Padel basics · 8 October 2026 · 4 min read
What is padel? A beginner's guide to the game
New to padel? Here is what the game is, how the court works, how you score, and how to get started.
Padel looks like a simple idea: tennis played in pairs, inside a glass-walled court, with walls that keep the ball in play. The story of how it got here is a good one, and it starts in a back garden in Mexico.
This is a short history of the sport, and how it came to the leagues we run today.
Acapulco, 1969
Most accounts agree that padel was invented in 1969 by Enrique Corcuera, in Acapulco, Mexico. He wanted a tennis court at his home but did not have the space, and balls kept landing in the neighbours' garden.
His answer was a smaller court, about 20 metres by 10, with walls all round it. The walls kept the balls in, and soon they became part of the game: players could use them to return the ball, a bit like squash. Early on the game was known as "Paddle Corcuera", and the friends who tried it worked out the details by trial and error. Even the ball was tested, and a tennis ball turned out to work best.
From Acapulco to Marbella
Corcuera's court was a social place. Among the friends who played there was Prince Alfonso of Hohenlohe, who spent his summers in Acapulco and took the game home with him to Marbella, on Spain's Costa del Sol, where he built courts at the Marbella Club.
The exact year depends on who you ask: sources give the early 1970s, with some pointing to 1974. What everyone agrees on is the effect. Marbella in those years was full of famous and wealthy visitors, and padel quickly picked up a glamorous reputation.
Argentina falls in love
In 1975, an Argentine called Julio Menditeguy, who had played in Marbella, took padel back to Argentina. Clubs built courts, and the sport grew fast. By 1988 there was an Argentine Paddle Association, led by Oscar "Cacho" Nicastro.
Argentina and Spain, the two countries that took padel to heart first, are still two of the strongest padel nations today.
Spain's big break
In Spain the real boom came in the 1990s, when well-known figures from politics, business and the media took the game up and made it fashionable. The International Padel Federation was founded in 1991, and professional tours followed: the World Padel Tour started in 2012, and in 2022 a new tour, Premier Padel, arrived with the backing of the international federation.
Red Bull reports that Spain now has more than 20,000 padel courts, and that the sport is more popular there than tennis.
Padel in Britain today
Padel came late to Britain, but it has caught up quickly. The LTA reports that more than a million people now play in Britain, which makes it one of the fastest-growing sports in the country. New clubs and courts are opening all the time.
That growth is why Padel League UK exists. Our leagues are built for teams of two, in divisions set by level, with all the fixtures, tables and results in one app. You do not need to be a club player, and you do not need to have played for long.
A note on dates
Padel's early history was passed on by word of mouth, so sources disagree on some details, especially when the first courts opened in Marbella. The part everybody agrees on is the 1969 start in Acapulco, and the way the game then spread through Spain and Argentina.