When we look closely at those who come to fill the grounds of paddle Today, we quickly notice that this sport attracts very varied profiles.

According to an internal study carried out by Doinsport with partner clubs:

  • 47% players come from tennis,
  • 28% have a past of footballer,
  • 14% practiced a sport without a racket (handball, athletics, swimming, etc.),
  • 8% played others racket sports (badminton, squash, table tennis),
  • 3% discover the paddle as a first sport.

These different backgrounds shape their approach to the game, which creates a great diversity of approaches. Everyone transfers the qualities they acquired to their original sport... and that's also what makes the sport so special. friendly meetings like competitions!

Tennis (47%)

Nadal Padel
Rafael Nadal 14 titles at Roland Garros

It is no wonder that almost half of the padel players come from tennis. In fact, padel takes several basics from the king of racket sports in the world (for the moment...):

  • La racket handling technique (takes, volleys, smashes) is close.
  • Le field placement recalls the patterns of doubles in tennis.
  • La effects management is almost the same.

Former tennis players often have a one step ahead in exchanges, but must learn to manage the windows and to reduce their power. And that is not obvious... it is even a brain teaser for thousands of padel players!

Football (28%)

Sylvain WILTORD, European football champion with the French national team in 2000

A lot of footballers switch to padel after playing in a club. Surprising? Yes and no, because there are some similarities between these two seemingly unrelated sports:

  • Le team game and coordination with a partner.
  • La reading trajectories (anticipate a rebound, cut a ball).
  • The importance of support and quick starts.

Former footballers compensate for their lack of racket technique with a quick and sense tactics highly developed. Have you noticed that soccer players have "canes"? That's the whole contribution of their previous sport.

Non-racquet sports (14%)

Omeyer Padel
Thierry Omeyer, double Olympic handball champion

This group brings together practitioners of handball, volley, Athletics… Their common points with padel:

  • Reactivity and mobility on sometimes fast surfaces.
  • Concentration to chain together short and intense actions.
  • Explosiveness in the movements.

This category of players starts from further back than the old tennis players, because they have to tame the technical moves. But she comes with a solid physical baggage, often a big power… and a sharp cardio.

Other racket sports (8%)

Badminton, squash, table tennis : so many disciplines which bring useful reflexes:

  • Meaning of timing and precision in strikes.
  • Reading of effects and changes of pace.
  • Agility in short trips.

These players generally adapt quite quickly to padel, even if the net game and the height of the balls requires a little adjustment period.

Those who start directly with padel (3%)

Finally, a minority of players take up padel without having ever played another sport. For them, everything is there to discover:

  • La holding the racket,
  • The basic investments,
  • The rules and specific tactics.

But the Boeotian has more than one ace up his sleeve: he has no "bad habits" to correct and often learns with a fresh eye. Which can give rise to a pure padel player…the one that ex-tennis players sometimes secretly loathe!

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