 July – 2 August worldpadelnetworkWorld Padel Network (the tour's first event in sub-Saharan Africa) PadelbusinessmagazineWorld Padel Network

London P1 — 4–9 August worldpadelnetwork

• Two-week break and Mediterranean Games (24–30 August) World Padel Network

Madrid P1 — 31 August – 6 September World Padel Network

Paris Major at Roland-Garros — 7–13 September World Padel Network

London is one of three new cities on the 2026 calendar, alongside Pretoria and Valencia. Padel Addict +3 The four Majors are staged in Padel Magazine Doha PadelutionPadelbusinessmagazine (postponed from its original April date), Rome, Paris, and Acapulco. Padelution +2 Other P1 hosts include Riyadh, Miami, Buenos Aires, Valencia, Málaga, Madrid, Milan, Kuwait City, and Dubai. The season finale takes place at the Barcelona Finals on 7–13 December. Padel Addict +2

Britain's padel boom provides fertile ground

The timing is significant. UK padel is experiencing what industry observers call the fastest growth of any European market. The LTA's own data tracks participation from 15,000 players in 2019 to an extraordinary 860,000 by the end of 2025 — a figure that more than doubled from 400,000 just twelve months earlier. sportindustry +2 Sport England's Active Lives Survey, which uses a stricter measure of twice-monthly participation, recorded 51,000 regular adult players in 2023–24, itself double the prior year. Racket Business

Court infrastructure has kept pace. Britain had just 69 padel courts when the LTA assumed governance in 2020. By the end of 2025, that number reached 1,553 courts across 559 venues, The Padel PaperLondon TV having surpassed the 1,000-court milestone in July 2025 — ahead of the LTA's own target. LTA Padel Planning applications for new courts rose 113% in 2024, climbing from 53 in 2021 to 544 in 2025. Padel Tonic Over three-quarters of planned new courts are indoor or covered, reflecting a shift toward year-round commercial viability in the British climate. The Padel Paper

The LTA has committed over £7.5 million directly to padel court construction, leveraging a further £10.5 million in partnership funding to deliver £18 million total investment creating 112 courts at 57 venues with community access requirements. LTA Padel The UK government added £2.5 million in 2026/27 for covered padel and tennis facilities. LTA Padel Major commercial operators driving growth include David Lloyd Clubs (66 courts across 26 locations), Game4Padel (70+ courts, backed by investors including Andy Murray, Jamie Murray, Virgil van Dijk, and Stormzy), and The Padel Club. Live For Padel Anthony Joshua became co-owner of the AD/vantage padel team in January 2025. Live For Padel

Despite this expansion, a stark supply-demand gap persists. The UK averages one court per 126,000 people, compared to Spain's 1:3,100 and Sweden's 1:2,400 Insider Media — suggesting enormous headroom remains. Playtomic data identifies Britain as the sport's third-biggest market globally behind Spain and Italy, City AM and the UK leads worldwide for gross monetary value per court, up 74% from 2023. Padel1969

Tickets, broadcast, and what comes next

Ticket sales follow a phased rollout. Priority pre-sale opens on 22 April for those who register at the official event website (p1london.com). LTA Advantage members gain access on 23 April, with general sale via Ticketmaster UK on 24 April. London TV Specific pricing tiers have not been announced, though Premier Padel events globally typically range from €15 to €120 depending on session and seating, with VIP courtside packages available. Padel N Play Organisers have indicated that discounted tickets for under-16s will be offered through event production partner Villages. Padel Magazine

Broadcast coverage is confirmed through Premier Padel's multi-year strategic partnership with Red Bull. Red Bull TV Red Bull — a free-to-view platform available across 130 countries — will carry all matches from the quarter-finals through to the finals, Red Bull +2 with English and Spanish commentary. Red Bull Earlier rounds will stream free on the Premier Padel YouTube channel. Padelvoz +3 Red Bull TV's interactive features will include real-time statistics, live polls, and educational "Playbook" segments aimed at new viewers. Broadcast

Britain has hosted padel before, but never at this level

While the London P1 is unambiguously Britain's first Premier Padel event, LTA Padel it is not the first professional padel staged in the country. The London Padel Masters in October 2019 brought a World Padel Tour Masters-level event to The London Padel Centre at Bishop's Park, Fulham, iPadel Ltd with a 1,500-spectator centre court. El Neverazo WPT also ran exhibition events in London in 2017 and 2018. Padeltech More recently, the HOP London Padel Open (Cupra FIP Tour) drew approximately 1,000 spectators to the LTA's National Tennis Centre in Roehampton in August 2023, Home Of Padel and the FIP announced an Intercontinental Cup for London in July 2025. Padel FIP The UK also regularly hosts FIP Bronze and Silver events, with five FIP Tour tournaments scheduled across Britain in 2026. The Padel PaperLTA Padel

On the domestic front, British players are making strides internationally. Aimée Gibson became the first British woman to crack the FIP top 100 in early 2025, LTA PadelThe Bandeja while men's No. 1 Christian Medina Murphy reached a career-best world No. 103 Padel FIP and achieved a quarter-final at a Premier Padel event in Cancún — the best result by a British player on the circuit. The Padel Paper The LTA's performance target is to have at least two British players in the FIP top 100 and ten in the top 200 by 2029. LTA Padel Both GB teams qualified for the final eight at the 2025 FIP Euro Padel Cup. LTA Padel

Conclusion

The Premier Padel P1 London represents a convergence of structural forces: a rapidly maturing UK padel market with nearly 900,000 players and accelerating infrastructure investment, a newly transformed world-class venue in central London, and a professional tour actively expanding into the world's most competitive sports markets. Padelbusinessmagazine Positioned mid-season between the Pretoria debut and the Paris Major at Roland-Garros, Padel FIP the London event carries strategic weight for Premier Padel's international growth narrative — particularly as padel pursues Olympic inclusion. Padel FIP With Sela's multi-year commitment LTA Padel signalling this is intended as an annual fixture rather than a one-off, The Bandeja and with ticket sales opening on 24 April, the August event could establish London as a permanent stop on padel's top professional circuit. The question is no longer whether elite padel belongs in Britain, but how quickly the country's extraordinary grassroots momentum translates into a world-class competitive ecosystem.