Why tennis players love padel so much

In the racket sports family, father and son go hand in hand! As the latest addition to the world of racket sports, padel is indeed the descendant of tennis, borrowing many of its features to remix them with a Spanish twist. When looking at player number statistics, we can see that the trends between the 2 sports tend to cross paths. Indeed, a shift of certain tennis players towards padel is clearly visible, but why do tennis players love padel so much?

Familiar ground for tennis players

Even though the two sports are different, padel has borrowed many rules from tennis, starting with the scoring system. 15-0, 30-0, 40-0, everything is just like tennis, as is alternating sides on serve. Depending on the tournament, the golden point (punto de oro) may be used to save time and speed up rotation. For sets, it's the same story, scored just like tennis: best of 3 sets, first to 6 games in most matches, except in some tournaments where 4-game sets are used, once again to save time and allow players to face each other as much as possible.

Another similar point is, of course, the way the game is played. Forehands, backhands, volleys, smashes... Many basic shots are shared with tennis. Tennis players of any level won't feel out of place, at least at the beginning. 

The time for change is now! 

One can point to the change of sport and the novelty that padel brings compared to tennis. Some tennis players have played for a long time and, through endless competitions and training sessions, gradually burn out. Padel offers them a breath of fresh air, without feeling completely out of their depth, allowing them to discover racket sports from a new angle. This shift among tennis players is backed up by figures: 30,000 fewer registered tennis players in 2021 compared to 2020, and a skyrocketing number of padel players, currently reaching 150,000 compared to 80,000 in 2019! The number of padel courts has also increased significantly in recent years, with around 1,000 courts compared to 600 two years ago. Whether in tennis clubs or dedicated facilities, courts are becoming more and more common, showcasing the rapid rise of our sport! 

An exciting challenge for all tennis players 

Furthermore, padel brings its own set of distinct features that can motivate competitive tennis players to learn and master the many shots that differ significantly from tennis. First of all, the introduction of glass walls requires anticipating the ball rebound, which is not easy to master at first. Some tennis habits can sometimes be counter-productive in padel, such as heavy topspin on forehands. Tennis players also tend to hit smashes with pure power, whereas in padel, the smartest play is ball placement, using spin to destabilise the opponent and force an error. Indeed, because of the glass walls, overpowered smashes are rarely effective and can easily be returned, especially among beginners where the "por tres" has not yet been mastered. 

In tennis, the lob is a minor tactical detail, but in padel it is one of the central elements. Very useful for pushing opponents to the back, taking the net and therefore gaining the upper hand in the rally. Conversely, when your opponent attempts a lob and it falls a bit short, several options are available to you. The smash can be used to finish the point, but as mentioned above, it is sometimes not the best option. To return the ball and maintain net position, the bandeja is effective, while to put the opponent in greater trouble, the víbora is the shot to play. For more information, check out our article on the víbora and the bandeja.

Padel = Fun! 

Played exclusively in doubles, padel is very easy to pick up thanks to the court size and rackets, which are much smaller and easier to handle than tennis rackets, allowing any tennis player to get rallies going and have fun. In a padel match, there are generally longer rallies than in tennis, thanks in particular to the glass walls and the court area covered by players, making the game more fun, more sociable, and above all more accessible than tennis, which can sometimes be frustrating when there is too big a skill gap. Progress is also quite fast when coming from tennis because the fundamentals remain the same, as mentioned above: forehands, backhands, volleys, smash, almost everything is there—all that's left is learning how to use the glass walls! 

Another feature tipping the balance in favour of padel is the physical demand. Indeed, in padel, you run less over long distances and much of the play takes place at the net on the volée. For players who can no longer handle the long sprints of tennis (or for the lazier ones), padel remains an excellent alternative to keep the racket sport feel without being completely exhausted after an hour of play. But be careful, make no mistake: padel is still an active sport involving plenty of movement where many parts of the body are engaged, especially the joints. You will definitely work up a sweat, perhaps even more than in tennis! 

A friendly, sociable way to experience sport! 

Finally, the last and probably most important point: the friendly, social aspect of padel and clubs in general. Firstly, playing in pairs adds an element of team esprit that brings it closer to team sports: laughs at a recreational level, tactical depth at a competitive level, partnering up makes for a great time. The lack of prominent doubles competitions in tennis is also a factor driving this migration of tennis players to padel. 

Club setups are also different from tennis clubs. Instead of a simple clubhouse, bars or sometimes restaurants are integrated into the facilities to offer something more alongside the match. In the style of Spanish clubs, French complexes like Padel Horizon in the Paris region, Toulouse Padel Club or Esprit Padel in Lyon have adopted this approach so players can make the most of their padel experience. Tournaments are also more fun: held over one or two days, everyone plays at the same time in the same place, and socialising is made easy thanks to the restaurants and bars.

Padel perhaps looks like the worthy successor to tennis, which seems to be slowly but surely declining both in France and abroad. In any case, for now both sports complement each other, and players seem to enjoy switching between the two.