From the Ferrari to the racket. The company from Torino has designed a high-tech playing court, embracing a sport that has now become a blazing success and a fast-rising business
Pininfarina Architecture Iconic Padel Court
Pininfarina plays padel too. Not in the sense that its President Paolo, son of the late senator-for-life Sergio and now president of Pininfarina spa, plays (actually, we’re not sure of that). But because the company from Turin, which has designed many now iconic cars – from the Ferrari Testarossa and F40 to the Lancia Montecarlo – has just decided to use its know-how, ranging from automobile to product design and architecture, for sports design. Thereby breaking fully into the chain of the Padel Economy. The studio has just designed its first padel court: the Iconic Padel Court, characterised by a customisable interface and modular functions, and an original high-tech design, which includes the possibility of reviewing actions and movements to obtain data that can be used to improve its performance. Material for the most meticulous of players.
The court can be installed anywhere: it can be anchored directly to the ground or be self-supporting. And it can be finished in fiberglass, stratified tempered glass recessed into the ground, eco-leather protections, as well as integrated Led lighitng, displays and video-cameras. Naturally making it possible to play in any weather, counting on an air-conditioning and heating system and antifog technology for the perimeter glass.
Pininfarina Architecture Iconic Padel Court
Pininfarina Architecture Iconic Padel Court
That a brand as important as Pininfarina Architecture takes an interest in padel (or paddle ball) is the ultimate consecration for a sport that just a few years ago seemed a passing peculiarity, at best the poorer relative of tennis. And which is becoming remarkably successful, and increasingly eroding the position of futsal as a sport not only for professionals but for everyone. Padel courts are now spreading rapidly across big cities, first and foremost in Rome. And unlike futsal, it is very popular among women.
And because marketing exists for a reason, the current boom must not be immune from the fact that this discipline has conquered countless VIPs. First, current and former football players, and not second-rate players, if anyone had any doubts about the value of padel as a sport: they include the coach of the Italian national team Roberto Mancini, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Gianluca Zambrotta, Demetrio Albertini and Francesco Totti who had a padel court installed in his own yard (which may soon be abandoned, because it appears that his ex-wife Ilary Blasi doesn’t care for padel). But they are not alone. And in fact in late 2021, the National Artists’ Padel Team included, for example, the correspondent for Striscia la Notizia Jimmy Ghione, the former Miss Italy Manila Nazzaro, the singer Max Gazzè. But there are few doubts that it is a boom.
A report from the Observatory on the Italian Sports System by Banca Ifis which came out last January tells us that there are now 6 thousand courts in Italy, and an 800% increase in economic value in the past three years. Almost a million players who bought 880,000 rackets last year. It is no coincidence that on January 1st this year the Italian Tennis Federation (Fit) has changed its name to the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation (Fitp).
On the cover: Pininfarina Architecture Iconic Padel Court
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