 "Padel: The ‘new' old sport and its ever-changing landscape")
‘Everything changes and nothing remains still; and you cannot step twice into the same stream’ or ‘Change is the only constant’. Greek philosopher Heraclitus is credited for this adage that sums up all our lives in an extremely poignant manner. And if you look closely, you will see that it applies to the world of sport as well.
Could anyone have imagined that breakdancing would be classified as a sport someday and that it would be included in the Olympic programme? But that has now become a reality, with the sport making its debut at Paris 2024.
While most age-old sports stand their ground in terms of popularity, there has been a deluge of ‘new’ and unique sports that have captured the imagination of people across the world. From Earthing to 360ball, from Supa Punt to Blo ball, from Racketlon to Pickleball.
One sport that is standing tall on that list is Padel (also spelt as ‘paddle’ in some parts of the world). The easiest way to describe this sport is to call it a hybrid version of lawn tennis and squash. As of 2022, Padel was the second most popular participation sport in Spain behind only football. It holds the number one spot (by this criteria) in Argentina. According to some reports, French President Emmanuel Macron announced plans to finance the construction of about 500 Padel courts ahead of the Summer Olympics, this time.
To say that padel is growing internationally at a tremendous pace would actually be an understatement.
What is Padel?
So, what essentially is padel? The following bullet points summarize the sport.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts- It is a sport that is played on a court that looks a lot like a tennis court but is significantly smaller.
- It is only played in the doubles format
- The scoring system is exactly the same as in lawn tennis
- The court is enclosed on all sides by toughened glass with metal fencing on top
- There is a net in the middle, just like in tennis and there are also marked service boxes
- It is played with special racquets and balls meant for this sport alone
- The ball can be retrieved after it bounces off the glass or the metal fencing
- The aim (like in tennis) is to make the opponent miss their shot or commit an error to win a point
Also Read | India joins global Pickleball, Padel boom as sports surpass tennis' growth
Equipment
Racquets:
There are three major racquets of different shapes that are used – round, diamond and teardrop. The kind of racquet that a player chooses to use depends on her or his playing style.
- Control racquets are generally round.
- All power racquets are diamond-shaped.
- Teardrop is the hybrid version.
- On the round racquets the sweet spot is very big.
- The diamond-shaped ones might have a smaller sweet spot.
- Generally, power racquets are head-heavy so that they can get that last punch.
Top companies that manufacture both tennis and padel racquets: Head, Wilson, Adidas
Top companies that manufacture only padel racquets: Bullpadel, Nox.
Balls:
Though padel can technically be played with tennis balls also, most serious players choose to play with specialised padel balls. Padel balls essentially have less pressure than tennis balls, so they bounce less.
Ideal weight: Between 56 and 59.5 grams.
Ideal bounce: Between 135 and 147 cm.
Ideal pressure: Between 4.6 kg and 5.2 kg per 2.54 cm².
There was a time when padel equipment wasn’t available in India. Some of the players who took up this sport early had to order their equipment from Dubai.
The birth of Padel
To call Padel a new sport would be factually inaccurate. The origins of this sport can be traced back to 1969. A wealthy Mexican businessman living in Acapulco, Enrique Corcuera and his wife Viviana, who was Miss Argentina 1964 and an incredibly passionate tennis player, hit upon the idea of building a special court so that Viviana could continue to play in a new house they built in Las Brisas. Building a traditional tennis court was not feasible there due to its geographical placement (most houses there were built on a steep slope). The final product, which was a brainchild of their architect, had walls and wire fencing around the miniature court, which was propped up by stilts. The couple came up with new rules for this concocted sport including allowing balls that hit the wall or the fencing to be retrieved. They used tennis balls and wooden racquets to slow the balls down.
In 1973, Prince Alfonso Hohenlohe visited Enrique and Viviana and he was shown their creation. He enjoyed playing this new sport so much that he noted down the dimensions of the court before leaving, with the intention of creating a replica at the Marbella Club Hotel. The first ‘public’ court was built by the prince in the spring of 1974 at the club. Today, Spain has more Padel courts than any other country. According to some reports, the approximate number stands at more than 14,000.
Did you know that the Rafael Nadal academy has padel facilities too?
Such is the popularity of padel in Spain that the Rafael Nadal Academy, which is predominantly known for its tennis coaching also offers extensive padel training. The academy in Mallorca has six outdoor and six indoor padel courts. The academy also offers weekly padel fitness and fitness camps. Some time ago a major announcement in the world of padel was the Rafa Nadal Academy padel tour, sponsored by the Swiss-French company, the Adecco Group – the world’s second-largest human resources provider. According to the academy website, the initiative is a ’new amateur paddle tennis circuit that aims to combine competition, leisure, fun and values.’
According to a BBC report, there are about 30 million padel players across the world and global superstars like David Beckham and Serena Williams are fans of the sport.
Padel in India
35-year-old Ganesh is a software engineer in Bengaluru and has been playing padel for the last six years. Three months after he started playing the sport, he asked his brother Mahesh to partner him. The two are now prominent players in the Bengaluru and India padel circuits. What sets them apart from most other padel players in India is that they did not have previous experience of racquet sports. They are pure padel players.
“I started this as a fitness regime. I was going for a walk in Sadashivanagar (in Bengaluru) and there they had put up a new padel court. At that time, it just looked like a glass cage – they were installing things and I was curious to know what that is. A week later I saw a few players playing there and it looked interesting. So, I went and tried my hand at it. Then I participated in ranking tournaments and gradually moved up the ladder,” Ganesh told me as we chatted about all things padel.
Though Ganesh and Mahesh are ‘pure’ padel players, since this is a sport that combines tennis and squash, most people who are taking up padel have been playing racquet sports for a while.
“Any new player who is coming in would have at least played tennis – that is the most common thing that I have seen, so tennis players are transitioning into padel. I haven’t seen any player who has started off with padel (first sport). We have the Indian Padel Federation and they have been conducting ranking tournaments for the last 5 years or so. There when you win tournaments you accrue points and get a rank. There are around 30-40 active players in Bengaluru and around 20 regular players in the city. We have a very strong Padel community here,” Ganesh further said.
Along with Bengaluru, Mumbai has emerged as a padel hotspot in India. Some other cities that have jumped onto the padel bandwagon in the country are Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Raipur. But these are all urban pockets. Like one padel player told me – ‘till the sport manages to penetrate the tier II and III cities, the sport will never have the kind of talent that some of our other sports see.’
While padel tries to find a steady footing in the country, what the existing set-up is doing is giving opportunities to players who have played or are still playing other racquet sports to hone some of their skills – a kind of side job, if you will. And then there are those who have picked up the sport for leisure. And the interest has seen a boom in padel courts over the last few years.
I spoke to Adit Patel, who is part of the Indian Racketlon team and the General Secretary of the Racketlon India Sports Association (RISA) to understand this phenomenon better.
“Padel is definitely growing in India. When we started playing it was very difficult to get four people of the same level to play. Even now, I’m not saying it’s easy, but now it’s relatively easier to get four people of the same level to play padel. When we started, the pool was small, now you have padel groups of 300-400 people. And that’s just in Mumbai. You then have Bengaluru, Delhi, Chennai have two courts now. So overall in India, there are about 35-40 courts….now you get racquets and balls in India. When I started, my first Padel racquet – I actually ordered it from Dubai. Now, you get padel racquets and balls in India, so I guess India is taking to it,” Adit said.
Another thing that Adit told me about padel has really stuck with me. He said – “Padel is a sport which is easy to learn, but difficult to master.”
And that got me thinking. What are the adjustments that a tennis or squash or even a racketlon player have to make to pick up padel?
“As Racketlon players we are used to the wall because of squash, we can volley because of the tennis and we can hit the smashes because of badminton. So, it was a good use of pre-existing skills…just had to learn the nuances of power, placement, angles, but apart from that - good to go,” Adit further said.
What is important to note here is that there are no professional padel players in India, as of now. All Indian padel players have day jobs. In other words, they don’t do this for the money. It’s purely because of their passion for the sport. It also of course means that padel is still in a nascent stage in the country.
“There is no prize money as such. In the recent past we have heard that there have been tournaments in Mumbai etc. where prize money has been offered. Three months back we went to Chennai. Ganesh and I won two tournaments there where there was some prize money. We won around Rs 10,000 combined.” Mahesh, a Chartered Accountant by trade and Ganesh’s brother said.
Levels of global competition
As far as the different levels of competition in global padel are concerned, there are three main professional padel tours – Premier, World and A1.
Premier Padel Tour: This has three tiers: P1, P2, and Major. Major is the highest ranked competition, P1 is second and P2 is third. Just like in tennis, the global padel season culminates with the Tour Finals, which are usually played in Barcelona, with the top 8 highest ranked players competing.
World Padel Tour: This has competitions like the Masters, Open 1000, Open 500, and Challenger. Along the lines of professional tennis.
A1 Padel Tour: This began in 2021 and is majorly played in Europe and South America.
Challenges in India
Back home, Indian padel players are taking baby steps towards the ultimate goal of paving the road for future Indians to become professional padel players. So, what are the big challenges that the sport of padel faces in India, as things stand now?
Top of the pile is the lack of widespread padel facilities. A good padel court costs anywhere between Rs 10-15 lakh to put up. It’s not a surprise that you don’t come across padel courts in India very often. The equipment is too expensive. Any decent entry-level padel equipment starts from around Rs five to seven thousand. An intermediate level racquet will set you back around Rs. 15,000 and the really good ones are priced anywhere between Rs. 25,000 and 50,000. There is no upper limit. But for the amateur and semi-pro levels, the basic racquets are good enough.
One player told me that most players need to change equipment about two times a year. The balls too are expensive. A set of three balls will set you back about Rs. 500. Most players need at least two padel balls a month. There’s no doubt that padel is very much an aspirational sport in India.
Varun Motasha is an IT professional and also a racketlon World Championship bronze medallist. He too plays padel quite regularly. I spoke to Varun to further understand the challenges that padel faces in terms of growth in India vis a vis a sport like pickleball, which has really taken-off.
“The one challenge when you compare it to pickleball is the existing infrastructure. Today, pickleball can be played on existing badminton courts, which are widespread across the country. As compared to padel – which requires completely new infrastructure, new independent set-up, which cannot be multi-used for any other sport or event, given the nature of the courts, so that’s one challenge. Another big challenge is that it is an extremely expensive sport – so the barrier to entry is high.
“Renting a padel court for an hour costs almost 4-5 times that of renting a similar court for any other sport for the same amount of time. So, pickleball courts cost anywhere between Rs. 300-500 an hour (to rent), (while) a padel court (could) cost almost Rs. 2000 an hour to rent. Also, the equipment - padel balls are extremely perishable, like badminton shuttles. Every time you play, you require a new can of balls to ensure ideal play (conditions). Just like in badminton, you can play with a worn-out shuttle, but you don’t want to do that if your game is at a certain level, so that poses an additional cost,” Varun told me.
The lack of corporate support and lack of pure padel coaches are other stumbling blocks for padel players in India.
But that hasn’t stopped those who are fascinated by the sport from giving it a real go.
The demand is steady, though it’s not cheap sport to play
Parth Yadav is the Head Coach at the House of Padel academy in New Delhi and gave me a fascinating insight into the world of padel coaching.
“Last month, about 100-200 people joined our community (those who come to play regularly). We also organise a second Saturday tournament which is quite competitive. The last one we organised saw participation from 16 teams. Every day we get about five to ten bookings on an average. I coach about eight people personally and they come regularly for personal classes…there are also people who saw the sport in Dubai or Spain or some other country that they were visiting and found it interesting. They come back home and want to start playing,” Parth said.
House of Padel currently has two courts in Chhatarpur, in Delhi and are setting up a new facility in Gurgaon, which will also have two courts. The average age of their clients is 25-40.
But renting courts and coaching classes is not cheap.
“We (House of Padel) charge about Rs. 1000 for an hour to play (to rent a court). For coaching we charge Rs. 3500 per month for group classes (not more than 4 people per class). We do 3 classes a week, 12 sessions in a month. We also give people half an hour of game play. Whatever they have learnt in their session we let them implement that for half an hour in a game,” Parth further said.
Despite the expenses, for players who are looking for a fun new racquet sport to pick-up, currently pickleball and padel seem to be the frontrunners. And though padel hasn’t given pickleball a run for its money yet, the demand is definitely very real.
“In terms of interest now, if you open a popular court-booking app on your phone – in Mumbai or Bengaluru, it is impossible to get a court at prime time for weeks in advance. So, if I want to play a Padel game in the evening, say between 7-11 pm, I need to book a court one month in advance. Interest levels are peaking, court bookings are 100% full throughout the day. So, currently, the demand is outweighing the supply. Hopefully, in the coming years, we can see a balance between the demand and supply,” Varun Motasha further said.
And specialised padel courts, the only venues the sport can be played in, are now coming up more regularly.
“In India now, we have so many courts. I think when I started playing Padel there were only three courts in Mumbai, today we have fourteen, which I think will grow to about a 100 in the next 3 years or so,” Adit Patel further told me.
Varun added to that, saying - “At the start of 2023, we had only 15 courts in India. In the next 18 months (till now) I think another 30-40 courts have opened up across the country. And these are just the courts that are accessible to the public. So, there are about 50 to 60 courts that are accessible to the public and then there are another 30-40 courts which are in private establishments, like in outhouses and farmhouses etc, which are meant for personal use only. So, ballpark, about a 100 courts (in India), out of which 50 to 60 are accessible for people to play in.”
The injury, or rather no injury angle
Another big reason that padel has many takers among the racquet sport community is that it is seen as a virtually injury-free sport. Due to the sanding in the courts, there is no uneven bounce and the sanding also cushions impact on the joints.
“If you play decent padel, with proper positioning and technique, it is nearly injury free. You will never hear anyone say – ‘’I had a major injury in padel’ - because first of all, astro turfs - they have sand. So, if I play padel, it’s not like I have a risk of injury for my racketlon (career). Most racketlon guys, most tennis guys, they can play padel, so the entry barrier is minimal. When a tennis guy takes a padel racquet in his hands, he is not going to be out of place on a padel court. Same for a squash guy. Also, the game (padel) is quite exciting, in terms of pace. Like when you smash, the ball comes off the glass. The glass is a very dynamic aspect of the game. Glass shots mean different angles, different rebound angles, (you have to) anticipate the rebound. Then you have the fence – where if you hit on the fence, it’s completely unpredictable.
“You will not know how the ball is going to come off the fence. Padel is very dynamic, there are unpredictable aspects of the game. Sometimes the wind plays a role, but not very often. And in general, it’s a very social environment, because you see, padel tournaments are only doubles – so there’s also a social angle to it. A lot of places have a café next to the padel court – so you go out, have a bite, come back in, play padel. And the competitiveness is there. It’s not like you go there and there is no competition. Once you are on the court, everyone is very fierce,” Adit Patel added.
The global Padel powerhouses
If it’s really fierce padel competition you want to witness then you have to follow players from international padel powerhouses, like Spain and Argentina. According to the International Padel Federation (FIP) rankings, six of the top 10 men’s professional padel players in the world are from Spain. The remaining four are from Argentina. In the women’s rankings, eight out of the top 10 highest ranked professional padel players are from Spain. Out of the remaining two, one is from Portugal and the other from – yes, you guessed it right – Argentina.
“Hands down, if you say Padel, the two countries which come to mind are Spain and Argentina. They have the maximum number of players in the world Top 50 and they also have the best quality players. All of Latin America has started playing padel. Of late, the Middle East has also taken to it in a big way. Qatar, Dubai – they have invested heavily in padel, so I guess it is coming to Asia.” Adit Patel further told me.
Is India ready to cash in?
So, if padel is poised to take-off in a big way, is India ready to cash in on the popularity of the sport, which could sky-rocket in years to come?
I spoke to the General Secretary of the Indian Padel Federation, Ronnie Sehgal about the growth of the sport, so far, in India, the steps they are taking to promote the sport in the country and the vision for the future.
“During Covid what happened was that due to the restrictions on sport, they kept only a few outdoor sports open, mainly in the UAE. The crown Prince of Dubai, he liked the sport (padel) and he started playing it and looking at him the whole country followed and in a matter of 6 months to a year they had about 300 courts in Dubai. As you are aware there are a lot of Indians in Dubai, so by the end of Covid a lot of people had been exposed to the sport. A lot of tennis players had been exposed to the sport over the last decade, but they always looked at it like a side thing.
“But after this growth in the Middle East and a couple of other initiatives, people got excited about it and a little more faith has grown today in the sport in India. It’s still at an extremely nascent stage, but at least a few people saw the potential and started setting up a few facilities, consulting with us, talking and getting excited. So, that was the big change that has happened over the last few years and because of this, the last one year or so has been very good,” Ronnie Sehgal said.
One big shot in the arm for the federation was the fact that they managed to rope in Indian badminton legend, Pullela Gopichand, as an advisor in June last year .
When the news was announced, Gopichand had said - “Padel is an exciting sport with tremendous potential, and I am committed to utilising experience to elevate it to new heights. Through this partnership, we aim to create a vibrant ecosystem, nurture talent, and inspire a new generation of padel players.”
“We have been able to bring Pullela Gopichand onboard as an advisor and one of our members, which brings in a lot of credibility to the sport….so, we see a lot of good things happening and I think the next 3-5 years are going to be magical for the sport,” Ronnie Sehgal further told me.
One thing that is a bit of a sore issue for the players is the fact that tournaments in India often don’t offer substantial prize money. While their entire training, transport, stay etc. costs come out of their pockets, they also don’t walk away with a substantial prize pot, as such, when they win tournaments. Often the prize money on offer is the collection of the entry fees paid by the players. Adit shared details about how a tournament in Bandra, some time ago, had 28 teams and each team had to pay an entry fee of Rs 7000. The prize money on offer was Rs 1 lakh and then there was about Rs 1 lakh worth of merchandise, including racquets, balls, bags etc. A tournament in Bengaluru, which was washed out some months ago, had Rs 30,000 in prizes – 15,000 in cash and 15,000 in ‘goodies.’
The owners of the courts, which are private bodies, are the ones who organise the tournaments. The Indian Padel Federation, which does not pay for any prize money at the tournaments, is looking at the overall growth of the sport, in terms of popularity and player support etc. as their larger goal.
“I don’t know if prize money is the key right now, but the key is player development, putting up courts, popularising the sport, supporting athletes to play events across India and in nearby countries to begin with. So, our objectives from a Federation perspective are quite different from a private business, wherein we are not trying to attract players through prize money. We want to give them an opportunity first to play. And also, to find talent. That’s our objective….the prize money pools (in padel tournaments) are all being offered by private businesses, who are in it to monetise the sport.” Ronnie Sehgal, the General Secretary of the Indian federation said.
Ronnie also shared details of the federation working on a state-of-the-art facility in Bengaluru, with a centre. They are also putting up four padel courts in the Gopichand badminton academy in Hyderabad, which will be one of the national training centres.
Another important aspect is foreign exposure. While regular international travel and competition might take a while, some Indian players in fact got some very important international exposure rather early.
Ganes told me – “Four years back, four teams from India travelled to Japan for the Asia Cup. We were not that good at that time, but the exposure was very good. That is actually where we learnt how padel is played. Till then we were playing hard tennis, standing on the court, not really caring about the rebounds. But the 5-6 days we spent there (in Japan) watching people from Japan, Australia and others was very good exposure. And after coming back from there we started playing proper padel. The tennis players also were quite intrigued by how padel was actually played and we saw a big change after that.”
Change is the only constant and the padel community in India is hoping that the future brings with it some rather positive changes. The possibilities are endless.
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