As Wimbledon’s manicured(修剪整齐的) lawns take a break(休息一下) after last month’s tennis championships, London is playing host to a tournament for a newer racket sport. Padel, a hybrid(混合物，杂交体) of tennis and squash, has backers who hope to take it into the big league(进入顶级行列). The London leg of Premier Padel, the Qatar-funded professional circuit, on August 4th-9th is one of 26 elite tournaments in the calendar and the first to be held in Britain.(伦敦站是Premier Padel巡回赛的一站，是26项精英赛事之一，也是首次在英国举办。) Padelistas(板式网球选手) from 15 countries (the leading players are Spanish and Argentine) are competing for a share of the €479,000 ($550,000) prize pot(奖金池).
在上个月的网球锦标赛结束后，温布尔登修剪整齐的草坪稍作休息，伦敦正在举办一项新兴球拍运动的锦标赛。板式网球是网球和壁球的混合体，其支持者希望将它带入顶级联赛。由卡塔尔资助的职业巡回赛Premier Padel的伦敦站于8月4日至9日举行，是该赛历中26项精英赛事之一，也是首次在英国举办。来自15个国家的板式网球选手（顶尖选手来自西班牙和阿根廷）将争夺47.9万欧元（合55万美元）的奖金池。
“It’s the right moment for a tournament in London,” says Luigi Carraro, the president of the International Padel Federation (FIP). Padel is one of the fastest-growing sports in Britain. About 1m people have played it at least once in the past year, according to the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), which governs(管理，管辖) padel in Britain—up from(从……上升) 15,000 in 2019. The sight of brightly coloured padel courts encased(包围，包裹) in glass is increasingly familiar: in 2020 Britain had 87 of them; now it has over 2,000.
“现在是在伦敦举办锦标赛的合适时机，”国际板式网球联合会（FIP）主席路易吉·卡拉罗表示。板式网球是英国发展最快的运动之一。根据英国草地网球协会（LTA）的数据，过去一年约有100万人至少打过一次板式网球，而2019年这一数字为1.5万。色彩鲜艳、玻璃围合的板式网球场地越来越常见：2020年英国有87个，现在已超过2000个。
Britain’s boom(繁荣，激增) is part of a global one: padel has 35m players in 150 countries, according to the FIP. After starting in Mexico in 1969, the sport took off(突然成功，起飞) in Spain and Argentina before spreading across(传播到) Europe and South America. Mr Carraro wants it to become an Olympic sport(奥运会项目), possibly for the 2032 games in Brisbane.
英国的繁荣是全球繁荣的一部分：根据FIP的数据，板式网球在150个国家拥有3500万玩家。这项运动1969年始于墨西哥，在西班牙和阿根廷起飞，随后传播到欧洲和南美洲。卡拉罗先生希望它成为奥运会项目，可能是在2032年布里斯班奥运会上。