Padel (sport)

"Padel tennis" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Paddle tennis.
Padel
Highest governing body International Padel Federation
Nicknames Paddle (US, Canada)
First played 1969, Acapulco
Characteristics
Team members Doubles
Type Outdoor
Venue Padel court
Presence
Olympic No
Paralympic No

Padel is a racquet sport. In the US and Canada the sport is known as Paddle.

In the US, it is played as a winter sport in country clubs, with heated courts. This is a way for tennis players and golfers to have an outdoor sport to play when it's cold in northern states. Some high schools in affluent areas are starting to form teams as the sport's popularity increases.

Padel area at ISPO 2014

History

Padel is typically played in doubles on an enclosed court a third the size of a tennis court. Scoring is the same as normal tennis and the balls used are similar but with a little less pressure, the main differences are that the court has walls and the balls can be played off them in a similar way as in the game of squash and that solid, stringless racquets are used. The height of the ball being served must be at or below the waist level. The sport was invented in Acapulco, Mexico, by Enrique Corcuera in 1969. It is currently most popular in Hispanic American countries such as Argentina and Mexico as well as in Spain, although it is now beginning to spread rapidly across Europe and other continents.

Padel Pro Tour (PPT) was the professional Padel Circuit which was created in 2005 as a result of the agreement between a group of organizers of matches of Padel and Association of Professional Players of Pádel (AJPP) and the Spanish Feminine Association of Pádel (AFEP). Nowadays, the most important padel circuit is World Padel Tour (WPT), which started in Spain though it has already reached international expansion. In 2014 WPT has traveled to Portugal, Argentina and Dubai.

The sport's popularity along the Costa del Sol in southern Spain has exposed it to a large number of British visitors, leading to an increased popularity of the sport in the UK and a launch of the UK Padel Federation in 2011.

The US Paddle Association was founded in Chattanooga, TN 1993 and opened two courts in the Chattanooga area. The American Paddle Association was formed in 1995 and built its first courts at a private club in Houston, TX for exhibition games. The first public courts opened in Miami, FL in 2009, and several clubs have opened nearby, as well as in Los Angeles, since then.

In 2014, The Swiss Club in Singapore (http://www.swissclub.org.sg/) opened the first Padel court in Singapore.

Facts

Paddle (stringless racquet) with balls

See also

External links

Most important padel circuit:

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