What is PADEL?
Padel is a sport which combines action with fun and social interaction. It’s a great sport for players of all ages and skills, as it is both quick and easy to pick up. Most players get the basics within the first half an hour of playing so that they can enjoy the game.
Padel is not as dominated by strength, technique and serve as it happens in Tennis and therefore is an ideal game for men, women and youth to compete together. An important skill is match-craft, as points are won rather by strategy than by sheer strength and power.
THE PADEL COURT
Padel is a mix between Tennis and Squash. It’s usually played in doubles on an enclosed court surrounded by walls of glass and metallic mash. The court is one third of the size of a tennis court.
The ball can bounce of any wall but can only hit the turf once before being returned. Points can be scored when the ball does bounce twice in the competitors’ field.
PADEL RACQUET & BALL
The game is quick and easy to learn, making it a fun and addictive sport to play. Using a short, stringless padel racquet with an elastic surface with holes and a low compression tennis ball, the service is made underarm.
Shots are played either before or after the ball bounces off the surrounding glass walls, adding a unique dimension to the sport over conventional tennis.
DIMENSIONS
A Padel court is 20 meters long and 10 meters wide with the back walls being made of glas up to a hight of 3 meters, whereas the glas side walls end after 4 meters. The walls can be made of glas or another solid, even material like concrete. The rest of the court is closed using a metallic mesh to a hight of 4 meters.
At the middle of the playing field there is a net dividing the court in two. It has a maximum height of 88 cm in the center, raising to 92 cm at both sides. These fields are than divided in the middle by a line and another line three meters from the back wall marks the service area.
SCORING
The scoring and rules are very similar to Tennis, with the biggest difference being that the serve in Padel is underarm and that balls can be played off the glass walls in a similar way as in Squash. The rules allow for the use of the back and sidewalls, which results in longer rallies than in a conventional tennis match. Points are won rather by strategy than by strength and power.
