Padel: The Fastest-Growing Sport in the World Is Coming to America

If you have not heard of padel yet, you will soon. The racquet sport — a hybrid of tennis and squash played in an enclosed glass court roughly one-third the size of a tennis court — has exploded from a niche European pastime into the fastest-growing sport on the planet, with an estimated 30 million players worldwide and new courts opening at a pace that has no precedent in modern sports.

What Is Padel

Padel is played in doubles on a court enclosed by glass walls and metallic fencing. The ball can be played off the walls, similar to squash, but the court is open above the walls and the scoring system follows tennis. The racquets are solid — no strings — and the sport is played with depressurized tennis balls that bounce lower and slower. The result is a game that is easier to learn than tennis, more social than most racquet sports (it is always doubles), and intensely addictive once you start playing.

The Growth Numbers

Spain has more than 7 million padel players — making it the country's second most popular sport after football. In Sweden, padel courts have multiplied from a handful in 2015 to more than 4,000. The United Kingdom, Italy, France, and the Middle East have all seen explosive growth. Now the wave is reaching the United States, where new padel facilities are opening in cities including Miami, New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Austin.

Why It Works

Padel's appeal is partly physical and partly social. The smaller court means less running than tennis. The solid racquet means less technique is required to start enjoying rallies. The doubles format means you always play with friends. And the glass walls keep the ball in play longer, producing longer rallies and more entertaining points than the serve-dominated game that tennis has become at the professional level.

The Business of Padel

Investors have taken notice. Major sports and entertainment companies are backing padel facility construction. The Premier Padel tour, sanctioned by the International Padel Federation, is building a professional circuit modeled on tennis's ATP and WTA tours. Celebrity endorsements from athletes including David Beckham and Rafael Nadal have raised the sport's profile. The question is no longer whether padel will establish itself in the American sports landscape — it is how quickly.