Padel is played in over 90 countries, with 25 million players, 50 years after its founding.
European star athletes Andy Murray and Virgil van Dijk are both investors in the padel ecosystem. They invested in Game4Padel a British padel court operator.
Andy Murray, a three-time grand Slam tennis champion, has been interested in the sport since he was a teenager while training in Spain.
“I think it’s a great social sport,” said Murray. “I know a lot of the ex-tennis players when they finish playing have taken it up and find that it is great for their fitness, but also not quite as demanding as tennis.”
Padel, unlike tennis, is played in doubles, but the scoring system is identical in both sports.
All serves are underarm and shots can be played after being returned. You can also hit shots into the back and side walls that line the court, which measures 20m long by 10m wide.
The hitting surface of a padel is entirely made from carbon fiber or fiberglass. This makes them smaller than tennis rackets.
Similar to pickleball, which has seen a surge in popularity in America in recent years and earned the title of America’s unofficial Pandemic Pastime, padel is now popular in Europe and South America.
For example, around 15,000 new European padel courts were created in Europe last year.
Padel is second in popularity after football, with more than 6 million players and over 20,000 courts.
“It was an opportunity to invest in a sport I enjoy playing,” says Murray. “It’s one of the fastest growing sports in the world … I think it’s going to keep getting bigger and bigger. I think clubs will continue to want to build courts and there’ll be more demand for it.”
