Padel was invented in 1969 by Enrique Corcuera in Acapulco, Mexico. He built the first court in his own garden. A Spanish friend saw it and brought the sport to Spain, where clubs started opening in the late 1970s. Spain and Argentina became the dominant padel nations. The World Padel Tour launched in 2013, then merged with Qatar Sports Investments' Premier Padel in 2024. Today the sport has over 30 million players worldwide in 65+ countries.
The 1969 Mexican origin
Padel's origin story is precise and well-documented. In 1969, in Acapulco, Mexico, a wealthy businessman named Enrique Corcuera wanted to build a tennis court in his garden. The available space was too small for a regulation tennis court and was bounded by walls. Rather than abandon the project, Corcuera adapted. He installed a net, marked lines on the ground, built in the walls as part of the court, and created rules allowing balls to rebound off those walls. Padel was born.
Corcuera played this new game with friends in his garden through the late 1960s and 70s. The first "court" was approximately 20 metres long by 10 metres wide - dimensions that became the global standard for the sport decades later, directly inherited from Corcuera's garden constraints.
Spanish expansion in the 1970s-80s
In 1974, a Spanish aristocrat named Alfonso de Hohenlohe-Langenburg visited Corcuera in Mexico and was introduced to padel. Hohenlohe owned the Marbella Club - a prestigious resort on the Costa del Sol. Upon returning to Spain, he had two courts built at the Marbella Club in 1974, modifying Corcuera's design slightly.
Through the late 1970s, padel spread through Marbella's high-society networks. Another enthusiast, Julio Menditeguy, took the sport to Argentina in 1975, building courts there. By the early 1980s, both Spain and Argentina had multiple clubs and the sport was established in both countries.
The first Spanish Padel Championship was held in 1981. The Spanish Padel Federation (FEP) was founded in 1983. The International Padel Federation (FIP) was founded in 1991 - though the modern FIP structure took several more years to solidify.
Argentina and the Latin American era
Through the 1990s and 2000s, Argentina dominated professional padel. The climate, the abundant courts and the padel culture produced wave after wave of top players. Argentines Fernando Belasteguin and Juan Martin Diaz partnered for over a decade starting in 2001, becoming the most successful pair in padel history with 162 and 150+ titles respectively.
Belasteguin and Diaz defined this era. Their partnership spanned the pre-professional and professional eras of padel. When the World Padel Tour launched in 2013, they were already legends. Their dominance and the general excellence of Argentine players is why most top coaches on the modern circuit are Argentine, even when their players are Spanish.
The World Padel Tour era (2013-2023)
The World Padel Tour (WPT) launched in 2013 as the first truly professional padel circuit. Prior to WPT, padel had a patchwork of national tournaments and international events but no unified professional tour. WPT brought structure: a season calendar, consistent format, prize money, ranking system and broadcast partners.
During the WPT era, padel's professional profile grew rapidly. Spanish players began challenging Argentine dominance - Juan Lebron became the first Spanish world number one in 2019, then Alejandro Galan joined him at the top in 2020. The Galan-Lebron partnership dominated 2020-2022.
The WPT also coincided with padel's amateur explosion in Europe. By 2020, Spain had over 3 million active players, clubs were opening across France, Italy, Sweden, the UK and elsewhere. The sport was no longer primarily Iberian.
The Premier Padel disruption and 2024 merger
In 2022, a new circuit called Premier Padel launched - backed by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) and the International Padel Federation. Premier Padel offered dramatically higher prize money and aimed to replace WPT as the primary pro circuit.
This created a split. Players had to choose between tours, some tournaments conflicted, rankings fragmented, and the professional game was in disarray for two years. Tapia and Coello emerged as Premier Padel's dominant pair; Galan and Lebron remained on WPT.
In 2024, the two tours merged. Premier Padel absorbed WPT, becoming the single unified professional tour. The FIP became the governing body, and Premier Padel became the commercial circuit. The merger stabilised the sport's professional side for the first time in two years.
The amateur explosion (2018-present)
The most significant development in padel history is not on the professional tour - it is the amateur player base. Before 2018, padel was essentially a Spanish and Argentine sport with small outposts elsewhere. Between 2018 and 2026, the player base grew from under 10 million worldwide to over 30 million.
Key markets:
- Spain - 6+ million players, 7,000+ clubs, national obsession
- Italy - fastest-growing European market, 3+ million players
- Sweden - highest per-capita player density in Europe
- France - 500+ clubs opened in the past five years
- UK - starting from almost zero in 2018, now over 500 courts nationwide
- UAE and Middle East - massive investment, luxury courts spreading
- USA - slow but accelerating, particularly in Florida, Texas, California
Reasons for the growth: padel is easier to learn than tennis, takes less space per court than tennis, works indoor or outdoor, and has strong social appeal (four players per court versus two, plus glass walls make spectating easy).
Where padel stands today
As of 2026, padel is the fastest-growing racket sport in the world and among the fastest-growing sports overall. The professional scene is stabilised under Premier Padel. The amateur scene is booming in Europe and emerging in North America. Major brands (Adidas, Head, Wilson, Babolat) all compete for market share in equipment. Sponsor money continues to flow in - Coello's 2026 deal with On shoes marked the first time a major mainstream athletic brand committed heavily to padel.
Is padel a future Olympic sport? Discussions are ongoing. The IOC typically requires a sport to be globally established before inclusion. Padel is getting there - 65+ countries with active federations as of 2026.