Padel is extremely popular in Europe at the moment. But what is padel exactly, where does it come from and what's the difference between padel and tennis? We'll explain everything in this blog post.

The history of padel

Padel was invented in 1969 in Acapulco (Mexico) by Enrique Corcuera. He wanted a tennis court, but he didn't have enough space in his backyard. So, he went for a little tennis court with walls around it to stop vegetation.

The Spaniard Alfonso de Hohenlohe, a friend of Enrique Corcuera, went to Mexico and found out about this 'little tennis court with walls around it'. He loved it so much that he implemented it back in Spain around 1974.

What is padel?

Now that we know where padel originated, let's dive a little deeper into what the sport is about.
Padel is a racket sport that is played on a court of 10 meters in width and 20 meters in length.
The height of the court (if indoors) should be at least 6 meters.
The height of the net has to be 88 cm in the middle and 92 cm at the sides.

The back wall of the court has to be 3 meters high with 1 extra meter cage. The first 2 meters of the sidewalls are the same as the back wall, followed by a 2-meter-high wall with 2 m cage. The rest of the walls are a 'cage'.

Difference with tennis

But what are the differences between tennis and padel?

On the one hand, the way points are counted is the same as in tennis. You can find out how the scoring system works here. Apart from that, there are many differences.

First of all, the equipment is different. The racket that is used in padel is made of solid material, there are no strings used in a padel racket. The balls used in padel are similar, but they have a slightly lower pressure than tennis balls.

The court is also very different from a tennis court. The walls can be used to play the ball, but only if the ball touches the court first. If a ball is played directly against the wall, the ball is out. Only when the ball touched the court first, you can use the walls to play the ball to the other side of the court.

Why is padel so popular?

Padel is very popular because it is much easier to learn than tennis. Tennis is a very technical sport and it can take several months or even years of training untill you can play it on a decent level. With padel however, you can start enjoying the sport after only a few times on the padel court.

We're not saying that padel or tennis is easier, but padel is much more accessible for people that have never played a racket sport before.

How to dress for padel?

Essentially there is no required dress code for padel, but in general a lot of people play padel in regular sport outfits or in tennis clothes.

So, if you are looking for a nice padel outfit check out our shop here. We also have a dedicated padel collection, check it out here.