The World Padel Tour (WPT) was the primary professional padel circuit from 2013 to 2024. It created the first unified pro tour with structured rankings, prize money and broadcast coverage. In 2022, Premier Padel launched as a rival circuit backed by Qatar Sports Investments. After two years of competition, the tours merged in 2024 under the Premier Padel brand, ending the WPT era. Today Premier Padel is the single pro tour and WPT no longer operates as a separate entity.
What the World Padel Tour was
The World Padel Tour (WPT) was the professional men's and women's padel circuit operating from 2013 to 2024. Before WPT, professional padel existed as a patchwork of national tournaments, sporadic international events and loose rankings. WPT created the first genuinely unified pro circuit with:
- A season calendar of tournaments across multiple countries
- Consistent format (Open and Master tournaments)
- Unified global rankings updated weekly
- Professional prize money structure
- Broadcast partnerships (notably in Spain with Movistar)
- Formal player licensing and participation rules
Before WPT, even top pro players often had day jobs. The tour made full-time professional padel possible for the first time.
WPT structure and tournament categories
The WPT used a tiered tournament system similar to tennis:
- Masters - top-tier events with the most prize money and ranking points. 4-5 per season, mostly in Spain
- Opens - standard tour events, 10-12 per season, spread across Europe, Latin America and Middle East
- Challengers - lower-tier events for ranking-building and emerging players
- Masters Final - year-end championship for top 8 pairs by ranking
Players earned ranking points at each event, and the top 20-30 in the rankings enjoyed direct entry to future tournaments. Lower-ranked players had to qualify through previas (qualifying rounds). The structure was designed to reward both top performance and year-round consistency.
WPT era stars
The WPT decade was defined by several dominant pairings:
Men's side
- Belasteguin & Diaz (2013-2017) - extending their dominance that pre-dated WPT
- Sanyo & Maxi Sanchez (2018) - brief dominance
- Lebron & Navarro (2019) - Lebron becomes first Spanish world No. 1
- Galan & Lebron (2020-2022) - three-year dominance
- Tapia & Coello (2023 onwards) - took over dominance just as WPT was ending
Women's side
- Marrero & Ortega (mid-2010s) - early WPT women's dominance
- Salazar & Sanchez Fallada (late 2010s)
- Triay & Sanchez (early 2020s)
- Sanchez & Josemaria (2022-2024) - ended WPT era as the most successful female pair in history
The rise of Premier Padel (2022-2024)
In 2022, a new professional circuit called Premier Padel launched. Backed by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI - the organisation that also owns Paris Saint-Germain FC) and officially sanctioned by the International Padel Federation (FIP), Premier Padel offered dramatically higher prize money than WPT and signed many of the top players to its tour.
This created a split. Some players prioritised WPT; others moved to Premier Padel. Tournament calendars conflicted. Rankings fragmented. For two years, professional padel was divided between two circuits with overlapping but distinct players and events.
The split was bad for the sport. Fans could not easily follow "the" professional tour because there was no single one. Sponsors hedged bets. Some top rivalries could not happen because the players were on different tours at different events.
The 2024 merger
In early 2024, negotiations concluded and the two tours agreed to merge. The result: Premier Padel became the single professional circuit, absorbing the WPT tournaments, players and organisational resources. The FIP remained the governing body. WPT ceased operations as a separate entity.
Merger terms included:
- Premier Padel tournament calendar expanded to include former WPT venues and dates
- All professional players now competed on the single tour
- Rankings unified under Premier Padel/FIP system
- WPT broadcast deals transitioned or terminated
The merger ended the two-tour era and stabilised professional padel for the first time since 2022. Fans welcomed the unification - watching all top players in every tournament again was a major improvement.
The WPT legacy
Although the WPT no longer exists as an operating circuit, its legacy shapes modern padel:
- The professional structure - WPT's tournament format, ranking points and player-licensing system formed the template Premier Padel adopted
- The Spanish dominance - WPT's Spain-heavy calendar (70%+ of events were in Spain) cemented Spanish padel as the sport's commercial centre
- The star players - Belasteguin, Galan, Lebron and the women's legends all built their careers on WPT
- The fan culture - the specific format of padel tournaments (same-day double sessions, weekend finals) came from WPT
- The commercial relationships - most current padel sponsorship deals (racket brands, tournament title sponsors) were established during the WPT era
WPT titles still count
Players and brands continue to reference WPT titles in career records. A "WPT champion" is a historical achievement of real weight - it means winning during the unified-tour era when the WPT was the pinnacle of the sport. Modern players who transferred from WPT to Premier Padel retain their WPT title counts in official career records.
Merger records reflect the combined tours. When Tapia and Coello's "career titles" are counted, WPT and Premier Padel wins both count. This maintains continuity and respect for the WPT era.