The tournament is hosting 56 men’s pairs and 48 women’s pairs vying for padel honours at Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex.
Doha’s Ooredoo Qatar Major, the inaugural event of the four high-profile tournaments, has kicked off on Sunday at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex, promising an exciting edition as 56 men’s pairs and 48 women’s pairs compete for victory in the Gulf State.
Fans will witness first-round matches that will wrap up on Friday, March 8, for the final.
Fan favourites Spaniard’s teammates Ale Galan and Juan Lebron, the top seeds, will star in the tournament alongside Spanish-Argentinian duo Mario Ortega and Ignacio Piotto.
During the fall of last year, several sources reported that Galan and Lebron were expected to separate, but the teammates confirmed that they would continue to compete this year.
In last year’s Ooredoo Qatar Major, which was the first tournament of the 2023 Premier Padel season, Franco Stupaczuk and Martin Di Nenno beat Fernando Belasteguín and Sanyo Gutierrez in two sets (6-2, 7-6) to win the title.
Stupaczuk and his partner return to the court this year alongside 10th-seeded Miguel Yanguas and Javier Garrido of Spain, seventh seed Alejandro Ruiz Granados and Juan Tello.
Competing on the women’s side, Ari Sanchez and Paula Josemaria lead the pack as the number 1 seeds, while Delfi Brea and Bea Gonzalez hold the second seed.
Last year, Premier Padel announced the 2024 calendar, revealing 25 tournaments spanning 18 countries on five continents that will take place throughout the year.
The season commenced on February 26, with the Riyadh P1, as part of Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Season, and was followed by the Qatar Major.
Several cities will follow after the Gulf State hosting, with tournaments swinging in Mexico and Venezuela before the matches reach Brussels and Andalusia in April and May.
The season resumes in Europe and the Middle East – including unexplored Premier Padel locations Rotterdam, Dusseldorf, Sweden, Dubai, and Kuwait City, with further tournaments planned for new sites before the Milan P1 closes the central part of the season, as it has done for the past two years.
Premier Padel is the official professional padel tour governed by the International Padel Federation (FIP) and backed by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI).
Last year in August, QSI acquired the World Padel Tour (WPT) from its organizers, Damm, in a bid to unify the world’s professional tour under one entity.
A deal, which took several months, was applauded as a “historic moment for the sport of padel” by Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the chairman of QSI and Premier Padel.
“This is a historic moment for the sport of padel. As the fastest-growing sport globally, QSI is proud to be at the heart of driving the development of padel professionally worldwide, always placing the players at the centre of our mission to grow the sport everywhere”, Al-Khelaifi stated.
QSI, charted by Al-Khelaifi, the owner of France’s Paris Saint Germain, launched Premier Padel in 2022.