I'd let her f*#k me with a racket

padel tennis, mataviejitas & pialadero

Author

Rocio Lucero
August 01, 2024

Welcome to another edition of CDMX iykyk 🎊

I hope the subject line didn’t catch you off guard—it was too good not to borrow from Zendaya’s Challengers tennis movie! Today, we're diving into padel tennis, an exciting sport that originated in Mexico and is now sweeping the globe.

P.S. I’m on vacation next week, so there will be no newsletter. I’ll be back in your inbox on August 15 :)

Let’s dive in.

TOP STORY 

Ludovico from La familia P. Luche

Padel Tennis: The Trendy Global Sport Born in Mexico 

With an estimated 25 million players around the world, pádel, a sport with origins in Mexico, has burst into the global sports scene due to its accessibility and ease of practice. Some are even saying it’s the “new golf”. From Mexico to the world!

Tell me more.

Padel, pronounced “PAH-del,” was created in 1969 by Enrique Corcuera, a wealthy Mexican businessman in Acapulco. This doubles game is played with a low-pressure tennis ball, a paddle, and a glass-walled court about half the size of a tennis court. Combining elements from tennis, racquetball, and squash, padel is seeing a rapid rise in popularity worldwide.

Many confuse padel and pickleball but don’t get it twisted, they are not the same. They may be racket cousins but padel is more complex. Some consider pickleball a game and padel a sport since it calls for more skill and athleticism. 

Though padel stayed under the radar for decades, its popularity surged during the pandemic as it offered an outdoor, non-contact form of exercise.

Let’s unpack this.

In the mid-1970s, Alfonso de Hohenlohe, a Spanish prince, discovered padel in Mexico and introduced it to Spain's Costa del Sol, specifically the Marbella Club. The sport flourished, especially among the wealthy and famous. Today, Spain boasts over 20,000 padel courts, the highest number in the world.

During the 1980s and 1990s, padel spread across Europe and South America. Argentina became a hotspot, hosting the first World Padel Championship in 1992. Today, Argentina is home to many of the world’s top padel players. And padel is the second most-played sport in the country.

In recent years, padel has become the fastest-growing sport globally, thanks to its easy accessibility, social appeal, and smaller court size. Padel is now played in over 90 countries across six continents. While Spain remains a central hub, other nations like Sweden and the UAE are also becoming padel powerhouses. In the US, padel has gained popularity within elite circles.

What does this mean?

The sport is also seeing significant growth in Mexico. There are 320 clubs, 1,500 courts, and over 300,000 amateur players, with 3 million fans following the sport on social media. According to Jorge Adalberto Mañé Rendón, president of FEMEPA, padel is now played in 29 of Mexico’s 31 states, a significant increase from just five states in 2018.

Deloitte predicts that by 2026, the number of padel courts worldwide will reach around 85,000, more than double the current number of about 40,000.

Padel's explosive growth shows no signs of slowing. Whether it will remain a sport for the affluent or become widely accessible remains to be seen. 

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