Overheard in the of one of India’s most exclusive members-only clubs: “We had to drop some of our tennis courts to create padel courts because of its high demand and growing popularity amongst our members.” As in music, fashion or food, blended ideas and fusion formats work beautifully together. Enter the love child of tennis and squash—padel—the latest trending sport that has made its way to India from the Americas and Europe.
This doubles-only racket sport is swift, exciting and highly social with the dual benefits of cardio and . Padel follows a and has been touted as ‘tennis with walls’. It inherits much from tennis including the scoring system and courtside changes in alternate games with the exception of the ‘golden point’ to win games.
Barring serves, for the ball to be considered good, it must touch the ground before hitting the walls or fences. A clean serve entails the ball bouncing inside the corresponding cross-quadrant. Sets are played and won in a best-of-three format with strategic use of walls.
Strong backhands and forehands lend winners. Padel was most certainly born of an idea of training for tennis and metamorphosed into ’ hybrid mutant, albeit with a smaller and heavier racket. From legacy gymkhanas to contemporary members-only clubs, padel and its younger cousin pickleball are seeing members scrambling to book courts and slot games.
Back in 2017, India had only one padel court in Bengaluru. Today, there exist about 100 courts in the co.