Bouncing off the walls

Padel is picking up steam in Britain but what makes this new racket sport so universally appealing?

- Ettie Neil-Gallacher

WITH AN estimated 25 million people playing on courts in more than 90 countries, padel is clearly already a smash. Such statistics are particularly impressive for a game only invented some 60 years ago by a Spanish businessman living in Mexico, and going loco down in Acapulco looking for something less punishing than tennis.

Enrique Corcuera wanted to create a sport that wasn't as exhausting as tennis but one that would generate similar exhilaration. And what he came up with quickly caught on with the Hispanic jet set. By adding a three-metre wall and two low side walls to his pelota court to bounce the ball off, slinging a low net across, and calling it padel, Corcuera devised the basics of what would be tweaked a little before growing into what is today the world's fastest-growing sport.

Padel involves a decompressed ball being hit over a low net on a rectangular court measuring 10 metres by 20 metres.

It uses the same scoring as tennis and, while there are some singles courts, it's mainly played as doubles. And although the Brits were a little sluggish to adopt it, we've now tapped into the fun this set-up ensures, which has already been spotted by our European neighbours. The International Padel Federation was established in Madrid in 1991, and padel seems on course to become an Olympic sport in 2032. In Spain it has 3.7 million players and is bigger than tennis, and it's second only to el fútbol in soccer-mad Argentina. There are 900 courts in Italy and 1.5 million players.

Over half a million Frenchmen play each year, and even more in the Netherlands.

And although the Brits weren't the first out of the blocks, we've now made up for lost time. The first court was constructed at the Harbour Club in Chelsea but it wasn't until 2011 that the David Lloyd enterprise introduced the game to its franchise.