Padel Statistics 2023: What is Padel Tennis?

Padel has become one of the fastest growing sports in the world and is beginning to grow in popularity in places like the United States and the UK.

It is a fun sport with a great community and will continue to grow in popularity over the next few years.

So before you go buy your new padel racket, here are some padel statistics that you may not have known.

General Padel Statistics

Here are some general facts and figures on padel:

• The term “padel” is searched 904,000 times a month according to ahrefs.

• Italy shows the most interest in the term “padel” with a search volume of 156,000 times a month.

• Padel is the second most popular sport in Spain behind soccer.

• Padel was originally called padel tennis as it was played on a tennis court but with four walls surrounding it.

• The sport is played on a variety of surfaces including clay, grass and hard.

• Lionel Messi has a padel court at his house!

History of Padel

Padel is a racket sport that originated in Mexico in 1969 and was invented by Enrique Corcuera.

Enrique was inspired by his experiences playing tennis and squash and wanted to create a sport that combined the elements of both. He also wanted to create a sport that was more accessible and less expensive than tennis and believed that an enclosed court would make the sport more exciting.

After padel was introduced to his community, it quickly gained popularity in Mexico and soon spread to other parts of South America, including Chile and Argentina.

In the 1980s, padel became popular in Spain where it is now one of the most popular sports in the country.

The growth of padel has been rapid over the past few years and is expected to grow in popularity with it now gaining a following in the United States and the UK.

Global Padel Statistics

Padel has become one of the fastest growing sports in the world and continues to grow in numbers every day. Here are some statistics on padel around the world:

• There are over 25 million players around the world which is a figure that has doubled in the last 5 years.

• There are more than 6,000 active padel players in the UK and over 80 padel courts.

• Spain has an estimated four million players with more than 20,000 padel courts.

• Every year around 900,000 padel rackets are sold which is more than double the number of tennis rackets sold each year.

Top Players in Padel

Men’s Singles Top 10 Ranked Players

Women’s Top 10 Ranked Players

Padel Tournaments

There are currently two professional tours in padel: the FIP Tour and the World Padel Tour.

There are over 1200 pro ranked males players and over 500 pro ranked female players on the Internatioanl Padel Federation website. The FIP rankings are heavily dominated by Spanish players with 73 of the top 100 male players and 72 of the top 100 female players being Spanish.

The World Padel Tour is the most popular international padel circuit with 24 professional tournaments in the calendar year. Each tournament will attract around 20,000 fans in stadiums with a capacity of over 5,000 spectators.

On the Premier Padel Tour, the new global tour for padel, there are at least 10 tournaments planned for 2022 and 2023 and that number is expected to rise to 25 tournaments per year by 2024.

There is a total of €2.95 million ($3.15 million) in prize money on offer on the World Padel Tour and history was recently made at the World Padel Championships in Dubai where a total of €500,000 ($533,175).

Whilst this is nowhere near the amount of prize money in tennis where more than $60 million was on offer at the 2022 U.S. Open, padel is looking to increase the amount of prize money on the tour as the sport increases in popularity.

Records and Achievements in Padel

Here are some notable records and achievements in padel which you may not have known:

• Fernando Belasteguin has won the most matches on the WPT pro circuit with 373 wins out of 419 matches.

• Fernando Belasteguin has also won the most titles with over 120 padel titles, including the World Padel Tour Final and the World Padel Tour Master.

• Roberto Gattiker has won the most World Padel Championships with a record of 4 times.

• The longest point in World Padel Tour history happened in 2021 where one point lasted 6 minutes and 48 seconds!

• The most consecutive padel titles was achieved by Fernando Belasteguin and Juan Martin Diaz who won 13 consecutive doubles titles together as a team.

• The longest match took place in 2011 between Matias Diaz and Maxi Sanchez where the match lasted for 6 hours and 18 minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where was Padel Invented?

Padel was invented in Acapulco, Mexico in 1969 by Enrique Corcuera and was originally called padel tennis. Enrique was inspired by tennis and squash and wanted to create a sport that combined elements of both.

Where to play Padel Near Me?

There are many clubs around the world where you can play padel. The best thing to do is to search up padel courts in your country and see which clubs are closest to you.

Many clubs will have group sessions that you can join so you can be involved in a community as well as enjoy playing the great sport.

How Big is a Padel Court?

A padel court is about 25% smaller than a tennis court.

If you are looking to build a padel court for yourself then the dimensions of a padel court are 20m in length by 10m wide. See the diagram below:

How do I play Padel?

The best way to learn how to play padel is to join a club and get coaching lessons. However if you are wanting to learn the basics I’d recommend watching this video below:

Conclusion

Hopefully now you understand a bit more about padel and it has inspired you to pick up a padel racket and start playing.

Padel is a sport that will continue to grow in popularity over the next few years and may even be introduced as an Olympic sport.

Whether you want to become a pro padel player or just to play as a hobby on the weekends, I’d recommend everyone to give padel a go.