Padel

Padel is a very easy game to learn, a lot of fun and extremely sociable. The youngest player to have graced our courts was 5 years old and the oldest to date was 82. Padel is genuinely a game for everyone.

Rallies last much longer than every other racket sport and many of the shots and techniques are unique to Padel, due to the solid rackets and interaction with the walls.

Loved by famous sporting figures and played across the globe, Padel is the world’s fastest-growing sport and was formerly adopted by the LTA in 2020.

THE GAME

Padel is predominantly a doubles game, played by four people, on a court enclosed by glass walls and mesh panels (3 metres tall down the sides and 4 metres tall at the ends). Much like a Tennis court, there's a net across the middle, but a Padel court is about a third the size of a Tennis court. 

Padel can be played in groups of mixed ages and abilities, because unlike other racket sports, play is not power dominant. The rules are broadly the same as Tennis, although you serve underhand and the walls are used as part of the game - with the ball allowed to bounce off them.

The other key differences are the rackets and balls. The rackets (also referred to as 'bats' and 'paddles') don't have any strings, consisting of a traditional frame filled with a dense foam - perforated with large holes to minimise air resistance. Padel balls are very similar to Tennis balls, but are slightly smaller and slower - containing lower air pressure, which makes them less bouncy.

ORIGINS

Invented in Acapulco (Mexico) by Enrique Corcuera in the 1960s, Padel was exported to the Costa Del Sol (Spain) in the early 1970s, where the first purpose-built courts were erected at the Marbella Club. It quickly blossomed and became popular in Hispanic countries, particularly Spain and Argentina, also flourishing on the Algarve in Portugal.

Padel is now played by over 10 million people worldwide, in 36 countries and there are now over 90 courts in the UK; triple the number in 2018.