The Baden Tennis Association held its first official padel tournament last Sunday. The tournament, which is part of the Cupra German Padel Tour and was in category 100, took place at the TPC Grötzingen facility – and the weather gods were not on its side. While the first matches in the morning were still dry, heavy rain set in in the afternoon, making the matches increasingly difficult. Ultimately, only one competition could be completed.
The duos Melissa Gracic/Stefano Federico and Stefanie/Marcel Strücker made it to the final of the mixed competition. The first set was extremely exciting, but Gracic and Federico clearly dominated the second set and secured a well-deserved victory with 7:5 and 6:2.
In the men’s competition, the weather continued to deteriorate, making conditions more difficult from round to round. The first semi-final between Florian Parker/Adrian Kolb and Dimitry Zakharyanov/Philipp Lücke was played to the end despite the rain getting heavier. But after that, it was no longer possible to continue. “Playing the second semi-final would have made no sense,” explained tournament director Pascal Bender. “It was too slippery and the balls were no longer bouncing properly. That’s why we unfortunately had to abandon the men’s competition.”
Despite the adverse weather conditions and the fact that there was no women’s competition, the organizers drew a positive conclusion. “Padel is booming, and that was also evident at our event,” continued Pascal Bender. “Even though the weather spoiled our plans today, we are not discouraged and will continue to hold more padel tournaments in the future.”
