Dear Padel Nation,
Practically all eyes in the U.S. padel world were focused squarely on Southern California this past month thanks to a flurry of events that took place there in August (several of which I was lucky enough to attend in person), including:
The second leg of the 2026 Pro Padel League (PPL) season, which took over the famed Barker Hangar in Los Angeles from August 13th - 16th and brought more than 50 of the world’s top pro padel players to the area for four days of team-based competition…
A “Youth Development Day” co-hosted by the Los Angeles Padel Club (LAPC) and the L.A. Beat of the PPL, which was held at LAPC on August 9th in the lead up to all the PPL festivities the following weekend…
World-renowned, U.K.-based padel coach and founder of The Padel School, Sandy Farquharson, embarking on a SoCal teaching tour with stops at multiple clubs in L.A. and San Diego (including Padel N9NE where he did his best to try to fix my forehand service return)…
RacquetX hosting one of its City Series stops at FairBanks Ranch Country Club in Rancho Santa Fe, just north of San Diego on August 18th, and…
Padel Up (which just celebrated its two-year anniversary this month) not only hosting a PPL II competition in conjunction with the PPL’s second event, but also a USA Padel 250-level tournament August 22nd - 23rd and a grassroots, community-building tournament known as The Clash of the Clubs this past weekend (highlights here).
This month, I also had the pleasure of playing at one of the U.S.’s most unique and longest-standing padel clubs, now known as The Padel Courts, on famed Sunset Boulevard in East Hollywood — which will be the subject of an upcoming feature article as I think it’s one of the most fascinating venues in U.S. today.
Beyond that, some other very notable and newsworthy things happened across the U.S. padel world this month, like:
Team USA qualifying for the 2026 World Cup — which is to be held in Doha, Qatar later this year — on both the men’s and women’s side of the ticket after two nail-bitting, winner-take-all matches at the North & Central American Qualifiers that were held just outside Toronto at the beginning of the month…
The U.S. Junior National Team delivering its best-ever result at the American Junior Circuit III in Veracruz, Mexico…
USA Padel announcing that the 2026 US Open Padel Championships will take place October 2nd - 4th at Padel Haus in Brooklyn, with a $40,000 Division 1 prize pool — which is the largest in the tournament’s history. (For a detailed primer on everything you need to know about U.S. padel tournaments and national teams, be sure to check out this recent piece from regular guest contributor, Scott Matulis).
Padel Haus further announcing that it has officially partnered with the New York Atlantics PPL franchise, and…
PPL CEO Michael Dorfman weighing in on the never-ending debate about the (mis)pronunciation of “padel” in the U.S. on CNBC 🙌 🙌…
Finally, we published a handful of feature and guest articles exploring the brands, clubs, communities, and culture driving the U.S. padel revolution, which you can check out directly below.
As always, thanks for reading — and play up!
ae
««« 12 Perfect Photos from the PPL in L.A. »»»
If you weren’t able to make it to Santa Monica to catch the action live earlier this month, this photo-essay from Ben Blair might just be the next best thing. Enjoy!
««« Is Multi-Sport the Future of U.S. Padel? »»»
With a few cracks starting to show in the great American padel dream, some new data from our preferred partners at Playbypoint highlights a bright spot for U.S. racquet clubs that offer multiple sports in addition to padel. Here’s what you should know.
««« Six U.S. Padel Clubs to Keep an Eye On »»»
While these six U.S. padel clubs may not get quite as much attention as some bigger-name outfits opening across the country, they are (somewhat quietly) set to bring a lot more padel to states including NY, SC, TN, TX, WI, and MS (yes, Mississippi!) in the (hopefully) not-too-distant future.
Who knows, maybe you’ll even find yourself playing at one of these clubs someday soon (like I have been at the one pictured above).
««« More Tales of Padel Obsession »»»
For our ongoing “How I Became Obsessed With Padel” series from regular guest author Scott Matulis, this month we highlighted two padel-obsessed people actively working to build and grow the sport here in the U.S.:
Hollye Sheperd, who is founder of the recently opened Hive Padel Club in Salt Lake City, UT, and…
Will Persson, the new Head of Communications and Community for the PPL.
These are their stories.
… and that’s a wrap — until next month at least!
If you enjoyed this article, please be sure to subscribe to Padel Nation (for free!) to get exciting updates and important insights on the rapidly emerging U.S. padel scene like this one delivered directly to your inbox 2X weekly — or share it with a padel-playing friend.
Finally, as always, a big thank you to the friends and preferred partners of Padel Nation who help make posts like this possible, including:
Interested in becoming a friend or preferred partner of Padel Nation? Drop us a line here and let’s talk!
Oh, and one other thing… my brand-new 352-page padel book was just released last month. So, if you enjoy the work I’m doing in the U.S. padel space, you can support me by ordering a copy (or two!) online at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Or if you’re a club owner and you’d want to carry a handful of copies in your pro shop for “padel curious” people who are interested in trying the sport out but don’t know quite where to start, let me know and I can connect you with my publisher’s wholesale department.
Many thanks in advance!