How is born the padel ? What is his Story ? What are the key moments of its development? Discover the main technological revolutions of this incredible sport.

Acapulco (Mexico), 1969, a man has a squash court in his garden and dreams of making it a tennis court, finding this sport more enjoyable. A problem then arises: the area of ​​his garden is not enough to accommodate a tennis court.

The history of our sport is on the move…

Create your own tennis court…

This man then decides to create his own tennis court, smaller and closed by walls. He adapts the tennis rackets to the dimensions of his new field, by creating smaller wooden rackets. He then baptized the course " Paddle Corcuera ».

This man is Enrique Corcuera, the inventor of padel. A few years later, his friend Alfonso de Hohenloe visited him in Mexico, and was fascinated by Enrique's invention. On his initiative, the first one padel official is created in Marbella, Spain in the highly regarded Marbella Club Hotel. The sport then became popular in Spanish high society, and quickly returned to the American continent by exporting to Argentina. The first federation of padel then appears in Argentina in 1988.

Technological innovations are revolutionizing the padel

The following year, several technological innovations will revolutionize this sport and allow it to spread. Jorge Galeotti, resident of Mar del Plata (Argentina) designs and builds the Crystal Palace », The very first glass pitch, which can be dismantled and transported.

This field is an immediate success, because of the television broadcasting of the matches of this event. The padel then becomes a sport visible from the outside thanks to the visibility offered by the windows.

The same year, the Argentinian Carlos Perez creates a racquet to overcome the main drawback of padel : the strong vibrations felt with each stroke. He then develops the SANE (Sistema Antivibratorio from Núcleo elástico) {literally the anti-vibration system with elastic core}, a rubber racket that absorbs vibrations and limits the noise of knocks.

In addition to the improvements in terms of sensations, this racket revolutionizes the game, because it makes it possible to strike the ball with much more power and to print more complex effects, thus making the sporting aspect more attractive.

Creation of federations dedicated to padel

These innovations were followed by the creation of the Mexican (1991), Uruguayan (1991), Paraguayan (1992), American (1993), Canadian (1993), and Brazilian (1994) federations. The first big tournament of padel takes place in Uruguay on the occasion of the South American padel. The Cut Enrique Corcuera (México 1993) marks a turning point in the internationalization of padelbecause it brings together the participation of eleven countries.

The sport is popularized in Spain in particular thanks to the support of several retired figures of world tennis, such as Manolo Santana. In 1997, the President of the Spanish Government José María Alfredo Aznar López had a court built padel Moncloa Palace, the equivalent of the Elysee Palace in Spain. The “Copa Presidente” is even organized in honor of the president between a South American team and a European team.

The professional circuits of padel

Courses of padel are gradually appearing on Spanish territory, mostly on the " Costa del Sol », The very touristic region of Malaga. More and more tourists are learning this activity, and some are launching the sport in their country with private land.

Le Padel Pro Tour was born in 2005, and the first competitions of padel professional appear in Argentina and Spain. In 2012, the current World Padel Tour (WPT) appears and becomes the reference of padel global. Although the majority of WPT events take place in Spain, several competitions appear all over the world. In 2018, France welcomes for the second time a challenger from World Padel Tour at Casa Padel (Saint Denis), renewed in 2019.

Soon after, the sport became very popular in Spain. In this country the padel is now the second most popular sport after football. Spain hosts the majority of professional tournaments in the World Padel Tour since 2013.

expansion of padel global

From his names, we can guess his Spanish and Italian origins. Lorenzo is a multilingual passionate about sports: journalism by vocation and events by worship are his two legs. He is the international gentleman of Padel Magazine. You will often see it on the various international competitions, but also on the major French events. @eyeofpadel on Instagram to see his best photos of padel !