Nalle Grinda interview: Padel X co-founder on the next stage of US padel’s development

Located in the heart of downtown Miami, Padel X is looking to play a key role in driving increasing investment in padel throughout South Florida and across the US. Having hosted two of the largest padel tournaments in US history and now Property+Padel, Padel X is at the forefront of the sport’s explosion. The firm’s co-founder and chief of padel Nalle Grinda speaks with Padel Business Magazine about how Padel X became a go-to destination within Miami’s crowded padel landscape, hosting Property+Padel, and engaging with the local community to grow the sport.

Even though Padel X is approaching the anniversary of just its first year, co-founder Nalle Grinda is no rookie to building a padel business.

The French native opened the first padel club in his hometown of Nice in 2004, and then in Miami in 2017 set up Padel M, a company specialising in padel court sales and rentals.

Grinda has been a pioneering presence in Miami since moving to the city in 2010, helping to construct the first padel court in nearby Hialeah with a friend inside a warehouse.

Since those humble beginnings, Miami has become the padel capital of the US, and Grinda has helped Padel X rise to prominence quickly through meticulous planning and attention to detail.

Creating the ultimate padel experience

The planning process of Padel X, which has ten outdoor courts, began two years before its opening. Grinda and fellow co-founder Juan Pablo Leria focused on all the small details that could ensure the best possible padel play.

“The idea around the concept of Padel X is really to have the best padel experience,” says Grinda. “It sounds kind of obvious, but it's not necessarily the case.”

He underlines the importance of prioritising the essentials that can make or break guests' playing experience, and not just the amenities, exclusivity, and amazing scenery as other clubs may do.

For example, to construct its courts Padel X worked with MejorSet, which has been the official supplier of courts for the International Padel Federation (FIP) since 2021 and constructed the courts used for Premier Padel’s Miami debut this week at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

As its synthetic turf supplier, Padel X uses Mondo, whose Premier Supercourt X3 is the official turf for the FIP and Premier Padel.

Even the lights were selected with much intentionality. Each court has 12 LED lights that direct light in many different directions, helpful for night matches. They are the same lights as used at the esteemed Roland-Garros French Open in tennis.

In his native French, Grinda describes Padel X as creating a “Je ne sais quoi” for anyone who comes to play.

“Basically, that makes you feel super comfortable playing at Padel X”, he says. “And that's really what we wanted to put our focus on. We have a very central clubhouse that makes every single court part of the experience.”

Hosting big tournaments

Since opening in April 2024, Padel X has burst onto the scene by hosting various tournaments to attract players of all skill levels. An example of this is Padel X’s weekly women's-only tournament. It caters to the robust representation of women in padel, estimated at 40% globally, according to the FIP’s 2024 World Padel Report.

Padel X has hosted at least two major United States Padel Association (USPA) Circuit events. Last May, it hosted the RedPadel 2024 tournament, which was the largest padel tournament in US history at the time. It featured 60 teams, two divisions, and a prize pool of $5,000.

Later in the year, Padel X surpassed the turnout of that tournament by almost double with the Novac Padel X Open. Between 8 and 10 November, 110 teams and 220 players played at Padel X with $10,000 in total prize money at stake.

The event drew 13 sponsors and became the largest padel tournament in US history at the time, at least until the first Premier Padel tournament to be played in the US concludes this week, just down the road from Padel X.

Competing in club tournaments to increase awareness

In addition to hosting, Padel X regularly engages with other padel facilities through club tournaments. It plans to participate in X-Clubs 2025, presented by the National Padel League (NPL) and RacquetX.

The NPL provides clubs like Padel X with a chance to compete with other clubs, network, and build their club community during RacquetX, which is held at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

Padel X took advantage of one such opportunity in January when it won the inaugural America’s Cup held in Sarasota. Held at The Pad as part of the Padel Club League (PCL), Grinda says participating in tournaments like America’s Cup helps increase the club's visibility.

“We will be forever the first one. And so it meant a lot to us. We took it seriously. We thought it was super exciting, and it got us all together.”

Hosting Property+Padel and its impact on real estate and padel

Grinda believes Padel X will encourage even greater collaboration between real estate and padel clubs by hosting Property+Padel. The event was held there this week, on 20 March.

Founded by padel industry professionals Ben Nichols and Rohit Grewal, the London-based event series brings together top minds in the real estate sector and padel industry. During the event, speakers and attendees explore investment opportunities through networking and working together.

The event first hit the US in January at Padel United Sports Club in Cresskill, New Jersey, where Grinda was a featured speaker. His experience at this event inspired him to propose that Padel X host the next iteration in Miami during America’s Racquet Week.

“I was really impressed and amazed by the quality of the organisation and also the quality of the speakers and the attendance”, says Grinda. “They had 70 different developers there, or people attending coming from both the worlds of padel and real estate.”

Once he heard of interest in having a second event on US soil, Grinda jumped at the idea of Padel X hosting.

“They were mentioning they wanted to do a second event in Florida. With the proximity of the Premier Padel tournament coming into Florida, I said, ‘Well, listen guys, you know, you guys can come to Padel X, and we can do something there that's gonna be very nice and inclusive of anyone who's interested in both sectors.”’

As someone who has been involved in the real estate industry since before his move to Miami, Grinda understands how crucial a partnership between real estate professionals and padel club owners can be.

“The key to development in the United States in particular is really dependent on real estate,” he says. “So we have to put out the good word that padel is a great way to optimise the real estate investment.”

Miami presents a potentially lucrative market for real estate investors. According to the 2024 Q4 Southeast Florida Commercial Real Estate Market Report from the Miami Realtors association, Miami-Dade County experienced a 24% increase in commercial real estate sales.

Grinda believes Miami can usher in more padel investment nationwide, leading the way as it has with more courts and sponsors.

Training the next generation of padel players

In addition to special events and tournaments, Padel X actively engages the local community to increase padel’s presence in the area. The club engages with all the local schools surrounding it, says Grinda, and it makes a concerted effort to work with kids a lot.

Padel X hosts detection events to spot up-and-coming talent among young players. A recent detection event drew 50 kids to the club.

Donating their courts for the day, Grinda explains, gives him and other coaches a chance to work closely with the kids so that they are excited about the sport. Like many in the industry, Grinda believes padel will be featured in the Olympics within the next decade and wants to help prepare the US to field a strong team.

“The US needs to build the generation of tomorrow, the US national team of tomorrow, and we wanna have our part in this”, says Grinda.

“We've selected a few kids, and we're gonna start training them on our dime. Hopefully, out of those, we will find the rising stars of the US national team in the next few years.”

Expansion plans and the future of padel in the US

Beyond training the next generation of US padel professionals, Grinda says Padel X will look to expand to more locations, primarily in the Miami area. Boca Raton and West Palm Beach are the next potential locations for Padel X’s expansion.

Grinda says America’s Racquet Week will help drive exponential growth through more exposure and bigger opportunities for padel enthusiasts.

“That's really a stepping stone, I believe, to the amazing growth of padel in the US. It's gonna shed the light, it's gonna bring a lot of new sponsors that sponsor this sport in other countries, but not yet in the US.”

He concludes: “The sky's the limit, honestly. And we have so many great events going on.”

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