Players who swear by tennis will tell you that the padel is a sub-version of their favorite sport. Conversely, aficionados of padel will tell you that their discipline is more accessible and more fun than tennis, which is far from false. But the padel is he a threat to tennis? We open the debate this week with Anybuddy, the specialists in reserving land for padel and tennis!

Le padel, unprecedented growth

Le padel has been experiencing uninterrupted growth for several years now in many European countries. nothing butin France, there are almost 20 classified men among men today, compared to 000 players last September. Similarly, the number of clubs in France increased by 181% between 2019 and 2021!

We could then say that this growth is sometimes at the expense of other sports and in particular tennis, but this is far from being the case. Moreover, the FFT (French Tennis Federation) has just announced that it now has more than one million licensees, a figure it had not reached since September 30, 2017.

The case of Spain also confirms this. It has now been 25 years since the padel grows in the Iberian Peninsula, and however, tennis is far from dead there.

Tennis and padel : two sports made to coexist

As for the players, the practice of the two sports is perfectly complementary. First, because the physical requirements are not exactly the same. In effect, as Lionel Roux said : “In tennis, there are a lot of lateral movements, whereas in padel we are more on the front-back.”

Similarly, tennis is mainly played in singles, at least in competition, when the padel is played exclusively in doubles. The approach is therefore quite different between the two sports.

Finally, we can think that few tennis players completely abandon this sport to practice only tennis. padel. As a general rule, tennis players with a good level remain attached to the queen discipline of racket sports. They will just practice the padel on the side, to diversify their abilities or to play with people who are not familiar with tennis.

It can also be emphasized that good players start with a head start in padel, and just end up performing well in both sports.

Besides, if you want to easily practice one of these sports, you can do it thanks to Anybuddy. On their website or on their mobile application, available free of charge on iOS et Android, you can book a court in 3 clicks in many clubs around your home. Hundreds of tracks from padel and thousands of tennis courts are bookable online. 

Le padel : an opportunity for tennis clubs and the federation.

The French Tennis Federation has understood this well by taking charge of the padel in France for a few years, and tennis clubs as well. At the international level, the International Federation of Padel (FIP) is completely independent. But in France, the padel is indeed administered and regulated by the FFT.

Moreover, many clubs affiliated with the FFT have already built a track padel, instead of or in addition to their already existing tennis courts. By having a land of padel, clubs can indeed attract new players while increasing the loyalty of old ones. 

This sport is very easy to learn and people have fun from the start. You don't need to have previous tennis experience to have fun with the padel, which attracts new players. And have a trail of padel makes it possible to offer something new to tennis players who are already members.

To conclude, we can compare the development of the padel with that of futsal or 5-a-side football. Indoor football on a small pitch is intended for football players registered in a club, as well as for other people who do not particularly wish to play 11-a-side football or do not necessarily have a past in this sport. 

In any case, the success of structures like Le Five does not go hand in hand with a decline of the French Football Federation or of professional football. So the same goes for the padel and tennis which we believe are two complementary disciplines which for the moment can only pull each other up.

And you readers, what do you think?

Team Padel May

Team Padel Magazine tries to offer you since 2013 the best of padel, but also surveys, analyzes to try to understand the world of padel. From the game to the politics of our sport, Padel Magazine is at your service.

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