Top-50 Player Questions How to Keep Competing Financially in Padel

A top-50 ranked player has publicly criticized the current point distribution system between FIP tournaments and Premier Padel, asking out loud how players at her level are supposed to sustain a professional career. The gap between what a FIP event offers in ranking points versus a Premier Padel tournament is massive, and it directly affects who can afford to keep playing full-time.

The core problem is simple: FIP tournaments pay out far fewer ranking points for similar or even greater effort and travel costs. A player finishing in the top 8 of a FIP Gold event walks away with points that barely move the needle compared to a first-round exit at a Premier Padel Major. That imbalance forces mid-tier pros into a brutal calculation every week.

This is not a new debate. The two-tier structure has been discussed since Premier Padel launched in 2022, but the frustration is clearly not going away. Players outside the top 20 or so are stuck in a loop: they need FIP points to maintain ranking, but FIP events do not pay enough in prize money to cover the circuit costs, and Premier Padel wildcards remain limited.

For context, this is the padel equivalent of a tennis player grinding ITF M25 events while ATP 250s exist but stay out of reach. The financial math does not work without sponsorship or personal backing. And unlike sports tech brands such as Garmin or Polar that can sell to millions of consumers to fund athlete sponsorships, padel's commercial ecosystem at the mid-tier level is still thin.

Not a sustainable model. The tour structure needs a clearer bridge between FIP and Premier Padel, both in points and in prize money, or the sport risks losing a generation of competitive players who simply cannot afford to stay on tour.