Are Padel and Paddle-tennis the same sport?
Even though Padel is one of the sports with the most important growth in the world, it is still called “paddle tennis” by a lot of people. Let's talk a little bit about History !
It seems that everything started at the end of the nineteenth century, when transatlantic companies decided to build little tennis courts in the holds to occupy people during long crossings. It appears that three hundred years later, this leaded to the creation of two sports that share partly their rules and equipments with tennis : platform tennis and paddle-tennis. Let's talk about the latter.
Paddle-tennis was first created in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century by reverent Franck Beal who reduced the size of the tennis court by half, brought a smaller ball and a wooden racket. This sport became very popular in the US and the federation called USPTAC was created. As you can see here in Venice Beach, paddle-tennis court looks pretty much like little a little tennis court.
More than fourty years later, in 1969, the Mexican Enrique Corcuera invented a new sport called padel by building the first court in his house. Since he did not want plants to invade his court and was tired of losing balls, he built concrete walls around his little tennis court. That's how it all began for this sport that is now played by millions of persons all around the world !
While the first courts had concrete floors and walls, they now use artificial turf and glass walls for a better experience. Like paddle-tennis, padel first used wooden rackets,but they have evolved a lot during the last decades and now have become high-tech products that are mostly made of foam, carbon and glass fiber.
These modern rackets, called “palas” in spanish, make it easier on elbows and wrists and allow players to give the best of themselves on the court. As you can see on padelusa.com, we provide a big range of “palas”, allowing every player to find a product that perfectly fits its needs. To sum up, the biggest difference between padel and paddle-tennis is the fact that the first mentioned uses glasses and fences around the court while the second doesn't.
In the end, we could say that paddle-tennis is like a smaller version of tennis, while padel is more like a synthesis of three racket sports : tennis, squash and Basque pelota, making it very fun to play. To conclude we can declare that padel and paddle-tennis are just two different sports that share various similarities !
