5 + 1 things that (maybe) you don’t know about the Padel

If there is a sport that in recent years has won more and more acclaim and enthusiastic practitioners is the Fell O paddle tennis. Trendy pastime modeled on tennis, for many it is a recent discovery. Yet its history dates back to the last century. Someone even says it was in the early 1900s. And that’s not the only curiosity …

Why is Padel so called?

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Padel is the Spanish translation of paddle, English word for pala, racket, paddle (and not pan as you might think, ed).

When was Padel born?

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Some historians trace its origin back to the 10s of the twentieth century: padel is so much like the platform tennis that was played on British cruise ships. But the padel as we know it today is the son of the 60s: born in 1969 in Acapulco (Mexico) from a flash of Enrique Corcuera, an entrepreneur who wanted to treat himself to a tennis court but had only a slice of garden available, between 4 walls that served to prevent the lush Mexican vegetation from invading the field. Virtue of necessity: Corcuera sanctioned that the possibility of hitting the ball after a bounce on the side walls was added to the rules of tennis.

How to play Padel?

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The rules of padel are similar to those of tennis, even the score is the same. But there are many differences: padel is a mix of tennis and squash and is played on a 10 by 20 meter court protected by glass walls or metal fences. Usually played in doubles, padel is less physically demanding than tennis, much easier to learn but just as difficult to master. The walls surrounding the court mean the ball rarely leaves the game, creating longer rallies. The equipment is also different.

The padel? The players like it a lot

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The biggest padel fan in the world is not a tennis player, but Lionel Messi who has indulged in a padel court in the garden. For him it is also a matter of tradition: in Argentina padel is almost a national sport, more than two million people practice it. But Messi is not alone: ​​there are numerous soccer champions who love padel. Among others: Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Gerard Pique and Francesco Totti.

Marbella style

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It was to bring the padel to Europe Alfonso of Hohenlohe, bon vivant loved by the gossip columns and patron of the Marbella Club, the first luxury hotel on the Costa del Sol. The first European padel courts saw the light there, in the mid-70s. Starting from the south, the idea infected the rest of the Spain then – with a tortuous tour – returned to South America, where it inflamed Argentina and finally landed in Europe, where padel mania has exploded in more recent years.

Padel in the world

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According to the Statista website, it is Spain is the country with the largest number of padel courts (11,500), followed by Argentina (8000 fields) and, at a long distance from Italy, which has 550 fields. But according to recent estimates there would be many more: about 1800, a tangible sign of the success of the padel also in our country.