Gabriela Sabatini and Toni Nadal were the star names at a VIP padel tournament held during the ATP Mallorca Championships in Santa Ponça.
The event
The tournament took place at the Mallorca Country Club, the home of the grass-court tennis event, and brought together former tennis players, coaches, sponsors and guests for a day of padel.
Gabriela Sabatini, the Argentine former world number three and 1990 US Open champion, showed she is just as comfortable with a padel racket.
Toni Nadal, Rafael Nadal’s uncle and long-time coach, brought his famous competitive spirit to the court.
A single point
Matches were played in the OnePointChallenge format, in which each game is decided by a single point. The format makes every rally decisive and keeps the pressure on from start to finish.
The results
Sabatini and Nadal won their early matches against teams that included the former German tennis player Tommy Haas and Patrick Sievers, global head of marketing at the car maker Cupra.
In the final they met Nadia Mora and Fabian Smith, who won the title.
The prize
The winners received a wildcard for the OPCT tournament held at the same club in September, which has a prize pool of €10,000.
Tennis alongside
Guests also had the chance to watch the qualifying rounds of the Mallorca Championships, the ATP 250 event played on grass in the week before Wimbledon.
The tournament has become one of the main sporting events of the summer in Mallorca, and side events like the padel day reflect how the island has embraced the sport: padel is now one of the most popular sports in Spain, with courts in almost every town in the Balearics.
