David Beckham plays it. Cristiano Ronaldo plays it. Lionel Messi loves it. Neymar has courts installed in his home. Kaka plays it. In fact, it would be hard to find a footballer in 2024 who isn’t a fanatic of this tennis-cum-squash craze. The whole world is playing it. Well, that is the whole world bar Americans who obsess over a different kind of tennis offshoot called Pickleball. But whilst Pickleball engrosses the Americans, there is a different game that has taken over the rest of the world and its footballers: Padel.
So what is Padel?
The sport is believed to have originated in Acapulco, Mexico, around 1969, credited to Enrique Corcuera. It is said that Corcuera didn’t have enough space to build a tennis court, so instead built a court with walls around it. Originally, the playing area featured concrete walls and surfaces, with no provision for spectators. As time progressed, these were replaced with glass walls and artificial turf.
Played in pairs, the game is similar to tennis and also similar to squash. Simply put, it has the walls of squash and the rules of tennis, with a couple of extra intricacies. One can use the glass walls to make shots, serves are made underarm and the racket used is heavier than a typical tennis racket.
In COVID-19 times, the sport was deemed to be ‘non-contact’ in outdoor courts, and the popularity of the sport exponentially grew. Underutilised tennis courts and small-sided football pitches were quickly converted to padel courts as investors jumped on the hype, realising that almost three padel courts could fit in the space of one traditional tennis court.
Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the President of PSG and Chairman of Qatar Sports Investment (QSI) spotted the potential and bought the rights to run the professional circuit of Padel, describing the decision as “historic”.
I encountered John Terry competing in a Padel tournament in Portugal in 2017, but the retired Chelsea legend was slightly ahead of the curve. Padel has always been popular amongst the Spanish, Argentine, and Portuguese players, but only in recent years has it expanded across the world. It is generally considered to be a low-impact sport compared to football, which can be beneficial for footballers looking to reduce the risk of injury or seeking alternative forms of exercise during recovery periods. Sadly for Barcelona’s players, they’ve had to temporarily retire their rackets as the club has banned the stars from engaging in any sporting activities outside of their Ciutat Esportiva.
It’s also a social game whilst also being a competitive one and it’s no surprise that the amount of courts in the UK has doubled since 2022. Part of the reason for the expansion of padel courts worldwide is that footballers are utilising their hobby to make business investments. Diogo Dalot, Manchester United right-back, launched the Padel Athletic Club (PAC), a brand new club for padel aficionados in his home city of Porto. Linking up with Paquito Navarro, a champion Padel player, the centre boasts 14 high-quality indoor courts, including two premium courts with features similar to those used in professional competitions.
Dalot isn’t the only one. Virgil van Dijk has invested in Game4Padel, a UK-based company that funds, designs, builds, and promotes the sport across the country. Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Jamie Vardy followed suit. Notts County’s owners, Alexander and Christoffer Reedtz, are also fans of Padel and smelling opportunity, they used the spare land next to Meadow Lane Stadium, previously unoccupied, to build four all-weather padel courts. Robert Lewandowski has invested in a tournament called the Hexagon Cup. Even Cristiano Ronaldo has jumped on the gravy train and partnered with the Portuguese Padel Federation who have announced that the “Cidade do Padel” (Padel City) will be built in Lisbon in a joint collaboration between CR7 and a Portuguese investment firm.
This is why Cristiano Ronaldo is the greatest padel tennis player of all time. 😍pic.twitter.com/7bJBEfOcg8
— The CR7 Timeline. (@TimelineCR7) June 3, 2023
Other players, and clubs, have invested in courts for their own personal use. Neymar installed a court in his home in Brazil. Jurgen Klopp had a court installed at Liverpool’s training ground. Several courts were established at the Spanish National Team’s training base. Messi is said to have fallen in love with the sport whilst at Barcelona and lucky for him, Miami’s Hispanic community is one of the only US locations where the game is booming. If the GOAT needs a partner, he needn’t look far as Inter Miami owner David Beckham is also known to be a big fan of the sport.
Retired players are taking up Padel in droves. It’s even building bridges between ex-rivals. Real Madrid’s ex-goalkeeper Iker Casillas and Atletico’s former right-back Juanfran faced off in a Padel tournament. In 2022, during the World Cup, a ‘legends’ tournament was held in Lusail, Qatar where Ronaldo (R9), Kaka, Francesco Totti, Diego Forlan, and Gabriel Batistuta were just some of the ex-players making an appearance.
Becoming a manager, coach, or pundit used to be the classic pipeline for a retired footballer. Who knows, now it could be a full-time Padel player! What is for sure is that the game will continue to grow, and football will continue to be a huge part of it.
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By Nicky Helfgott / @NickyH3lfgott on Twitter
