Why Padel, the World's Fastest-Growing Racket Sport, Is Taking Off

A modified squash court in Acapulco at the end of the 1960s has become a global sport with close to 60,000 courts, a single professional tour and Olympic ambitions. Why it is taking off, and where the boom is already cooling.

By Miles Ashworth · 28 Aug 2026 · 3 min read · United States edition

PatoParadiso, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Padel began almost by accident. At the end of the 1960s, Enrique Corcuera modified the squash court at his home in Acapulco, Mexico, adding elements of platform tennis because he did not have room for a full tennis court. Most histories date it to 1969. The result stuck: a 10m by 20m enclosed court with glass and mesh walls, played in doubles, with an underarm serve and tennis scoring.

It reached Europe in 1974, when Prince Alfonso of Hohenlohe-Langenburg built the first two courts in Spain at the Marbella Club Hotel. From there it spread through Spain and Argentina, then Latin America, and in the last decade across the rest of the world.

How big it has become

The numbers depend on who is counting, but every estimate points the same way. The Global Padel Report 2026, produced by the booking platform Playtomic with Strategy& by PwC, counted 58,334 courts worldwide at the end of 2025, almost 8,000 of them built during that year alone. It found close to 20,000 active clubs, including nearly 5,000 opened in 2025, and estimated 19.4 million players using what it calls a conservative method. It expects the number of courts to reach about 91,000 by 2028.

The International Padel Federation's figures are higher. In June 2026 it put participation at 38 million players across 178 countries and territories. The gap between the two numbers is mostly a question of definition: how often you have to play to count as a padel player.

Spain is still the sport's heartland, with more than 17,000 courts and millions of players. The United States is the most talked-about growth market. Estimates suggest US players grew from under 100,000 in 2023 to around 500,000 by the end of 2025, with courts concentrated heavily in Florida, Texas and California.

Why people are taking it up

Part of the appeal is structural. The enclosed court lets the ball stay in play off the walls, so rallies run longer than a typical tennis point. The smaller court and underarm serve make it much easier for a beginner to enjoy a first session than tennis. And because it is almost always played as doubles, it is social in a way many racket sports are not.

It has also drawn people from other sports. Former WTA professionals Roberta Vinci and Lara Arruabarrena have moved into padel full time, and Elina Svitolina has co-founded a padel club in Kyiv.

One tour at last

For years the professional game was split between rival circuits. That ended in 2024, when the World Padel Tour, founded in 2013, was folded into Premier Padel, the tour backed by Qatar Sports Investments since 2022. Padel now has a single global professional circuit, which makes it much easier to sell to broadcasters and sponsors. The International Padel Federation has made Olympic inclusion its next target and is aiming for the 2032 Games.

Where the boom is cooling

Not every market is still growing. The Playtomic report groups countries into stages, and one group is described as being in a post-boom adjustment. Sweden built courts rapidly during the Covid years and has since seen closures and consolidation. In Chile, monthly bookings fell by 27% and more than 80 clubs closed during 2024.

That is the risk in the sport's growth. Compared with many sports facilities, courts are quick to build, which lets padel expand fast, but it also makes it easy to build more than local demand can support. The mature markets of Spain, Italy, Portugal and Argentina are now focused on running clubs well rather than simply adding courts.

Still accelerating

Even with those warnings, the direction is clear. The report points to rapid growth in Asia-Pacific, where Indonesia alone added around 800 courts, premium projects across the Middle East, and strong demand in the UK, Germany and Ireland that still outstrips supply. From a modified squash court in Acapulco to a unified tour and an Olympic bid, it is one of the fastest rises any racket sport has had.