Thanks to the figures provided by the Google Trend application, we can estimate the popularity of padel in different countries over a given period. To do this, we look at the number of searches with the keyword “padel”.

Of course, this is not enough to determine exactly the evolution of the sport in the given territory, but it is a good indication of its popularity rating. Then, we compare these results with the occurrences of the keyword “tennis” to realize the place of padel compared to another popular sport!

In the following graphs, the blue curves represent padel and the red ones correspond to tennis. The period considered goes from March 3, 2021 to today.

Finland booming

Si a few years ago it was Sweden that had impressive numbers, today it is Finland with just over 60% of requests in favor of padel. The World Padel Tour was not mistaken in organizing a tournament in Tampere, the first Finland Open.

In the other Scandinavian countries, we see more or less the same trend, namely that padel and tennis are of equal interest. The boom that Sweden experienced has calmed down, and today the two curves are quite contiguous, as in Denmark and Norway, even if the latter have not yet experienced a big explosion of padel on their territory.

In France, we don't look for padel

For France, we can observe the same trend for several years, namely a strong domination of tennis compared to padel. This may seem quite surprising, since padel projects are multiplying in France, the country hosts major tournaments like the Human Padel Toulouse Open or the Greenweez Paris Premier Padel Open at Roland-Garros. But tennis is a sport that interests a lot in France and it will take a long time for padel to gain “market share”.

Italy has a very similar evolution for a similar profile. While padel is developing even faster and stronger than in France, we notice the same type of curve. Here again, we are dealing with a country where tennis has a strong popularity rating.

Spain still at the top

A leading country for padel in Europe and the world, Spain justifies its reputation through figures. Alongside tennis, which has a great history in Iberian lands, padel totally dominates the web with more than 75% of requests in its favor.

Global report

The  Spain  remains the sacred land of padel and its popularity remains at the top of sports disciplines in the territory, above many very popular sports such as football or basketball.

Padel continues to gradually establish itself in the Scandinavian countries, indoor structures are having an effect and people are becoming more and more interested in this sport, the events of which will certainly multiply in the years to come, such as the World Padel Tour Finnish Open.

In France and Italy, everything seems to work for padel, but this does not translate into searches on the net. Of course, we cannot judge the overall state of mind of people with keyword searches, but these results are enough to make one tick. Perhaps the next competitions and the nice weather will reverse the trend this summer.

Martin Schmuda

A competitive tennis player, Martin discovered padel in 2015 in Alsace and appeared in a few tournaments in Paris. Today a journalist, he covers padel news while continuing his rise in the world of the little yellow ball!

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