Padel
What is Padel?
Padel is a modern racket sport and is played by over 20 million people. It was invented in Mexico by Enrique Corcuera in 1969 who, using his backyard, created a tennis based sport with walls at the end of the court. That is how Padel was born.
The sport was then brought to Spain in the 1970’s and started gaining popularity being promoted by former Wimbledon champion Manolo Santana. In South America it boomed, especially in Argentina
Padel is now a recognised sport played by millions of people worldwide. Padel is also getting closer to obtaining a place as an Olympic sport.
Padel is very similar to other racket sports such as Real Tennis and platform tennis. Its success is due to how easy the rules are, how easy it is to learn and to start playing and how rewarding the sport is from a very early stage of playing.
How do you score?
The scoring is the same as in tennis: games, sets and matches which is why people tend to call it Padel Tennis.
In terms of playing, the rules are as follows:
Underarm serve. Ball should be hit below a player’s hip.
The ball has to bounce once before hitting a wall or the fence.
It is considered out if the ball hits the fence or the wall before bouncing on the ground.
Players must serve behind the serving box line.
When serving, the ball needs to bounce in the service box on the other side of the net. It is considered out if the ball bounces and touches the fence when serving.
Padel can be played as a singles game, however, the most usual way of playing Padel is as a game of doubles.
The Court
A Padel court is smaller than a tennis court. It is a 20m wide by 10m long and 4m high court surrounded by walls. The walls were originally made of concrete, which you can still find in Spain, however, tempered glass was introduced and replaced many concrete walls. Glass walls allow more game visibility.
Along with the glass there is a fence made of steel or aluminum. The fence is an element introduced to provide a challenge to players. The ball is returned randomly when hits the fence which therefore makes it more difficult to hit.
Padel is an amazing sport for children either as an introduction to other racket sports or as a sport of its own. It is the fastest growing sport of the last decade!
You can benefit from playing Padel because:
The court is a closed area which makes it a safe environment to play in.
Padel promotes team work when it is played as a doubles game.
Padel is much easier than any other racket sports and it is an ideal platform to start learning rackets sports.
Padel is normally player outdoors - and we all know how much better we feel when we have been outside!
Padel is challenging and based on skills rather than strength. It encourages the player to think about the next shot rather than use strength to win. Strategy rules!
Padel is very inclusive. Boys and girls and young and old can play together having the same amount of chances to score as the sport is not entirely based on how hard the player hits the ball.
Based in London or visiting? Take a look at Padel-London www.padel-london.co.uk
Thank you to the team at Padel London for the information and videos in this article.
