Padel Tennis

Welcome to the world of Padel Tennis

The LTA’s vision “Tennis Opened Up” is about making tennis more accessible. It’s about breaking barriers to entry and growing the game of tennis.

One of the LTA’s key strategies is to find new ways to grow participation and padel is an innovative format of tennis that’s fun, flexible, easy to play and extremely sociable.

Visit the LTA website for detailed information about Padel Tennis.

What is Padel?

Padel is a form of tennis that is easy to play, fun and extremely sociable. It is played mainly in a doubles format on an enclosed court about a third of the size of a tennis court and can be played in groups of mixed ages and abilities, as it is not power dominant. The rules are broadly the same as tennis, although you serve underhand and the walls are used as part of the game with the ball allowed to bounce off them.

One of the fastest growing sports across continental Europe, padel has gained increasing popularity over recent years, with over six million people currently playing in Spain.

Padel Courts

Padel courts are designed for four players and are roughly 25% smaller than the size of a tennis court. The speed of the game, combined with the smaller size of a padel court, makes singles play difficult, and most padel matches feature two pairs of players.

Some padel courts are designed especially for singles, but around 90% of all padel courts in the world are doubles specific. At a professional level only doubles is played on the World Padel Tour, the leading competition for elite players.