Padel tennis for two: everything you need to know about the trend sport

Padel, also known as padel tennis, is a return game that has developed from the tennis variation “platform tennis”. The name comes from the Spanish Padèl and the sport has its origins in Mexico. It is a mixture of tennis and squash and is played in teams of two with small hard rackets without strings. It requires tactical play, exciting and sometimes long rallies and offers a large portion of action.

In jeder Kategorie sind padel oder padel tennis from Mexico, the court is set up in a similar way to tennis. However, it is smaller and has walls made of glass or grids, which are actively involved in the game. The padel racket is compact and the hitting surface is not strung but has small holes.

Paddle oder paddle tennis has its origins in the USA. The court is larger than in padel and has no integrated walls. The rackets are also thinner and the balls softer than in padel.

Of the three, tennis is probably the best-known backswing game and has been an Olympic sport since 1988. It can be played individually or in teams of two against each other. The rackets are large and the hitting surface consists of a woven net. The court is the largest here and the tennis ball also has greater internal pressure, which makes it bounce faster and higher.

As described above, padel and paddle are very similar sports. They are therefore often used as synonyms. In fact, however, they are both sports in their own right. The main differences are the lack of walls in American paddle, as well as the harder rackets and balls and the slightly smaller playing field in Spanish and South American padel. In Europe, when people talk about “padel,” they almost always mean the Mexican/Spanish version.

Tennis “against the wall” is not a game in the true sense of the word. Rather, it describes a form of tennis training that is played alone with a wall and without rules. You “play against yourself” by repeatedly hitting the ball against the wall and then parrying it. The aim here is to improve your own technique in terms of hitting, timing and reaction.

The relatively new sport of padel tennis for two was originally created in Mexico. It was invented by Don Enrique Corcuera when he wanted to have a tennis court on his property, but there was not enough space. The result was a court that was exactly half the size of a normal tennis court. The concrete walls, which were already there and had not been removed, were quickly integrated into the game and new rules and tactics were created.

The Spanish Prince Alfonso Hohenlohe brought the sport of padel to Spain, where it quickly became very popular and spread to other European countries. Don Julio Menditeguy followed in his footsteps for South America after learning about the sport at Hohenlohe’s Spanish Marbella Club.

In a padel game, two teams face each other with the net separating the playing areas. The game begins with a serve “from below”, after which the ball may hit the ground a maximum of one time. Several bounces against the walls are allowed and the ball may continue to be played as long as it does not touch the ground again.

The padel sport is always played in teams of two, so four people are needed for a game. There are variations in which 1 vs. 1 can be played, but these are not part of the official padel game and require special adaptations to the rules of the game.

The serve must be a so-called underhand shot. This means that the ball is played “from below” and must be hit at waist level or below. The person with the serve stands behind their own service line, bounces the ball on the ground behind the line and then hits the ball into the opposite court. The ball must come diagonally behind the other player’s service line and not touch the net.

The scoring system is similar to tennis, although there are a few special features. Depending on the tournament, a match is considered won if 2 or 3 sets have been won. A set is considered won when a team has won 6 games, or as a “tie-break” variant with 7 wins. To win a match, a team must score at least 4 points with at least a two-point lead.

The opposing team receives one point if:

• Two serves were faulty
• The ball does not touch the ground first on the serve but a wall
• If the ball touches the ground twice in your own court before it can be returned
• If a player touches parts of the net or the opponent’s court
• If a teammate is hit after a hit

The complete rules of the game can be found here in the international rules of the Padel Game. 

Padel tennis for two is not only a fast-paced sport, but also an ideal balance for anyone looking for exercise, teamwork and variety. The mixture of tennis and squash makes the padel game easy to learn and challenging at the same time. Whether with friends, partners or in a club, the padel sport offers a shared experience that perfectly combines fitness and fun. So if you fancy a dynamic rebound sport, you should definitely give padel a try.

Want to get started right away? You can find the locations of the German Padel Club on a map here.