The co-founder of Twenty by Ten, from Padel Business League and tennis lover, Michael Kuzaj, gives his point of view on the evolution of padel.
Testimony.
Padel to the rescue of tennis
It's no longer a secret: padel is growing around the world at high speed. And in France, we're taking the same path. All the tennis clubs want padel, while tennis in France is on a complicated slope.
Everyone only talks about that (myself I drunk myself), while the tennis numbers are quite alarming:
- 1991: 1,3M licensees
- 2021: 950k
That is a loss of 350 licensees in 000 years.
In June 2022, the FFT announces that it will cross the bar of one million licensees.
We would have liked to have a word from the FFT on the impact of padel on this increase which I think is important. Too bad...
Padel: more suited to the lives of active people
We know the reasons that make more than one capsize and that make us completely addicted to this new sport:
- User-friendly
- Accessible
- Playful
And tournament formats more adapted to the life of active people.
I became such a fan of padel that I made it my job.
My heart sport is plummeting
But it hurts me to see my favorite sport plummeting like this.
Here are three things about tennis that I don't find when I play padel:
- The feeling of the STRINGS! Being able to scratch the ball and send liftons while pretending to be Rafa. An effect that does not exist in padel!
- Send LATTE! Whether it's from the baseline or on serve, this feeling is still the greatest good after a day sitting in front of your desk.
- The solitary side of an INDIVIDUAL sport. Find yourself at 5/7 6/4 4/4 against a trap opponent, and have to dig deep inside yourself to find the solution and the resources like a grown-up.
I sincerely hope that tennis will bounce back because it's a magical sport, and that the two will be able to live together in the long term!
So, team tennis or team padel? A question that is likely to persist for a while yet…
To find, Michael Kuzaj's post, it's happening HERE.

Franck Binisti discovered padel at the Club des Pyramides in 2009 in the Paris region. Since then, padel has been part of his life. You often see him touring France to cover major French padel events.