Padel power: players and investors flock to tennis’s upstart rival

Ryan Redondo comes from a tennis family — his aunt Marita made the third round at Wimbledon in 1978 and he competed for the US national team. But since playing padel for the first time in 2020, he has switched focus to bringing the racket sport to California.

Redondo is chief executive of Taktika Padel, a company owned by a group of US and Mexican investors, which has 11 padel courts on the West Coast but is aiming to reach 200 in a year’s time. He is betting the game will grow rapidly in the US as more traditional tennis clubs broaden their offering. 

“I think you’re going to see this wave,” he said. “Padel can be really, really popular — the barrier to entry is low but the ceiling to master the game is very high, just like tennis.” 

Investors all over the world see the same opportunity, as they rush to build courts and open clubs to cash in on the surging popularity of padel as a fun recreational pursuit. At the professional level, the Qatari state and the New York Yankees baseball empire are among those vying for influence in the world’s fastest-growing racket sport.

Padel, which is played in doubles in an enclosed court, is easy to pick up, requires little specialist equipment and is well suited to small groups of friends. Proponents see it as perfectly suited to city-dwellers aged 25-45 seeking new forms of exercise after the pandemic, especially since it can be played in settings such as disused industrial or retail spaces.

“It’s unique,” said Calleb Karegyesa, a Kenyan businessman who built east Africa’s first padel court at the Jaffery Sports Club in Nairobi. “It’s fun, and more engaging and social than tennis — easier for people of all ages to pick up.”

The number of courts worldwide is expected to more than double to 84,000 by 2026, according to a report by consultants Deloitte and Playtomic, a sports booking app, as investors back developments in Europe, the Middle East and North America.

Alan Flatt, a former Wall Street investment banker, forecasts a padel boom in the US, where the Pro Padel League incorporating Mexican and Canadian teams has just finished its first season. 

“We see what’s in the pipeline. A year from now you’ll have a much better sense of court utilisation rates, and what people are willing to pay,” said Flatt, who is chief executive of EEP Capital, a California-based venture capital firm dedicated to the sport. “Then you’ll start to see the exponential growth everyone talks about.”

Bullish projections from the US Padel Association suggest the number of courts in America could soar to 30,000 by the end of the decade, from just 180 last year. Pickleball, a similar racket sport, is also growing fast in the US.

Padel originated in 1969 in Acapulco, when Mexican businessman Enrique Corcuera tried to build a tennis court in the garden of his holiday home, but did not have enough space. His smaller enclosed court, divided by a net, would become the basis of today’s game. 

Participation surged in southern Spanish cities such as Marbella and Seville after an entrepreneur brought the game to the region. Padel is now the second most popular participation sport in Spain after football. 

The International Padel Federation claims there are now more than 25mn active players across more than 90 countries. The Lawn Tennis Association, which governs racket sports in the UK, estimates that around 90,000 people play padel in the country, compared with 915,000 tennis players. 

The game has attracted a number of high-profile advocates, including former Wimbledon champions Serena Williams and Andy Murray and Formula One drivers Carlos Sainz Junior and Charles Leclerc. Retired football star Zlatan Ibrahimović has invested in padel centres in Milan and Sweden.

Deloitte estimates that the global padel industry is worth around €2bn a year, including apparel and equipment, and expects the market to treble in size in the next three years. The biggest slice is the €1.4bn market for club operators and court builders as growth rapidly picks up outside the established hubs of Spain, Argentina and Sweden. 

Sebastian Gordon, a Swedish entrepreneur, wants to turn the UK into the next nation of padel enthusiasts. His company, Rocket Padel, opened a 14-court venue in an old industrial building in Bristol this year, and has another five clubs in the works, mostly in London. He hopes to have around 40 courts in a year’s time. 

“We’re trying to get as much land as possible. What’s holding us back is the availability of facilities,” said Gordon.

He is a veteran of Sweden’s Covid-era padel boom that saw the number of courts soar from 560 in 2019 to over 4,000 at its peak last year, exceeding demand. Now clubs are closing in the Nordic country. “We learnt a lot. We’re going to avoid those mistakes.”

At the Jaffery club, Maureen Ndesandjo is encouraging participation from locals. “There’s still a lot of the expatriate community playing. But Kenyans are starting to learn about it,” the coach said. “The ones who have tried are definitely sticking to it.”

In the Gulf, the number of courts has increased from 20 in 2016 to 1,850 last year, with United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar leading the surge. Some padel executives are optimistic that Riyadh’s push into sport will drive another wave of interest and investment.

At the professional level, a battle has been playing out since the launch last year of Premier Padel, a new tour run by Qatar Sports Investment, the state-backed vehicle that owns Paris Saint-Germain football club. It is challenging the oldest circuit, the Madrid-based World Padel Tour which formed in 2012 and is owned by Spanish beermakers Damm.

A third tour, A1 Padel, recently attracted investment from the New York Yankees’ parent company. 

Earlier this year, Premier Padel and the WPT began talks over a possible merger, echoing golf’s recent peace deal between Saudi Arabia-backed LIV and the PGA Tour.

Continued growth in amateur participation is expected to fuel interest in the elite-level contests. Premier Padel said its Italian Open in Rome in July attracted 25,000 paid fans over nine days, bringing in gate receipts of €1.2mn, a 44 per cent increase on last year. 

One key question is whether padel can become an Olympic sport, perhaps in time for the 2032 Brisbane games. Padel was on the schedule at the European Games in June, boosting optimism about its prospects. 

“Padel is on its way to becoming a global sport,” said Ben Nichols, founder of Padel 22, a communications consultancy. “But the true catalyst for it to reach its full potential rests on its ability to secure Olympic status.”

Additional reporting by Andres Schipani in Nairobi, Maxine Kelly in London and Carmen Muela in Madrid