USPA president Bill Ullman reveals plans for Anglo-American Padel Cup

A long-standing competitive rivalry between the US and UK has existed for decades in golf and tennis but not yet in padel. 

With both countries in similar development stages, the inaugural Anglo-American Padel Cup aims to capture the prestige of events like the Ryder Cup in golf and Davis Cup in tennis to help grow the sport in both countries. 

The first edition of the Anglo-American Padel Cup will be held over two days on 10-11 October at Rocket Padel’s newest location in Beckton, East London. The event will feature three age groups – 40-plus, 50-plus, and 60-plus – in addition to an open division. 

In an interview with Padel Business Magazine, Bill Ullman, president of the United States Padel Association (USPA), said it was important to establish the event and leverage the links between the two countries for the benefit of padel. 

“There was nothing in padel that brought together the more historical relationship that America has with the UK”, he said. 

“It kind of fits into this long history of US versus UK and sports… but we'll put a more modern twist on it.” 

As the US and UK grow their padel play to further compete internationally, Ullman said the event will showcase each country's progress in developing the sport. 

“I'm hopeful that the matches are outstanding and competitive”, he said.

“There'll be plenty of players, some fans around, tournament organisers, good positive energy. People will be watching the matches, hopefully having a beer and really enjoying the padel whether watching or playing.” 

Ullman is expecting full participation from both sides, 16 men and 16 women to total 64 players among all divisions. If the event is successful, future editions could feature expanded divisions and larger prizes. 

Although it won’t be sanctioned by the International Padel Federation (FIP) or Padel America, to qualify, US participants will need to be members of the USPA and have previous ranked tournament experience. 

Ullman credits the explosion of membership in the USPA and increase in sponsors for helping make this type of event possible, with hopes of producing similar events in the future. 

“We've seen our membership go from around 300 at the end of 2022 to today, up around nine-fold. The last I heard we’re over 2,500 people”, he revealed. 

He added: “Another big thing we've done is put the USPA on a much more solid financial footing. We have a lot of sponsors now, providing the USPA with capital resources that we need to help continue to invest and grow the sport.”

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