Four Londoners are trying to break a Guinness World record next week and encourage people back into the City at the same time.
They are taking part in a bid to break the existing record for the longest continuous game of padel tennis – a form of the sport first invented in Mexico just over 50 years ago - that currently stands at 30 hours and 30 minutes.
Hotelier Tony Matharu, one of the four players trying to stay on court for 36 hours, said he hoped Londoners would come down to five star City hotel 100 Minories where the game will be played to cheer them on.
The padel court was built as part a wider attempt to broaden the appeal of the City as a leisure destination through Mr Matharu’s work as founder and chairman of business group Central London Alliance and he said it had worked bringing in people from outside the capital at different times of the day to use the facility.
Workshops designed for local businesses will be taking place alongside the record attempt, and other activities, which starts on Monday and goes on into Tuesday.
Mr Matharu said: “I think you can say footfall is coming back and the Square Mile is coming back but not in the same capacity as is needed or we would desire and it is not back at 2019 levels.”
He said “the promotion of health and wellbeing” would be central to the reinvention of the city and he hoped the record attempt highlighted that.
The foursome, who all work in and around the city, will be judged and filmed during play to see if their marathon attempt is successful.
Mr Matharu said: “You can’t even change ends as you might do in a conventional game as they don’t want you dawdling and ambling between sets.
“Padel is the fastest-growing sport in the world and I know why. Once you play you’re hooked. It takes 10 minutes to learn and you can be good at it relatively quickly and it’s captured the imagination.”
