With the rise of padel, we often hear that padel is harming tennis. Even great champions like Novak Djokovic are convinced of it…However, these two sports deserve to coexist peacefully rather than continually wage war on each other.

Many will say that padel has had a negative impact on tennis: disappearance of tennis courts, transfer of players from tennis to padel, disinterest in tennis in favor of padel...

Many blames are placed on padel, sometimes making the tennis players a little… bitter in their remarks on the networks and in general. But let’s reestablish the truth right away: No, padel players are not failed tennis players… and no, padel is not crushing tennis !

Tennis, a sport in constant progression

Despite all that has been said, tennis is far from dying. The second most popular sport in the world is still just as popular… if not more so!

The ITF (International Tennis Federation) has released the latest figures regarding the sport. One thing is for sure… tennis is doing very well!

Tennis figures

Today, in the world, there are 106 million tennis players ! It is 25,6% more than in 2019 (and the arrival of padel on a global scale in 2020-21)! In comparison, Padel reached 30 million players last October… which is to say that there is still a huge difference between the two disciplines!

The internationalization of padel, a key factor

Today, padel cannot cause the death of tennis for one reason only: its internationalization. Padel is not yet sufficiently developed in the world to be able to dethrone tennis at the top of the racket sports ladder!

In our current world, there is not a country where tennis is not played, while in padel, We are pleased to have a Russian player in the circuit…There are too many differences between the two sports for us to think that one day padel could surpass tennis.

106 million players… beware of the nuances

However, there is one aspect to consider: the biased count. Because yes, 106 million tennis players seems like a lot, except that, to take the example of France, there is a slight nuance.

There is the single license, where you can only choose padel… but there is also the multi-racket license. Therefore, players exclusively dedicated to padel can be counted in the FFT figures, making the data collected a little erroneous. But we are talking about a minority…

So, does padel have anything to worry about tennis? Not really. These two sports are destined to coexist rather than eclipse each other, whether tennis players rest assured!

Gwenaelle Souyri

It was her brother who one day told her to accompany him to a padel court, since then, Gwenaëlle has never left the court. Except when it comes to going to watch the retransmission of Padel Magazine, World Padel Tour… or Premier Padel…or the French Championships. In short, she is a fan of this sport.

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