What is padel?

Padel is a racket sport played in doubles on a glass-walled court about a third the size of a tennis court. It's social, easy to pick up and genuinely good fun – most people are rallying within minutes of their first go. Here's how the game works, where it came from, and why it's taking off.

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The Basics.

Padel is simpler than it looks. The essentials:

It’s always doubles, two against two
You serve underarm, into the diagonal box
Scoring is exactly like tennis: 15, 30, 40, game
You play with a solid, stringless padel racket and padel ball
Once the ball bounces, you can play it off the glass and the fencing. The serve is the exception: it must bounce before hitting the glass, and if it hits the fence, it’s a fault!

For the full rundown on serving, scoring and wall play, head to our rules page.

Where padel came from.

Padel was invented in Acapulco, Mexico, in 1969. A businessman named Enrique Corcuera wanted a court at his home but didn’t have room for a full-size tennis court, so he built a smaller one, added walls to keep the ball in play, and padel was born.

A few years later, in 1974, his friend Alfonso de Hohenlohe brought the game to Spain and built the first courts at the Marbella Club. From there it spread quickly through Spain and across to Argentina, where it became very popular. Today padel is one of the fastest-growing sports in the UK and globally.

The equipment.

The racket. A padel racket is solid, not strung. It’s shorter than a tennis racket, made from composite materials, and has a perforated surface dotted with holes. It’s lighter and easier to control than it looks, which is part of why padel is so easy for beginners to pick up.

The ball. A padel ball looks almost identical to a tennis ball, just slightly smaller and a little less bouncy. It’s kept at a lower pressure than a tennis ball (around 10–11 psi, versus 14 for tennis), so it travels a touch slower after it bounces. That extra split-second is one of the reasons the game feels so playable from the very start.

You won’t need to buy any of this to get going. We provide rackets at every free intro session, and balls are always supplied, so you can turn up with nothing but some sportswear and a pair of trainers and give it a go.

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How padel compares.

If you’ve played a racket sport before, padel will feel familiar fast. If you haven’t played tennis or squash before, that’s completely fine too.

Here are the key differences at a glance.

	Padel	Tennis	Squash
Court	Smaller, fully enclosed	Larger, open	Small, fully enclosed
Setting	Outdoors or under cover	Outdoors or under cover	Indoors
Format	Doubles only	Singles or doubles	Mostly singles
Walls	Glass and fencing in play (after a bounce, apart from on the serve)	None	All four walls in play
Racket	Solid, stringless	Strung	Strung, smaller head
Serve	Underarm	Overarm	Off the front wall
Ball	Bouncy, close to a tennis ball	Bouncy	Small, low-bounce
Scoring	15 / 30 / 40 – same as tennis	15 / 30 / 40	Points to 11
On the body	Easy on the joints	Lots of ground to cover	Fast and high-impact
Easy to pick up?	Very quick	A longer learning curve	Physically demanding to start

Why everyone’s talking about padel.

The number of people playing padel in the UK is soaring. In 2025, 860,000 adults and juniors played at least once, more than double the year before. So why the boom? Ask anyone who plays and they’ll tell you that one go is rarely enough.

Padel is social by design: you play in doubles, so there are always four of you chatting and laughing between points. And improving your game doesn’t depend on natural sporting ability or fitness. Placement beats power, so it’s reading the court and working with your partner that wins points – skills anyone can build. The walls keep the ball in play and the slower bounce gives you time to think, so rallies last longer and you learn as you go.

With a Smash coach in your corner from your very first session, you’re constantly building on your skills.

Is padel right for me?

The short answer is almost certainly, yes.

You don’t have to be sporty, fit or experienced to get a lot out of padel. Most people come for a go and stay for everything around it: an hour that doesn’t really feel like exercise, a proper laugh with three other people, and the satisfaction of getting a little better each time.

It’s a reason to move, a way to meet people, and something that’s just for you, all at once.

Ready to give it a go?

Download the Nettla app to book your free intro at your nearest Smash Padel venue. Rackets provided, no experience needed, and your first session is on us.

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