Opening ceremony of the first padel courts in Vorarlberg at TC Hard

On 06 May 2017, from 13.00 hrs onwards, the first two Padelcourts in Vorarlberg ceremoniously opened. The two top players Christoph Krenn, top 3 in Austria, and Mauri Andrini, the No. 1 in British paddle sports, will serve up some tidbits of this new trend sport to the interested spectators in an exhibition match followed by a meet & greet. In the evening, the well-known All Right Guys will ensure a good atmosphere.

Padel tennis is an up-and-coming, action-packed sport that is experiencing enormous growth, especially in the Spanish-speaking parts of the world. Padel tennis combines various elements from squash and tennis. It is designed as a backstroke sport played in doubles on a tennis-like court (20 metres x 10 metres), separated by a net into two halves of the court and surrounded by glass and grid walls.

It is played with a racket that has an elastic hitting surface but, in contrast to tennis, does not have to be strung. These rackets used to be made of wood and resembled a paddle, hence the name padel or paddle tennis. Nowadays, however, the rackets are made of more robust and lighter materials such as carbon or Kevlar.

The balls are very similar to a tennis ball, but have a lower pressure inside. The counting method is the best known from tennis.

There are no other padel courts within 100 kilometres of Hard. The closest court is in Zurich, followed by Munich. In Austria, you can count the number of padel courts on two hands. With the courts in Hard, however, Vorarlberg is now also on the padel map.

At the opening event on 6 May, in addition to the exhibition of the two top players, there will also be a tennis colorball tournament for children as well as a tennis Olympics tournament, where all those interested can compete in three different sports (padel, tennis, table tennis). With a bouncy castle, swinging wheel and target throwing stations, the Hard Tennis Club offers further attractions for the children.

In addition, you can win attractive prizes with a total value of more than EUR 6,000 in the Raiffeisen raffle and the TC Hard tombola.

• More info about Padel at TC Hard
• Overview of the Padel courts in Austria