The first Major of the season is being played in Qatar, bringing padel into a new era. And Qatar is one of the countries in the Middle East, and thus on the Asian continent, where padel has developed the most. In the Doha city area, where the world’s best players are on court these days, there are about 80% of the 150 courts and 40 clubs where padel is played in Qatar. Since 2021, the Qatar Tennis Federation (11 clubs and 80 courts) has been affiliated with the International Padel Federation and is also contributing to the growth of the sport by organising some international tournaments: in 2023 there were five, all in Doha. From the Ooredoo Qatar Major Premier Padel, running this year until Friday 8, to four stages of the CUPRA FIP Tour: one FIP Star, two FIP Rise and one FIP Promotion.
According FIP Research & Data Analysis Department, there were more than 1,350 players with national professional licences and tens of thousands of amateur players in 2023. There were 71 Qatari players with FIP rankings and, if the points of all male athletes are added up for each nation, Qatar is the eighth highest scoring country in the world (the first in Asia) thanks also to eight players in the world’s top 300. These include Mohammed Saadon Alkuwari, number 160 and winner of the FIP Promotion Qatar last January paired with Spaniard Javier Navarro, Abdulla Alhijji (179) and Jabor Al-Mutawa (211).