Say hello to padel, the racquet sport everyone's playing

Mint

09-07-2025

Stop with the pickleball mania already. There's another racquet sport whose star is rising and anyone who finds pickleball boring loves it. Say hello to padel—the hottest game in town today. 'It's impossible to find a court in the mornings or after office hours on any given day in Mumbai. Everyone wants to play it and despite a dozen or more courts, I cannot find a free slot if I don't book way in advance," says Tunali Mukherjee, 38, a screenwriter from the city. The padel boom, according to Mukherjee, is insane at the moment.
'There is a luxury club coming up in Worli and another one is in the works in the office district of Lower Parel. There are more than a dozen padel facilities in South Mumbai alone. And most of the legacy clubs such as Radio Club, Cricket Club of India and Bombay Gymkhana have set up a padel court for their members and guests," she adds. Padel courts have also mushroomed in Bengaluru, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Pune, Delhi and Gurugram.
Mind you, this demand for padel is not in metro cities alone. People in smaller cities and towns, too, are keen on having a go at this sport that is a mix of tennis and squash. Nikhil Singh, 44, who runs a pickleball facility in Jamshedpur, is looking to start a padel court as he feels the steel city has a healthy demand for it thanks to the sport's omnipresence on social media and YouTube. Suraj Juneja, 46, founder of Alt Sports that sets up pickleball and padel courts, says tier 2 and 3 cities want to try out the new racquet sports as much as people in cities want to. 'I am setting up padel courts in Siliguri at the moment," says Juneja.
IS PICKLEBALL LOSING FANS?
Pickleball has enjoyed a phenomenal rise in popularity across India in the last couple of years. It owes its popularity to the fact that it is an easy sport to learn irrespective of one's racquet skills, athleticism, fitness or mobility. 'Pickleball is a very easy sport. Its learning curve is not at all steep. Even those who have never played any sport ever or aren't sporty or athletic can pick up, and are playing, pickleball without much trouble. A couple of sessions and anyone will appear natural at the game as the pace is manageable and it doesn't involve too much running around or require special skills," says Aarish Ansari, 31, a digital content manager from Mumbai.
Ironically, the very reasons that made pickleball popular are now stunting its growth and the sport is drawing a fair bit of flak. Since it is so easy, those who are active or fit are not challenged by pickleball, explains Juneja. As a game, it is slow and people can easily grow bored of it, and the only skill one needs to learn to become good at it is volleying, says Mukherjee. Another thing that goes against pickleball is the noise. Residential complexes across India that have installed pickleball courts have been flooded with complaints from inhabitants about the noise caused by pickleball, which is made of plastic. As Mukherjee notes, it is because pickleball is played with a plastic ball that it is not taken seriously. Among its detractors, pickleball is largely seen as an activity for people who aren't active, have limited racquet skills, and are old. The fact that long retired tennis stars such as Andre Agassi (55), Steffi Graf (56) and John McEnroe (66) are the face of pickleball doesn't help shake off its association with older people. In contrast, padel recently ran a campaign with current tennis stars Iga Swiatek and Daniil Medvedev. It helps matters that several high profile footballers including Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are often spotted playing padel in the media.
WHAT MAKES PADEL A SERIOUS, ELITE SPORT
Padel sits perfectly in the gap between tennis (not as technical and difficult) and pickleball (not as slow, easy and boring). As padel is much faster and more skilful than pickleball but a lot less technical or difficult than tennis, it is challenging enough for players to upgrade their skills and also fast enough to ensure a good workout.
'Padel is a more serious sport and elite. You need skills to play it," says Ansari, who admits he would switch to padel if he finds three more friends to play it with. That shouldn't be a problem given the meteoric rise the sport is enjoying across the world these days. Floating padel courts have been launched in Miami, Dubai and Switzerland, ski resorts have also set up courts for padel, luxury brands from Chanel and Prada to Balenciaga and luxury watch brand Audemars Piguet have added padel accessories to their offerings and plenty of padel retreats have appeared in Spain, Thailand and Indonesia. Closer home, Mukherjee says the number of people in Mumbai who want to play padel is huge. 'There are thousands of people on all the WhatsApp padel groups that I am a part of."
As a sport, padel is relatively more expensive than pickleball. Setting up a padel court is about five times more expensive than setting up a pickleball court, points out Juneja. That means renting a pickleball court is significantly cheaper than renting a padel court. Typically, a pickleball court charges between ₹ 500 to ₹ 1,500 per hour as compared to ₹ 2,000 to ₹ 4,000 per hour for a padel court. Even the pickleball racquets and balls are significantly cheaper than a padel racquet and balls. Padel coaching is also more expensive than employing a pickleball coach of a similar calibre and standing. Mukherjee pays ₹ 30,000 for three months of hour-long sessions two times a week in groups of four. One-on-one coaching can cost anything upwards of ₹ 4,000 per hour.
According to Juneja, people who crave a faster pace of play choose padel as it is a much more challenging sport and it feels like a better workout. 'Anyone who is used to playing tennis is more likely to enjoy padel as the scoring system and the balls used are similar. The game requires a certain degree of racquet skills and agility to cover the court. But besides that, the set of people who choose padel over pickleball are those who want to be seen playing a cooler, much more expensive sport that is on the rise, " he says adding, 'Padel is huge in Dubai and many people want to be associated with a sport that is trending in richer countries."
Mukherjee belongs to the group with a tennis background and that is what attracted her to padel in the first place. 'What appeals to me about padel is that I can keep upgrading my skills in the sport unlike pickleball, where all you really do is volley. The glass walls add an extra layer of challenge. The cage, hitting the ball off the walls and the faster pace make padel a lot more enjoyable as a sport despite it being a lot less technical than tennis," says Mukherjee. There's also the social aspect of playing padel that she enjoys. 'Playing padel is a lot more fun and productive than sitting in a restaurant or a bar for a couple of hours eating and drinking. Padel is addictive," she confesses.
Shrenik Avlani is a writer and editor and the co-author of The Shivfit Way, a book on functional fitness.