One might think that a sport as spectacular as padel was born from great tactical thinking or a well-thought-out federation project. In reality, its origin lies in a seemingly trivial problem: a stubborn man, a court that was too small, and balls that kept disappearing outside the garden. It is from this constraint that one of the most popular sports of recent years was born.

In this series “Padel for Dummies”, we tackle the history of our sport. It all began in 1969, in Acapulco, Mexico.  Enrique Corcuera A businessman with a passion for tennis wanted to install a court on his property. However, he quickly encountered a major problem: he didn't have enough space in his garden to build a standard tennis court. Rather than abandoning the idea, he decided to adapt the game to the available space. He then marked out a smaller court, approximately  20 meters out of 10 He then had walls built some time later to prevent the bullets from escaping. It was this detail, initially conceived as a simple practical solution, that would change everything. 

 Enclose the pitch to free up the game 

Because these walls don't just serve to contain the ball; they quickly become an integral part of the game. The bounce off the walls opens up new possibilities, changes the rallies, accelerates the pace, and above all, imposes a different reading of space. To better adapt to this nascent discipline, Corcuera and his wife also modified the equipment: the racket was no longer strung like in tennis, but had a solid perforated surface.  better suited to fast-paced play on a small surface What began as an ingenious contraption then transformed into a true sporting revolution. Enrique Corcuera also drew inspiration from other variations of tennis played in smaller spaces, such as American platform tennis. 

first padel court

The anecdote is all the more striking as it shows that padel was not born from a desire to revolutionize racket sports, but  a need for adaptation In other words, padel was born because a court was too small. This may explain part of its continued success today: from its inception, this sport was designed to be more accessible, more fun, and more immediate than traditional tennis. It retains the logic of tennis, and the use of glass walls evokes squash, but the combination gives rise to a new, fast-paced, and particularly convivial discipline. 

 The moment when padel changes dimension 

This Mexican invention could have remained a simple private pastime, reserved for a few close friends. The decisive turning point came in 1974, when the prince  Alfonso de Hohenlohe A friend of Corcuera discovered this game during a stay in Acapulco. Seduced by its intensity and ease of access, he decided to have similar courts built in Marbella on the Spanish coast.

Paddle magazine enrique corcuera

 Spain, the first springboard for padel 

From there, padel left its inventor's garden to begin its international conquest. Spain quickly fell under its spell, followed by Latin America.  first international competitions  are organized into  Uruguay  1982 soon. 

This birth story reveals something quite rare in the history of sport: sometimes, a great invention doesn't arise from a grand project, but from a very simple, almost domestic constraint. Padel is the perfect example of a sport born from a series of circumstances. A lack of space, a few walls, a clever idea, and that's how a garden anecdote became a global phenomenon. 

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