Fun Summer Sport: Why Padel Could Give Pickleball A Run For Its Money

Racket sports like pickleball and tennis are exploding in popularity with millennials, showing up in fashion and sports trends. There’s also another racket sports that’s threatening to become the most popular: padel. If you are looking for a new sport to try this summer, we are breaking down the sport that is poised to become the newest sports phenomenon.

For the uninitiated, padel can be understood as a blend of squash and tennis that is played indoors or outdoors on turf, according to The New York Times. The padel racket is smaller than a tennis racket and has holes instead of strings, and the ball is a bit smaller than a tennis ball. The sport originated in Mexico in the 1960s and has grown in global popularity over the past few years.

Padel is played in doubles and is similar to squash in that the walls along the back and sides of the court are in play, allowing players to do ricochet shots.

While pickleball and padel are both racket sports, the differences between the two sports lie in the dimensions of the courts, scoring, playing rules and equipment, according to Forbes.

Padel is played on a slightly smaller tennis court while a pickleball court is small enough that multiple pickleball courts can fit within a padel court.

Pickleball is well known for the “kitchen,” which is a zone closest to the net where players cannot stand within while hitting the ball. This zone doesn’t exist in padel, which is played and scored similar to tennis, using the 15-30-40-game scoring method.

While padel is having a moment, the International Padel Federation has run the Padel World Championships every other year since the 1990s. The sport also has a professional organization, Premier Padel, that hosts master-level tournaments.

In the United States, padel is becoming increasingly popular in Florida, Texas, California and New York, according to the United States Padel Association.

Padel is being referred to as the “new golf,” in reference to how business deals that used to be conducted on the golf course are now being done on the padel court at places like the members-only Reserve club in Miami.

The increase in padel popularity has resulted in luxury brands such as Prada and Versace creating limited-edition padel products. Brands such as Richard Mille and Dunhill have also started sponsoring exclusive padel tournaments.

Earlier this year, Valentino took over a padel court in Dubai, signaling how luxury brands are embracing the sport and creating exclusive opportunities to play.

Padel appears to be on the brink of exploding into mainstream sports with investments from sports stars Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal, as well as with the support of celebrity players like actress Eva Longoria, who told CNN she’s “addicted” to the sport.

The International Padel Federation has ranked the top women players in the world, with stars from Argentina, Portugal and Spain leading the ranks. The US Padel Association has also released its official rankings for women players in the country, which includes Maria Magraner, Anna Cortlies and Laura Grooms, all of whom have made big moves in their skillsets in the past year.