Chances are that sometime in 2021 you have heard the term padel pass by. Padel is the fastest growing sport in the Netherlands. But what is padel actually? We explain it to you in this blog!
About padel
Padel is a racket-ball sport that is played with 4 people. Padel is played on a field with a cage around it. The padel ball resembles a tennis ball but is slightly softer. The aim is to get the ball over the net, in which the cage also plays an important role. Many people think padel is a combination of tennis and squash. To get a better picture of the sport, we explain the rules.
The padel court
That padel resembles a combination of tennis and squash is not wrong. However, there are a number of important differences. To start with, the padel court is a lot smaller than a tennis court. The dimensions of a padel court are 20 by 10 meters (see images below). In addition, a padel court has no walls as with squash. The cage is a combination of fencing and glass. The padel court consists of two playing halves, both with two service areas and a back field. The two halves are separated by a net, just like in tennis.
Padel rules
The rules of padel are very similar to the rules of tennis. The padel ball must always be hit over the opponent's net. You play the service in padel underhand, where the ball must first bounce behind the service line. In padel it is also allowed to let the ball hit the wall after the bounce. Then you can hit him back. This often results in surprising and unique rallies.
The scoring
The scoring in padel is the same as in tennis, namely 15,30,40 (possibly deuce) and game. If you land on deuce, two consecutive points must be made to win the game. You do this by using the advantage/disadvantage scheme.
Padel matches are often played for two won sets. You win a set if your team is the first to win six games with a difference of two games. Will it be 6-6 in games? Then you play a tiebreaker. You play a tiebreak until one of the teams has seven points with a difference of two points from the other team. Both won a set? Then you play a third set. You play this in the form of a super tiebreak that resembles the regular tiebreak. However, here you play up to ten points with a difference of two points, instead of seven points.
The origin of padel
The story goes that padel originated in 1969 in Acapulco in Mexico. The creator of this is Enrique Corcuera, a wealthy Mexican businessman. He invented a new sport by adapting the rules, rackets and dimensions of tennis. He built the first padel court in his own front yard. Padel then ended up in Spain through a Spanish friend of Enqirque, where the first European padel club was founded. From this moment on, Padel started to grow enormously in Spain. Argentina soon followed, after which other countries started to follow suit. In the Netherlands there are currently more than 500 padel courts at 200 different locations. It is expected that in 2024 there will be 1100 padel courts at about 400 locations.
