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The main stadium will be set up in the Placa Nova of the Parque da Cidade, ‘in a relaxed atmosphere, between nature and the sea’, to host the professional doubles matches of the Mimosa Open Porto paddle tournament. The event takes place from 18 to 22 September and is free to enter.
This year's edition is expected to surpass the 2023 edition on several levels, starting with the number of participants. ‘Last year, the Mimosa Open welcomed around 650 athletes; this year, given the number of open registrations, we're going to double that, and we'll certainly reach 1,200 athletes,’ guarantees Alexandre Sande, founding partner of Top Padel, the event's organiser. ‘We expect to have 608 pairs competing,’ he says.
‘The top 10 Portuguese professional players have already been confirmed, and there will also be good international players from the top 30 to the top 20,’ he says.
One of the special features of the Mimosa Open is that it ‘brings together professional and amateur players in the same tournament’. The Portuguese and foreign athletes will therefore be divided into the categories of Men's 1,2,3,4 and 5, Women's 1,2,3,4 and 5, and Mixed 1,2,3, 4 and 5. In addition to the 1,000-seat seafront stadium, which hosts the professional competitions, the Top Padel Industrial, Top Padel Fluvial, Top Padel Quinta do Fojo and Top Padel Maia clubs will host the remaining matches.
© Guilherme Costa Oliveira
© Guilherme Costa Oliveira
FPP 20,000 tournament: Doubling the prize money
For this year's edition ‘the challenge is going to be greater’, says Alexandre, adding that ‘a new category has been introduced into the competition’. ‘We've gone from 10,000 points to 20,000 points.’ Therefore, the expectation of an increase in the number of entrants is reflected in the increase in prize money, which has doubled since the 2023 edition. ‘Last year the amount was 13,333 euros and this year we've increased it to 26,666 euros, which represents a greater attraction for the competition,’ he says. This prize money will be divided equally between the Men's I and Women's I categories.
Entries for the Mimosa Open 2024 are open until 10 September on the website of the Portuguese Padel Federation.
The Mimosa Open wants to ‘attract not only lovers of the sport, but also many curious people’ and that's why this second edition brings more novelties. ‘There will be a village, a place where people can eat and drink inside the venue’, in the Placa Nova of the City Park, “as well as an area dedicated to children, so that families can come to this event and enjoy all the games”.
‘Bringing paddle tennis to the streets’
Alexandre Sande also recalls that the Mimosa Open Porto is taking place ‘precisely ten years after’ the first paddle tennis court was set up in Praça de D. João I, ‘an iconic square’ in the city, marking ‘the beginning of the journey to bring paddle tennis to the streets’, and attesting to the momentum that this sport has gained in recent years in the city of Porto.
The sport is booming in Porto
‘We started with the first club, Top Padel Fluvial, with three padel courts and an individual court; at that time, there were 50 players and we were in constant daily contact to ‘close games’, but the community grew, doubled, tripled, quadrupled... In Porto there are now more than 20,000 players,’ says Alexandre, pointing to the Covid-19 pandemic as one of the reasons. ‘There was an exponential increase in players post-Covid because padel was one of the first sports to be possible to play, because it was outdoors and guaranteed minimum distance from the partner, which led to more padel courts being opened and the community [of players] growing.
© Guilherme Costa Oliveira
Asked if padel rivals tennis, Alexandre assures us that it doesn't. ‘They are different sports, they have different intensities,’ he says with a laugh. ‘I'm passionate about padel and I'm passionate about tennis; each has its place because the sport itself has very little to do with tennis; although it's played with a ball similar to a tennis ball, the game is completely different. And in paddle tennis it's always two against two,’ he concludes.
The second edition of the Mimosa Open Porto is an initiative of Top Padel, in partnership with the Porto City Council, the Portuguese Padel Federation and Mimosa.
by Gina Macedo
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