Padel has become one of the most popular sports in the UK with a new centre currently under construction.
The sport was created in 1969 when a Mexican homeowner, hoping to be considerate to his neighbours, enclosed his makeshift tennis court with walls.
What began as a backyard experiment is now one of the fastest-growing racquet sports in the world.
According to Lawn Tennis Association statistics, padel is one of the fastest growing sports in Britain. In 2024 it was reported player numbers had reached highs of 400,000.
As of February 2025, the LTA has invested more than £6 million in padel across Britain with £4.5 million being invested into the development of 80 courts at 42 venues.
In Nottingham, the padel scene is taking off, with PurePadel investing £1.5 million into renovating a former bus depot into several new padel courts.
The courts will also feature free parking, wifi, a bar and a lounge for its customers.
Plans to turn an empty warehouse into padel courts were also approved by the council in March of this year.
Harrison Fernandez Lewis, padel coach at Nottingham Trent University and part of the LTA talked about the popularity increase he’s seen in the last few years.
He said, “I started playing padel a few years ago and have seen it grow massively since then.”
“The number of padel courts being built is increasing and promotion on social media growing in numbers as well.”
HARRISON FERNANDEZ LEWIS
But where has this spike in interest come from?
From advertising on social media, to the gentle nature of the sport, padel is generally considered a more friendly version of tennis.
Therefore gaining more attraction from beginners to make the first moves and start playing.
Other racquet sports like pickleball, ping pong and squash are also gaining attraction in the UK.
Lewis continued, “There are two main reasons for the increase in popularity.
“The first reason being its accessibility in terms of playing the game. The ball is a little bit softer, the racquet is more forgiving than a tennis racquet making it is easier to hit the ball, the rules are more simple and the court is smaller and is primarily played as doubles. Therefore, less ground to cover, especially for the less mobile and beginners.”
Padel is primarily played in doubles making every game a group activity. Nottingham Trent University Padel Society incorporate padel into their weekly routine and hold sessions every Wednesday.
For many, padel is viewed more as a social event rather than a sport leading to more people getting involved for fun.
Posts under the padel hashtag on Instagram have reached over four million and TikTok, over 600,000 posts. According to the International Padel Federation there are more than 52 million Instagram and Facebook accounts that follow padel, 41 percent of which are women.
Lewis added: “It’s a relatively shiny new sport in the UK which makes it more attractive to new players. Courts are being built in existing buildings such as shopping centres and health clubs making it that bit more appealing.”
