Padel

englishpremier

englishpremier

englishpremier

Soldato
Joined
15 Feb 2003
Posts
10,175
Location
Europe
Fastest growing sport in the world, and have over taken tennis as the second largest sport in Spain (4m plus active players). Seems to have high growth in Sweden, France, Belgium too.

The Lawn Tennis Association are trying to promote it in the UK. I'm curious if there are any padel players in here. Quite a few towns in around the UK have courts already.

Will be interesting to see how it develops in the UK given sport is poorly funded and a padel court whilst more efficient use of space than a tennis court, is going to cost £30-50k
 
Last edited:
*googles*

Looks interesting. I can't see it taking off as big as lawn tennis though. Probably will/is more popular than real tennis though as there is around 50 courts in use today.
 
I'm not sure why it should. Most courts are outdoors. It's cold, wet or windy a large portion of the time, and there's been very little done to promote it.

Tennis is the 5th most popular sport, and squash is also a popular racket sport. IMO as someone who has played well over 100 padel matches across 3 different countries. While it can be fun. It's inferior to tennis in a sporting sense.

What padel needs is more of a push, but in the UK it's run by the LTA who are obviously going to prioritise tennis. In Spain I use Playtomic, so can just look and see what courts are around, create a match and wait for others to join. There isn't that system in the UK, so you need know people to play against, or have a club run a WhatsApp list or similar.

I'll add to this, the tennis club I play at when back in the UK is considering ripping up its grass courts and replacing them with padel. No-one plays on the grass, and they are a pain to maintain. That being said Leylah Fernandez did train there in the run up to Wimbledon and the various grass tournaments in the UK.
 
Last edited:
A pop-up court just opened near me and they use Playtomic to setup matches and classes, I'll give them a try

Padel is an all action hybrid of tennis and squash. It’s as much to do with skill and craft as it is social. For all ages.

Padel is an all action hybrid of tennis and squash. It’s as much to do with skill and craft as it is social - it’s a chance to get together with friends, compete, train or just get a good workout together. It’s a great sport for players of all ages and skills, as it is both quick and easy to...
www.sportyscholars.com www.sportyscholars.com
 
Nice. Playtomic does exist in the UK and other countries, it's just that many clubs haven't really sign up for it and so the players aren't using it either.

It's similar in Italy, which is one of larger padel countries. Most people are just playing by contacting the club and saying they are looking for matches.
 
A 5 a side place near us ripped out their pitches in favour of padel courts and seem to be doing really well off that decision.
More and more friends are talking about it. I might have to give it a go and see what all the hype is about.
 
To be fair, if there are outdoor padel courts right next to their windows, not only is the hitting of ball noisy (more so than tennis, but less than pickle ball), there's also the players shouting.

In Spain, other than the apartment complexes that built with their own padel and tennis courts, almost all private courts are in industrial estates, off busy roads, or on rooftops.

On thing that I found interesting in the article is that Wolverhampton Lawn Tennis has approval for 3 courts, pending a noise survey once completed. So they have to spend £100,000 on courts, then only when the courts are complete do they know if they can actually use them.

They ought to set up a mobile court, have an open day and test the noise levels.
 
Last edited:
Seems to be getting more popular in my area too, a local sports club leased out an area to a company installing the courts and received a very generous payment for a small amount of space. Pickleball also seems to be picking up, i prefer the style of padel though.
 
Padel is awesome. I have a friend who coaches racket sports and he explains Padel is a much more accessible sport for most people than tennis.

Put it this way: I played it for the first time as a reasonable squash player and a useless tennis player and had fun rallies with three generations of my family whilst on holiday last year (grandparents in 70s, kids understand 10...). This would not have been possible with lawn tennis.

It is brilliant, but - just like lawn tennis in this country - is a fair weather sport!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom