Padel tennis is especially famous in Spain. The main governing body of this discipline is also located here. Padel tennis gained widespread admiration across the aristocratic and wealthy population segments, being a cross between tennis and squash, but being easier to learn.
This kind of squash is extremely popular and well-known in Latin American countries and Spain. Padel Pro Tour World Cup is the major and top tournament in padel.

In Spain, this squash-like game first appeared in large metropolitan areas, sports sections in Madrid and Barcelona, ​​and then spread throughout the state. Now the level of equipment of sports clubs and the athletes themselves is increasing, the prestige of the national championship is growing. And the great number of British tourists coming to Spain, as well as buying up real estate on the Iberian Peninsula, popularized padel squash in the UK.

Technical features of this sport

The playing court is 20 meters long and 10 meters wide, divided in the center by a special net, which stretches across the entire court, reaching a height of 88 cm in the center and 92 cm on the sides.

On each side of the grid, a feed zone with a depth of 6 meters 95 centimeters is outlined, which is divided in the middle by a line called the center line. Thus, it turns out a total of 4 serving areas with dimensions of 6.95 x 5 meters.

The court fences must have a height of more than six meters without any extraneous structures, such as lighting. Padel is mainly played by a couple against a couple, and for one-on-one competition, courts with reduced dimensions are used.

The court is fenced on all sides with walls, and the ball should bounce well from the rear, behind the backs of the athletes, and the side metal nets should dampen the blow. Walls are made of any materials, not necessarily transparent, it can be either glass or brick, the main thing is that the necessary rebound of the ball is carried out.

The floor can also be almost anything: concrete, synthetics, grass, or carpet, the color scheme is familiar to tennis – blue or green. Grass or carpet floor is lightly sprinkled with sand before the competition to improve traction with the lawn. In such cases, the players wear special sneakers.

For this squash-like game, they even produce special balls painted in yellow or green. The main distinction from tennis is lower pressure, which provides a smoother rebound. However, sometimes tennis balls can also be used in padel since their sizes are completely the same. An ideal padel ball should bounce 1.35 to 1.45 meters off a hard surface when thrown from a height of 2.54 meters.