Tennis stars urge council not to turn facility into padel courts

Tennis stars including British number one Jack Draper have urged Glasgow City council not to turn indoor courts for the sport into padel courts.

Glasgow Life, who run the council's sport operations, intend to convert two of eight indoor courts at Scotstoun Leisure Centre into facilities for padel - the racquet sport that is rapidly growing in popularity.

However the plans have been criticised by Tennis Scotland, the governing body of both sports. It says any move would harm development of young players.

Draper and Scotland's British number three Jacob Fearnley are among the signatories to a letter sent from Tennis Scotland to the local authority.

In the letter - seen by BBC Scotland News - Tennis Scotland's chief executive Blane Dodds says existing and future tour-level events could disappear from the calendar if plans proceed.

Mr Dodds claims Tennis Scotland and their partners are willing to provide an interest-free loan for the creation of a four-court padel facility at Scotstoun, so that the eight-court indoor tennis arena can remain in situ.

The letter states: "There is a need for more additional community-accessible indoor tennis courts in Glasgow, not fewer... The national strategy is to increase the number of indoor tennis courts.

"Removing indoors courts is counter [to] this national strategy."

Scotstoun hosts two ATP Challenger Tour and ITF World Tennis Tour events each year, usually in February and October.

Mr Dodds said those events would no longer be able to take place in Glasgow if the padel plan went ahead, as the full eight courts are always needed for both matches and practice.

A number of other competitions that require the full amount of current courts to be used would also be at risk, as less courts would "significantly compromise the tournament's efficiency and quality".

He estimated this would cost around £60,000 to the city, via money lost through direct court rental, secondary site spending and overnight accommodation.

Padel and tennis 'not compatible'

Among those to have played at Scotstoun is world number seven Draper, who competed there as a young player.

He is one of the names on a second letter to Glasgow Life, from players and sports clubs with connections to Scotstoun.

The letter states: "Young players depend on purpose-built, high-quality tennis venues like Scotstoun which offer the perfect environment for them to develop their games.

"We have the greatest respect for padel, however we agree with our governing bodies Tennis Scotland and the LTA that the two sports are not compatible in a shared space where player development programmes are considered key."

Among other signees are Fearnley, who played his first professional event at Scotstoun and has gone on to represent Great Britain in the Davis Cup, Wimbledon doubles quarter-finalist Maia Lumsden and Sir Andy Murray's former coach Jonny O' Mara.

Padel has surged in popularity in recent years, and is believed to have more than 30 million players worldwide.

Created in 1969 by wealthy couple Viviana and Enrique Corcuera, the sport uses the same scoring conventions as lawn tennis but is played on courts around a third smaller.

The game is mainly played in the doubles format, with players using solid racquets with no strings.

However despite the similarities Tennis Scotland say the two sports would not be compatible to share facilities, and that "no evidence has been presented to show that a shared environment between tennis and padel is conducive to playing either sport".

Instead it proposes providing an interest-free loan to fund a four-court, covered padel facility on the grounds of Scotstoun.

The governing body says it is confident any loan would be repaid within three years.

Glasgow Life have been contacted for comment.

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