Conversations with smart people: Ben Nichols

Welcome to the latest in a series of conversations with smart people who I think provide great perspective on issues in sports.

Before getting into padel, Ben Nichols led global media relations for WADA during the Russian doping crisis. For the past three years, Nichols has worked to increase the prominence of the sport of padel around the world. With 35 million people playing the sport worldwide and making inroads into the United States, especially in Miami, the sport continues to grow. Nichols co-founded the Anglo American Padel Cup which debuted in London to the U.K.’s largest ever padel audience, of over nine million.

We chatted about what padel is and how he got attached to the sport, growing its interest in the United States, the influence of Formula 1 drivers being obsessed with padel, the value of participation sports and where padel could be in the future
worldwide.