It's a sport still a little unknown on European soil but our American friends love it: pickleball.

Indeed this discipline created more than 60 years ago in Florida by the politician Joel Pritchard meets a real success in the country.

But what exactly is pickleball?

Very similar to tennis, this one is played on a smaller court with rackets resembling the first palas of padel. Like us you explain it in 2020 Already : “In France, the Pickleball France Federation is in charge of the development of this sport. The game counts in 11 point, like table tennis. The rules are quite subtle: we spoon and in flight (unlike the padel where we must let the ball bounce), and following the service, each team must hit a ball from the baseline before being able to volley. Then the volleys are authorized, but not on all the ground: it is no volleyball in the area closest to the net. In summary, we can say that it is a game that requires great flying skills, and it may very well be complementary to padel".

A game of pickleball in the United States

Celebrities fans of padel

Former tennis player, billionaire businessman Wayne Boich has become a true fanatic of the padel. In 2014, when the coal entrepreneur was building his Miami Beach waterfront mansion, he decided to build a track in place of the originally planned tennis court, regularly inviting celebrities like Dwyane Wade and Ivanka Trump.

The CEO of Boich Investment Group discovered the padel for the first time 10 years ago during a trip to Europe and, like so many former tennis players, he fell in love with the discipline. In 2022, we found him behind the Blockchain.com World Padel Tour Miami Open, with Frenchman Nallé Grinda. A very successful tournament combining padel, events and concerts, with the presence of a large number of celebrities: Ludacris, Jimmy Buffett, Jimmy Butler, Alonzo Mourning, Wyclef Jean, Dominic Thiem, Rick Ross, Shane Battier...

jimmy butler basketball padel
Miami Heat basketball player Jimmy Butler during the Blockchaincom WPT Miami Open

This is how the American public was able to discover or rediscover the padel. Florida is currently “the place to be”, notably with the already legendary Wynwood Padel Club, a lively place where celebrities like David Beckham like to go to play. And when these personalities with millions of Instagram followers share stories on the tracks of padel, this contributes greatly to the popularity of the sport.

Moreover, the development of padel is taking over the whole country, with in particular the new Pro Padel League which launches as the first professional league of padel in the USA. And although it is still early, lovers of padel like Boich are convinced that the sport will take off in the United States in the coming years:

« We believe the sky is the limit for the padel “, he declared to our colleagues from the New York Post. " The plan now is to stimulate growth throughout the country by opening clubs, and organizing tournaments to introduce this discipline to as many people as possible.."

Even if all the lights seem to be green for the padel in the USA, it will still take work to pass pickleball, which according to the specialized site The Dink, would have more than 36 million practitioners today!

Sebastien Carrasco

Future naturopath and passionate about padel, Seb is the health/food gentleman of Padel Magazine. He juggles between pala, quinoa and essential oils. For almost two years now he has been dealing with the news of the little yellow ball with the same passion.

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