The Rise of Padel in the Sports Market
Padel has recently exploded onto the scene, with many regular Joes having no idea where it comes from or how it came to be. Still, padel is rapidly trending amongst sports lovers. After all, in 2023, the padel club market size was around $1.93 billion.
Yet, this sport is projected to reach $5.76 billion by 2032, which means it has an annual growth rate of 12.93% in less than a decade. However, how did this sport manage to make it big in the competitive sports market?
What’s Padel and How to Play It
Padel has quickly risen to become the new hot topic. You’ll see courts popping up across the country, more televised competitions and even find it on some online sportsbooks. Seeing as sportsbooks usually only list and provide bonuses for the most popular sports, it’s clear to see how quickly interest in this sport has grown.
Still, before looking at how padel started and which are the best betting site bonuses you can use when wagering on it, you should understand the sport itself. Padel is a sport using a racquet that falls somewhere between tennis and squash.
Like tennis, padel consists of two to four players playing across from each other over a net. However, it uses an enclosed court, about a third smaller than tennis courts. Further, like squash, the ball is allowed to bounce off the walls before you return it to your opponent.
The racquets are solid, do not use any strings and are more similar to beach tennis racquets. That’s to say, it’s typically made of materials like carbon fiber and fiberglass. It’s a solid racquet with holes on the face of the racquet.
Padel balls are smaller than tennis balls but bigger than squash balls. However, players must serve underarm in this sport. As of 2023, there are 55 significant padel tournaments, with some of the top tours being the Premier Padel Tour, the A1 Padel Tour, the World Padel Tour and the Hexagon Cup.
Padel’s Surprising Start
There are slightly different stories about how padel started, but the origin point is the same in all of these. All the stories agree that Enrique Corcuera created the sport, but the reasoning behind its creation is different.
Some stories say that his wife, Viviana, demanded a court to play the game they started enjoying while on holiday. While they originally just bounced a ball off a wall, Enrique built an enclosed concrete court about 20m long and 10m wide.
Allegedly, Enrique’s reasoning for the enclosed court is that he didn’t want to go running after balls. He had bad memories of having to do so in school while it was exceptionally cold outside. However, other stories don’t mention Viviana at all.
Another origin story said Enrique built the court after trying paddle tennis in the US while on a trip. He made it an enclosed court to prevent the vegetation from encroaching and the ball from falling into the neighbor’s yard.
Another story states that Enrique didn’t have the space for a proper tennis court, so he built a smaller one with walls to make it easier to keep the ball in play. Regardless of which version is accurate, it’s clear that Enrique invented this sport in Mexico in 1969.
From Mexico to Spain
Spain was the first country to adopt this sport besides Mexico. This expansion happened because Enrique invited some friends to visit, and they played on his court. One of his friends, Alfonso de Hohenlohe-Langenburg, liked it so much that he took the sport to Spain, establishing the first official padel clubs in 1974.
With the sport becoming popular in Spain, other countries speaking Spanish also started adopting it, such as Uruguay and Argentina. However, the most significant turning point for this sport in Spain was when prominent figures, such as tennis player Manolo Santana, started playing it in the 1990s.
The Global Adoption
After this sport became popular in countries like Argentina and Uruguay, it wasn’t long before it expanded to the rest of Europe and America. However, it was only in 1993, after the Spanish Superior Council of Sports officially recognized padel as a sport, that it was consolidated into the sports market.
Despite countries adopting this sport, it remained relatively under the radar. It didn’t enjoy the popularity of tennis, squash, or even pickleball. The professional circuit first launched in 2005, while the first World Padel Tour debuted in the 2010s.
It was only in 2018 that the everyday community started taking notice of this sport. Looking at the US, it’s clear that padel hasn’t yet become a mainstream sport. Compared to the 17 million US tennis players and 5 million US pickleball players, padel had a mere 90,000 to 100,000 players at the end of 2023.
However, it’s still growing in popularity in the States. In 2020, the US had less than 30 padel courts. By 2024, that number had grown to 454 courts, showing that the interest is there. Still, if you compare it with the players in other countries, you’ll see the US still lags quite behind them.
For example, Spain has 5.5 million players, Italy has 1.5 million, Argentina has 1.4 million and Mexico has 1 million players.
Will GenZ Be the Driving Force Behind Padel?
One thing that’s become very clear is that the younger generation loves padel. Club owners have remarked that they’re seeing more people of the young generation who want to stay fit at the courts, showing that it’s becoming increasingly popular among GenZ and younger Millennials.
With the 2024 Olympics, it was proven that new sports can join the line-up based on their popularity among the youth. Categories like Breaking (break dancing), skateboarding, surfing and sport climbing all appeared at the Olympics.
Still, research shows that in Spain, the older generation plays padel more. About 44% of the players in Spain are between 40 and 54 years old. Meanwhile, only about 15% of the players are between 18 and 26 years old. However, if you examine the global statistics, you will see that about 54% of players are over 26 years old.
From Sports Fans to Celebrities
It’s not just regular Joe who plays padel; famous household names are also linked to the sport. One aspect that really placed padel on the map is the interest global celebrities gave it. There are quite a few tennis stars who decided to take up padel.
It includes big names like Serena Williams, Raphael Nadal, Andy Murray and Andre Agassi. However, it’s not just tennis players who decided to test it out. David Beckham, Jimmy Buffet, Eva Longoria, Jürgen Klopp, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Daddy Yankee also show that other celebrities enjoy this sport.
With these well-known names now appearing on the court, it also inspired many fans to give the sport a try. Many of these celebrities took it a step further and also invested in clubs, teams and other aspects of this sport.
Padel Enters the Sports Betting Market
With the global sensation this sport has become, it’s no surprise that you’ll find odds for it at online betting sites. While it’s not yet as common to see at sportsbooks, padel does appear on some betting websites.
Most of the betting markets are similar to the ones you’ll find for tennis. It includes Match Winner, First/Second Set Winner, Number of Aces, Total Games in a Set and Match Score. You can also claim many different sports bonuses to use on padel.
These bonuses can boost your odds or the winnings in combo bets and provide free bets through promotions. However, it’s a good idea to know more about the sport before you bet on it. Guides and YouTube videos can show you how to play padel, as well as some of the best points landed in padel’s competitive history.
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9ABYEeOxOs
Some Key Statistics You Won’t Believe
Now that you know a bit more about the sport, there are some key statistics you might not know. In 2022, there were a recorded 40,000 padel courts globally. However, experts believe that it will experience a CAGR of 26% through 2025.
When looking at the Google search interest in padel worldwide, it experienced a 385% increase in volume over just five years. If you consider the interest in padel in just the US, then you’ll find it achieved peak popularity twice: once in June 2024 and once in January 2025.
About 37.55% of padel players are women, while around 62.45% are men. In Spain, Argentina and Sweden, padel’s popularity among players actually overtook tennis. There are about 25 to 30 million players globally, located in over 110 countries.
Take Part in This Global Sensation
Padel is taking over the world, becoming a high-end hobby for the everyday community and celebrities alike. It’s a great way to stay fit and is building a name for itself with tournaments like the World Padel Tour.
