Padel Makes History in Taranto

The first padel competition in Mediterranean Games history came to the end in Taranto, marking another significant step in the sport’s international journey — and leaving the host nation with plenty to remember.

TARANTO, ITALY
There are tournaments that matter because of who wins them, and others that matter simply because they happened.
Padel’s week at the 2026 Mediterranean Games belongs, perhaps, to both categories.
For the first time in the history of the Games, the glass court became part of the Mediterranean sporting landscape, with 88 players representing 18 nations arriving in southern Italy for six days of competition at the Parco del Mediterraneo Salinella.
By Friday evening, the first Mediterranean medals in padel had found their owners. But the significance of Taranto went beyond the podium.
It was a week that offered another glimpse of what padel is becoming.
A FIRST TIME THAT FELT ANYTHING BUT SMALL
The Mediterranean Games may not carry the global visibility of the Olympics, but for a young international sport, inclusion in a major multisport event carries a different kind of weight.
Padel arrived in Taranto not as an exhibition or a sideshow, but as a medal discipline.
Men’s, women’s and mixed doubles were all included in the programme, bringing together established names, emerging players and national teams from across the Mediterranean.
And the response from the stands was difficult to ignore.
The courts at Salinella repeatedly filled with spectators during the week, creating an atmosphere more reminiscent of an established padel tournament than the debut of a new discipline within a multisport event.
For a sport still working to expand its institutional footprint, that may ultimately prove as important as any result.
SPAIN TAKES GOLD, ITALY LEAVES ITS MARK
Few countries are as closely associated with modern padel as Spain, and Taranto ultimately reflected that tradition.
In the women’s competition, former world number ones Patty Llaguno and Lucía Sainz claimed the historic first Mediterranean women’s title, completing an all-Spanish final against Nuria Rodríguez and Jimena Velasco.
Spain also finished on top in the men’s draw, where José Diestro and David Gala took gold after reaching the final against Italy’s Flavio Abbate and Alvaro Montiel.
Yet if Spain left Taranto with the biggest prizes, the depth of the Italian performance was one of the defining stories of the tournament.
Italy reached the podium across every part of the competition and finished with four medals — more than any other nation.
Abbate and Montiel’s silver was the culmination of an impressive men’s campaign which had already guaranteed an Italian medal before the final. The reason was simple: the other side of their semi-final was occupied by teammates Marco Cassetta and Simone Iacovino.
The all-Italian semi-final ended 7-6, 6-1 in favour of Abbate and Montiel, but Cassetta and Iacovino responded the following day by defeating Portugal’s Nuno and Miguel Deus to take bronze.
Two Italian pairs among the final four of the men’s competition was, in itself, a revealing snapshot of how far the country has progressed.
ORSI AND MARCHETTI FIND THEIR WAY BACK TO THE PODIUM
There was another Italian medal in the women’s draw.
Carolina Orsi and Giorgia Marchetti had seen their hopes of reaching the final ended by Llaguno and Sainz, who won their semi-final 6-3, 6-4.
Their tournament, however, was not finished.
Facing Portugal’s Sofia Araújo and Ana Catarina Nogueira for bronze, the Italians came through a demanding three-set contest, 7-5, 2-6, 6-4.
It was the kind of match medal competitions often produce: momentum shifting from one side of the net to the other and very little separating the pairs when the decisive moments arrived.
For Orsi and Marchetti, the bronze also added another chapter to their history together in national colours, three years after their gold medal at the European Games in Kraków.
THE ARAÚJO FAMILY MAKES HISTORY
Perhaps the most distinctive story of the final day, however, belonged to Portugal.
Sofia and Pedro Araújo, sister and brother, became the first mixed doubles padel champions in Mediterranean Games history.
Across the net stood Italy’s Giulia Dal Pozzo and Marco Cassetta, who pushed the Portuguese pair through three sets in one of the most compelling finals of the day.
After the Araújos took the opening set 6-2, Dal Pozzo and Cassetta changed the rhythm of the match and responded 6-3 in the second.
For a moment, the momentum appeared to have moved towards the Italians.
They led 3-2 in the deciding set and had an opportunity to extend that advantage before Portugal turned the match around. Sofia and Pedro Araújo eventually closed the third set 6-3, sealing a historic gold for Portugal.
For Italy it meant silver, but also a fourth medal from the inaugural padel programme.
And Marco Cassetta left Taranto with the unusual distinction of standing on the podium twice — bronze in the men’s competition alongside Iacovino and silver in mixed doubles alongside Dal Pozzo.
MORE THAN A MEDAL TABLE
It would be easy to reduce the week in Taranto to Spain’s gold medals, Portugal’s mixed triumph and Italy’s collection of podium finishes.
But something larger happened around them.
Padel was being tested in a different environment.
National jerseys replaced the familiar partnerships of the professional circuit. Players competed not simply for ranking points or prize money, but for medals and countries. Spectators who had arrived for a multisport event found themselves filling the stands around a padel court.
That distinction matters.
Professional padel has expanded at remarkable speed in recent seasons, from Europe and the Middle East to South America and beyond. But becoming a truly international sport requires more than a successful professional tour.
It requires federations. National programmes. Youth development. International representation. And, crucially, a presence inside the wider sporting ecosystem.
Taranto provided precisely that.
ITALY'S QUIET STATEMENT
For the host nation, there was no gold medal in padel.
There was, however, something perhaps more revealing about the current state of Italian padel.
Four medals across the three competitions. Two men’s pairs in the semi-finals. A finalist in both the men’s and mixed events. A women’s bronze. And Italian players repeatedly competing deep into the decisive stages of the tournament.
It was not a single breakthrough result.
It was depth.
Spain remains the reference point of European padel and once again demonstrated why in Taranto. Portugal showed its quality, particularly through the Araújo family. France reached the mixed podium, while several other nations showed that the competitive map of the sport is becoming broader.
But Italy’s week suggested that another serious padel nation is consolidating its place among them.
Perhaps appropriately, it happened at home.
TARANTO MAY ONLY BE THE BEGINNING
When the final ball was played at the Parco del Mediterraneo Salinella, the medals told one story.
The packed stands told another.
Padel came to Taranto as a newcomer to the Mediterranean Games and left having looked entirely comfortable on the programme.
That does not make Olympic inclusion inevitable. The road towards the Games remains complex, and the sport still has institutional ground to cover.
But every successful appearance on an international multisport stage strengthens the argument.
For six days in southern Italy, players from 18 nations competed under their flags, spectators filled the stands and medals were awarded for the first time.
Years from now, if padel continues its march towards the biggest sporting stages in the world, Taranto 2026 may be remembered as more than another tournament.
It may be remembered as one of the places where padel showed that it was ready to belong.