Padel - The Sport with the Fun Factor

Padel is a type of racquet sport that impresses with its simplicity, sociability and extremely high fun factor.

Anyone can play padel - whether you’re small, tall, young or old - padel brings everyone together for sporting fun. The stroke technique is simple to explain and easy to learn. It's no wonder that padel is the second-most popular sport in Spain after football. In addition to being ideal for beginners, padel offers variety and fun for experienced players due to its varied game elements.

The Origin of Padel

Padel is a sport that originated in Mexico. There, in Acapulco in 1969, the first padel court was built on the property of Don Enrique Corcuera quite by accident. Due to a lack of space, a court was built smaller than intended. Thus, the new court size was transformed, and the existing walls were included in the ball exchange during rallies. This new way of playing tennis quickly delighted friends and acquaintances of Don Enrique Corcuera.

Within a few years, the Spanish Prince Alfonso von Hohenlohe had two padel courts built in Marbella.

Padel soon established itself as an extremely popular sport in Spain, and its popularity grew in Central and South American countries. In the past five years, padel has gained popularity beyond Spain and into Europe. It’s currently the fastest growing racquet sport in the world. 

Now, it's time to ignite enthusiasm for padel and establish it as a sport in Germany and Austria.

What is Padel?

Padel is played with a short, unstrung racquet on a padel court with a field area of 20x10m. This is divided into two halves of play by a net, similar to tennis, and is surrounded by a wall, which is included in the game, like squash. The easy entry into the sport of padel is mainly due to the carbon fibre racquets, which facilitate learning the hitting technique quickly.

Padel is a team sport with four players, divided into teams of two on each side of the net.

How do you actually play padel?

The difference between tennis, squash and padel

Unlike a tennis racquet, a padel racquet is unstrung and much shorter. The face of the racquet is made of carbon fibre and has holes on the hitting surface to reduce air resistance and drag. The balls resemble tennis balls but have slightly less pressure, creating a slowdown in play compared to other racquet sports.
A padel court is 20x10m in size, divided into two court halves by a net, as in tennis, and is surrounded by a wall that is incorporated into the game, similar to squash.
The objective of the game is to pass the ball over the net to the other side of the court until the opposing team can no longer receive the ball - thus winning your team a point. Points are counted in sets, just like in tennis. A set consists of six games, each of which is scored as one would do in tennis with points progressing as 15-30-40-game wins. The first player to win two sets is the winner of the match. The ball has to be served diagonally to the opposite side of the court within the lines and, in contrast to tennis, it is served below the hip. Each server has two attempts and must stand with both feet behind the white line. During the game, the ball must bounce once in the opponent's court during each rally before it may be hit or returned to the opponent's wall. However, it is allowed to play the ball against the duo’s own wall after it bounces and is then only returned to the opponent.

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