Enrique Corcuera, a businessman from Acapulco, Mexico, used to nap at his family’s house every afternoon because of the high temperature there. His little girl Viviana, in the mean time, would bother him by hitting tennis balls against the walls of the house.
As a result, Corcuera constructed a second wall for her to hit against, and his new racket sport took off from there.
Corcuera erected additional metal fencing walls and a net across the center of the enclosed space after the ball continued to escape down the wall’s side.
Padel is a popular racket sport that combines elements of tennis and squash. At first, it was designed as a game for one family in Mexico to play.
25 million people play padel in more than 90 countries today, more than 50 years after its inception.
Among those is three-time huge homerun tennis champion Andy Murray, who has known about the game since he was a young person preparing in Spain.
Murray tells CNN, “I think it’s a great social sport.” I know that a lot of former tennis players have taken up the sport after they have finished playing, and they find it to be great for their fitness and not nearly as demanding as tennis.
Padel, in contrast to tennis, is typically played in doubles, despite the use of the same scoring system.
Shots can be played on the volley, after one bounce, or after rebounding off the wall after being returned from underarm serves. On their side of the net, players can also hit shots into the side and back walls of the 20-meter-long, 10-meter-wide court.
Padel rackets are different from the stringed rackets used in tennis, squash, and badminton, or the wooden rackets used in pickleball. They are smaller, thicker, and squatter than tennis rackets, and the hitting surface is entirely made of carbon fiber or fiberglass.
Similar to pickleball, which has become known as America’s unofficial pandemic pastime due to its meteoric rise in popularity in recent years, padel has gained popularity in Europe and South America.
For instance, it is estimated that approximately 15,000 brand-new padel courts were established in Europe in the previous year.
Spain is home to more than 20,000 courts and more than six million active players, making padel the second most popular participation sport after football.
Murray asserts, “I think it’s going to keep getting bigger and bigger.” Tennis clubs, in my opinion, will continue to want to build courts, and there will be more demand for them. In Spain, it is evidently huge.
“I am aware that Jonas Björkman, one of my former coaches, who was the No. No. 1 in doubles and the world 4 in singles – is always playing. He has established numerous centers in Sweden. I played doubles with Feliciano Lopez a few times on the tour… He plays regularly.
Murray, who won three grand slam singles titles between 2012 and 2016 at Wimbledon and the US Open, sees a bright future for the sport, so much so that he has invested in Game4Padel, the best padel court company in the UK.
He is one of the company’s celebrity ambassadors and investors, along with his brother Jamie, a former No. 1 in the men’s copies rankings, Liverpool and Netherlands football player Virgil Van Dijk, and previous Grains worldwide rugby player Jonathan Davies.
Murray states, “It was an opportunity to invest in a sport I enjoy playing.” It is one of the sports with the world’s fastest growth, and I believe it will continue to expand. Clubs, in my opinion, will continue to desire courts and there will be increased demand for them.”
This year, we saw a padel court in Doha, the capital of Qatar.
A padel court is found in the Qatari capital Doha recently.
KARIM JAAFAR/AFP/AFP through Getty Pictures
Played on a court 33% of the size of a tennis court, padel is low-effect and low-power contrasted with other racket sports – something that, along with the fantastic “scar” clamor of striking the ball, has added to its prevalence.
Even though padel’s current strength in numbers is best demonstrated in the amateur game, the sport also has a burgeoning professional circuit in the World Padel Tour. Might it at any point try and arrive at a similar degree of worldwide fame as tennis?
According to Jamie Murray, who speaks with CNN, “I think recreationally it probably could in terms of the sheer numbers of people playing the game, just from what I’ve seen in places like Spain, Italy, and France, for example.”
Professionally, I honestly have no idea. Padel would probably take a long time to reach that level of tradition and history in tennis, where there are so many big events.
The Murray brothers enjoy playing the game as well as investing in it. If only they put their sibling rivalry aside, you would think that they would work well together on a padel court.
According to Andy, “We played a few times earlier this year in Australia when we were over there for the Australian Open.” They have a few courts there, and I handled him pretty well, so I don’t think I’ve lost to him yet.
Jamie, on the other hand, responds differently when asked which brother is the better player.
He states, “It has to be me, I think.”
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