Padel Tennis

Padel tennis (or just Padel) is a racquet sport played extensively in Spain and Latin America. It is not the same as Paddle tennis.

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, and so the biggest difference is that the court has walls and the balls can be played off them in a similar way as in the game of squash.

The sport was invented in Mexico by Enrique Corcuera in the mid seventies. It is currently most popular in Spain and some Latin American countries it is now beginning to spread rapidly across Europe and other continents. The sports huge popularity along the Costa del Sol in southern Spain has exposed it to a large number of British residents and holiday-makers and this is 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 so that they can enjoy it because the game is not as dominated by strength 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 of organizers of matches of Padel and Association of Professional Players of Pádel (AJPP) and the Spanish Feminine Association of Pádel (AFEP).In 2006 the winners were Juan Martín Díaz and Fernando Belasteguín in masculine category and Lisandre (Neki) Berwig and Iciar Montes in femenine category all of they repeat winning in 2007. Both teams dominated the PPT during those seasons winnning more than 80% of the tournaments.

Summary

- Players: Played in doubles only.
- Serves: Serve must be underhand. Second serve allowed as in tennis.
- Score: Scoring method is the same as in tennis.
- Ball: Very similar to tennis balls. Tennis balls are sometimes used.
- Paddle: Solid with no strings. May be perforated.
- Walls: Walls are used as part of the game.

External links

* [http://www.padelfip.com/ Official website of the International Padel Federation]
* [http://www.padelprotour.com/ Official website of Padel Pro Tour (Spanish)]
* [http://www.2008worldpaddle.com/ Official website of the 2008 World Paddle Championships in Calgary, Canada]
* [http://www.mundialmurcia06.com/ Official website of the 2006 World Paddle Championships in Murcia, Spain (Spanish)]
* [http://www.PadelCentrum.nl/ Information about Padel in The Netherlands (Dutch)]
* [http://www.padelcenter.com/ padelcenter: general Padel Tennis information (Spanish)]
* [http://www.padel.info/ padel.info: general Padel Tennis information (Spanish)]
* [http://www.padelspain.com/ padelspain: general Padel Tennis information (Spanish)]
* [http://www.affordable-tennis-holidays-in-the-sun.com/padel.html Padel Tennis Guide & Padel Holiday Information (English)]
* [http://www.yourmarbella.com/groups/padel-tennis/default.aspx Padel Tennis Community Andalucia (English)]
* [http://www.liguillas.com/ Website of Padel Tournamets (Spanish)]

Blogs

* [http://www.PadelCentrum.nl/ PadelCentrum.nl:]
* [http://padten.wordpress.com/ Padel Tennis Blog]
* [http://www.doblepared.com/ doblepared: padel Blog (Spanish)]
* [http://sportpadel.blogspot.com/ SportPadel: padel Blog (Spanish)]
* [http://www.sobrepadel.com/ sobrepadel: padel Blog (Spanish)]
* [http://www.puntopadel.com/ Punto Padel: padel Blog (Spanish)]