Alborán Social Club

Pickleball courts in the foreground and padel courts behind glass, both in use

Issue Three

The Alborán · 7th September 2026 · ISSN 3153-7235

Issue Three runs from a Govan padel club to a taberna in Antón Martín, by way of the sport's new anti-doping rules and a wood-fired sauna above the Avon.

From the EditorThe Same Number TwiceTwo open matches at the same club in Govan, booked seven weeks apart at the same level. They were not the same game, and they were not close.

The TerraceThe Standing RoomTwo rooms in Antón Martín, five minutes apart: a tiled taberna that has poured since 1908, where the city drinks on its feet, and the market kitchen the locals steer you to when they want you to eat well. The CourtA Pool of EightPadel joined the World Anti-Doping Code in July. The international testing pool is being built at eight athletes, and the figure came from the sport's own testing agency. The Court · companionThe questions we asked, and what came backSix factual questions put to the International Testing Agency, and its answers in full, unedited. The Court · companionShowing the WorkingA note on how these pieces are being put together, what has been established so far, and what has not.

The CourtPeople Make PadelRacket Barn had been open five months when I got there. What it has built in that time is not a membership. It is a way in. The ArchiveThe walled-court lineagePadel is the youngest of the games played off a wall. Run the line back through squash, through rackets, through real tennis and the cloister, and the wall was there eight centuries before padel found it.

The BodyThe InfusionA wood-fired sauna on a trailer above the Avon, a cold river below it, and ten minutes of heat and scent that a sceptic did not expect to enjoy. The Sessions · Episode ThreeLondon P1Recorded courtside at the Premier Padel P1 in London: the tournament as it happened, the crowd, the British game, and where the women's draw and the men's pull apart.

The B Sides · Track Two · Alex RobinsonUK Padel Has a Ratings ProblemAlex's monthly editorial. Ratings decide who you play with, which competitions you enter and whether an open match is worth the money. So what happens when nobody trusts the number?