History of Padel

Padel-Tennis, also known as Padel or Paddle, has its origins on a not so popular variant of enclosed Tennis called Platform Tennis. Enrique Corcuera in 1969 decided to adapt his Squash court at his home in Acapulco (Mexico) with elements of Platform Tennis creating what he called "Paddle Corcuera". He is considered the inventor of Padel.

Enrique's Spanish friend Alfonso of Hohenlohe-Langenburg tried this new invention at Enrique's home and instantly felt in love. Immediately after, he decided to create the first two Padel courts in a Tennis club in Marbella (Spain), this was 1974. Nevertheless Alfonso included few modifications from Enrique's original designs to make it more competitive, being this the first of many iterations Padel will have in the following 20 years in Spain. In the meantime in 1975, Julio Menditeguy an Argentinian member of Alfonso's Tennis club in Marbella felt the same passion and decided to import the sport to Argentina.

Since the first courts in Spain, Padel took nearly 25 years to be extended all over the Spanish geography. Finally in the early 2000s there were more than 500 Padel clubs and many Spanish hotels already included as sport activity Padel Courts. In 2005 Padel was already well-established in Spain with more than 1000 Clubs. It is when the most important Padel Associations decided together to establish an International Championship played fully in Spain. This was the beginning of Padel Pro Tour, which lasted until 2012. Specially since 2010 this sport has been constantly growing and blossoming all over the world and it is now for many people considered the fastest growing sport around the world as you can read in this article from the British newspaper The Telegraph... read more here