There can’t be many people today who haven’t heard of padel and pickleball. There has been a massive explosion in the popularity of both these tennis offshoots, but ten years ago they were regarded as niche activities which very few people had even heard of.
At Oakwhite we’ve had a ringside seat in the rise of both, as we’ve worked on the successful installation of numerous padel and pickleball courts. In this blog, we take a look at the history of the sports – maybe after reading it you might be tempted to give one (or both) of them a try . . .
Padel
Padel is a fast-paced game often described as a mix of tennis and squash, which is played on an enclosed court of 10×20 metres – about a third of the size of a tennis court. It’s mostly played in doubles formation, is easy to pick up and, because strategy is more important for point-scoring than power, one of the main advantages is that groups of mixed ages and abilities can play together. It also has the advantage of supposedly being a low-risk sport in terms of injury!
The racquets were originally stringless, solid wooden paddles, which is where the name came from, but nowadays they are usually made from carbon fibre or fibreglass. The ball is smaller than a tennis ball and made of rubber or foam which is what gives it its bounce and speed.
According to the padel section of the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), the roots of padel go back to the 19th century, when passengers on British cruise ships played a similar game but with their tennis racquets. In the early 20th century ‘paddles’ were used in a game called ‘platform tennis’ by enthusiasts in Washington and New York.
However, it wasn’t until 1969 that the first recognised padel court was built by Enrique Corcuera at his holiday house in Acapulco. He built walls and a four-metre-high fence around it to stop balls going into his neighbour’s garden (the age-old problem!) and decided to call the game Paddle Corcuera.
A friend of his named Alfonso de Hohenlohe played it at Enrique’s house and liked it so much that he built two courts back in his Spanish homeland at the exclusive Marbella Club on the Costa del Sol. The rest, as they say, is history – club members loved the new game and gradually more clubs built courts, with glass walls so spectators could watch, and began to organise tournaments. The name was changed to ‘padel’ by the Spanish Sports Council in 1993 as this was easier to pronounce in Spanish, and it also differentiated it from platform/paddle tennis.
It’s now an Olympic sport, and there’s a World Padel Tour with events held around the globe. The LTA, which was recognised as the UK governing body for padel in 2020, estimates that in 2025 there were over 400,000 UK padel players. Since 2019, the number of UK courts has grown from 69 to over 1000, and padel is considered to be the world’s fastest-growing sport.
Pickleball
Pickleball was invented around the same time as padel by three American men as a game their children could all play together, and one of the inventors built a court in his garden in 1967. They used a badminton net, table tennis bats and a ‘wiffle’ ball, which is a light plastic ball with characteristic oval holes which cause it to curve unexpectedly and add to the fun.
The name arose when the wife of one of the inventors said the mix of sports reminded her of a ‘pickle boat’ in rowing, an American phrase for when a crew is made up of leftover rowers.
Pickleball has had a massive boom in popularity in the last ten years or so. Prior to that it was mostly played by a small number of senior citizens in the US as it had lower impact than other racquet sports, enabling them to keep active without undue strain and stress on joints. Fast-forward to today and it’s a cross-generational game which all ages can enjoy together, with a simple scoring system and many similarities to tennis.
A pickleball court is around the same size as a doubles badminton court and is often played on a modified tennis court. However, unlike tennis, pickleball has a lower net and a zone called the kitchen, a seven-foot area on either side of the net where players aren’t allowed to volley. This is intended to prevent people smashing shots which, like padel, encourages strategic play rather than domination through power.
It can be played both inside and outside, although heavier balls are used outdoors to counter wind resistance. Pickleball racquets, or paddles, are solid and rectangular, made of materials such as graphite or carbon fibre and with different surfaces and weights which help to make up imbalances of power among participants.
Pickleball isn’t an Olympic sport – yet. However, the IOC is allegedly taking a close interest in the game and, this year, the first global professional pickleball tour is being launched, with a worldwide ranking system, considerable commercial input and at least 30 tournaments in countries including Australia, India, Dubai, Vietnam, Canada, the UK and the US.
made of materials such as graphite or carbon fibre and with different surfaces and weights which help to make up imbalances of power among participants.
Pickleball isn’t an Olympic sport – yet. However, the IOC is allegedly taking a close interest in the game and, this year, the first global professional pickleball tour is being launched, with a worldwide ranking system, considerable commercial input and at least 30 tournaments in countries including Australia, India, Dubai, Vietnam, Canada, the UK and the US.
The only way is up
Oakwhite can certainly attest to the popularity of both padel and pickleball; as part of our quality commercial fit out and refurbishment work throughout the UK we have become court fit out experts for both in recent years due to the surge in interest.
If you’re interested in having a chat about courts for either sport, or any other type of fit out or refurbishment, contact us via email, or give us a call on 01403 586062 and have a chat with one of our friendly team members.