Earlier this week, North America’s first and only professional padel league, the Pro Padel League (PPL), held its second-ever player draft and in the process managed to attract another 20 top players from around the world, including several former world no. 1 players.
In total 14 players were drafted from Spain, three from Argentina, two from the U.S., and one from the U.K., with the remaining players from coming from Portugal, Bolivia, and Italy.
PPL Commissioner Marcos del Pilar commented, “The 2024 PPL Draft was another important milestone in the history of the league and we are excited to welcome the next generation of talent to the PPL. Not only did the teams select some of the top padel players in the world including champions and former world no. 1 ranked players, but they secured the next generation of global padel champions to compete in the 2024 season.”
With over 300 padel players from 20 countries around the world entered in the 2024 PPL Draft, this year’s first draft pick in the expansion round was Claudia Fernandez Sanchez (FIP 21, WPT 20, Spain) selected by the Houston Volts.
Following this, the Flowrida Goats selected Victor Ruiz Remedios (FIP 18, Spain) for the second pick in the expansion round and the New York Atlantics drafted Andrea Ustero Prieto (WPT 38, Spain).
Other notable draft highlights included:
- Women’s world no. 8 Sofia Araujo (a member of the winning Hexagon Cup team) was the highest ranked player drafted overall, and was selected by the San Diego Stingrays in the first round.
- Great Britain’s Louie Harris, named the LTA no. 1 male player in December 2023, was also selected by the San Diego Stingrays.
- The Las Vegas Smash (2023 PPL Champions) drafted 27-year-old Argentinean Gonzalo Alfonso and 24-year-old Spaniard Ignacio Vilarino who is ranked 59th in the world.
- 2023 PPL Finalists, the Cancun Waves, drafted padel veteran Carolina Navarro who is ranked 30th in the world and one of padel’s most successful women’s players having spent nine years as the world no. 1 ranked female with over 100 international titles to her name.
- One of the newest franchises to the PPL, the Houston Volts selected a trio of young Spaniards including Claudia Fernandez Sanchez who is ranked 24th in the world. She is joined by 20-year-old Francisco Guerrero ranked 53rd in the men’s standings and 22-year-old Marta Caparros who is ranked 35th in the world.
- Victor Ruiz, the highest ranked male drafted to the PPL and currently ranked no. 16,, was selected by the Flowrida Goats.
- Drafting the youngest player to the PPL this season was the New York Atlantics who selected Spain’s Andrea Ustero (16-years-old) already ranked top 40 in the world. Their second pick was Argentinean Ramiro Moyana Toledo who is ranked 24th.
- The Los Angeles Beat drafted Spain’s Jon Sanz who is nearing a world top 20 ranking and is joined by Italy’s no. 1 female player, 22-year-old Carolina Orsi, who is currently ranked 27th in the world.
- The Miami Padel Club selected Spain’s Jose Jimenez (ranked just outside the men’s top 100) and fellow Spaniard, Lucia Martinez Gomez, who is the women’s world no. 21.
- The Arkansas Matrix drafted Spanish duo Araceli Martinez ranked 45th in women’s standings and 23-year-old Inigo Jofre who is top 100 in the men’s rankings.
- The final 2024 PPL draft pick went to the Toronto Polar Bears who selected Daniela Ruiz and previously played in the 2023 PPL season in addition to being a member of Team USA at the 2022 World Championships. The Canadian team’s first round pick of the draft was Spain’s 17-year-old Noemi Aguilar who is ranked 66th in the world.
The PPL proudly notes it is the only professional sports league to showcase the best male and female athletes, and for the 2024 season, over 80% of the newly signed PPL players are ranked top 50 in the world.
The 2024 PPL season will also be highlighted by an expanded schedule, a new team competition format, more than double the hours of viewer content, and many of the world’s top padel players competing for the PPL Cup and $1 million in total prize money.
