LA NUCIA, August 19, 2015

Former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero has started a new career, playing his first professional Padel tournament and was the main attraction on the main court at the Estrella Damm La Nucia Open in Alicante.

In his first appearance on the World Padel Tour, the Roland Garros champion from 2003 was accompanied by Borja Frances from Alicante. The team managed to impose their game and overcame their opponents in the first two rounds of the qualifying.

Yet, Ferrero’s transition of courts came to an end in the third round, when the pair lost to top-seeds Javier de Paiz and Sergio Alba. “We will probably play another event of the circuit that is near here, maybe the Valencia Masters in November,” Ferrero told about the possibility playing another event. “The level is very high and we must continue to practice and compete,” he added.

Padel is typically played in doubles on an enclosed court a third size of a tennis court. Scoring is the same as normal tennis and the balls used are similar but with less pressure. The main differences are that the court has walls and the balls can be played off them in a similar way as in the game of squash and that solid, stringless racquets are used.

The sport was invented in Acapulco by Enrique Corcuera in 1969 and is currently most popular in Hispanic American countries as well as in Spain. Most of the tournaments of the World Padel Tour take place in Spain but in 2015 the tour also travels to Portugal, Monaco, Argentina and Dubai.