PADEL

Padel is typically played in doubles on an enclosed court about half the size of a tennis court. The balls used and the scoring is the same as normal tennis, just with a little less pressure. The biggest difference is that the court has walls and the balls can be played off of them in a similar way as in the game of squash.

The sport was invented in Acapulco, Mexico, by Enrique Corcuera in 1969. It is currently most popular in Argentina, Mexico and some other Latin American countries. It also has taken off in Europe, predominately in Spain, although it is now beginning to spread rapidly across the rest of Europe and other continents. The sport's huge popularity, along the Costa del Sol in southern Spain, has exposed it to a large number of British residents and holiday-makers, this being one of the reasons it is beginning to take off in the UK.

Padel is great for players of all ages and skills, as it is both quick and easy to pick up, and is less physically demanding than similar sports like squash. Most players get the grasp of it within the first 20 minutes of playing and find it easy to achieve a level of proficiency. This helps boost the level of enjoyment right away because the game is not as dominated by strength, technique and serve as tennis (in fact, the serve in padel is under-arm).

Padel Pro Tour (PPT) is the professional Padel Circuit which was created in 2005 as a result of the agreement between a group that organizes Padel matches, the Association of Professional Players of Padel (AJPP) and the Spanish Feminine Association of Padel (AFEP).