Dubai: As the chairman of the newly founded UAE Padel Tennis Association, Shaikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Bin Juma Al Maktoum has been tasked with spreading the popularity of this new sport.
The official feels a start has been made, with the competition at last week’s Nad Al Sheba (NAS) 2014 Sports Tournament attracting some of the best players from across the world. The NAS Sports Complex is being seen as the hub for all things padel tennis, with its state-of-the-art courts — four indoor and one outdoor.
First on the to-do list for the new association is making inroads into UAE schools and then working with a young group of players so that the UAE national team can be competitive at international level in the next few years.
Shaikh Saeed, an active tennis player in his heyday, spelt out his plans in an interview with Gulf News.
GULF NEWS: A new sport, a new beginning — how has the start been for padel tennis in the UAE?
SHAIKH SAEED: Since we started off with padel tennis last year, it has been a learning process for all of us involved. Perhaps it does help to have people such as Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, and Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE and Minister of Presidential Affairs, playing padel tennis. I am convinced that their presence will excite a lot of youngsters into taking up this sport. From what I have seen, people have been enthusiastic about padel tennis and most of the players involved at this moment are former tennis players. But I am sure there will be others who will join in.
You’ve successfully hosted some of the best padel tennis players at the NAS Sports Tournament for two years now. How do you think their presence can help?
These players are our ambassadors. Not only do they play a crucial role in educating us and our youngsters, but they also help spread the name of Dubai across the globe.
What would be the ideal thing to do to ensure padel tennis makes progress in the UAE?
Firstly, we need more courts all over the country and, secondly, we need young players. Both these factors are essential for the growth of the sport. First we will need to get the players and this will be done by visiting schools all over the country. We also intend to get the physical education teachers involved so that they can do the talent searches and start preparing the young players before sending them to us. Once we have the youngsters playing, then the demand for new courts will automatically increase as we have such strong patrons backing us.
What sort of challenges do you see before you?
I think one of the biggest challenges for me would be to make a serious and genuine start for padel tennis by attending to the grassroots level. Have a proper structure in place first, get the teachers involved and then wait patiently to see how the sport blooms.
As a former tennis player, how would you compare padel tennis with tennis?
Simply put, padel tennis is a mix between tennis and squash. I think I have seen the best of both. Both tennis and padel tennis are equally good. But now with this responsibility of leading the new association, I put my weight behind padel tennis with the hope that one day in the near future this will be a very serious sport in the UAE, just like it is in Argentina or in Spain.
What will be the plan to help develop padel tennis?
Through the organisation of the NAS tournaments we have got some good exposure here due to the live coverage on television. But we need to do more. We need to organise proper padel tennis tournaments and spread them out all over the UAE. Once we get a set of tournaments, we can have a proper schedule for the entire year and from there on we can only wait and watch the sport to grow.
What sort of aspirations do you have for padel tennis internationally?
I would love to see padel tennis follow tennis as an Olympic sport one day. And, with the way the sport is growing, things can only get better.
