Padel is the fastest-growing sport in Europe and the UK, with player numbers increasing by more than 30 times since 2018.
Padel is similar to tennis however the court is more distinguishable. The court is enclosed by walls, which are normally composed of glass and iron mesh.
These walls are not only for containment; they are also necessary for gameplay. Similar to squash, players can play the ball off these barriers.
Liverpool FC stars including Virgil Van Dijk are fans of padel and have frequently be seen playing the sport.
Vincent Hivert (pictured above) is director of growth and participation at Game4Padel UK. At a weekly event at Liverpool Cricket Club, he told Mersey Sport Live why the sport is becoming so popular.
“There are lots of important ambassadors for padel, especially with regards to Liverpool with the likes of Jurgen Klopp.
“As you can see here, all the courts are full, everyone has been playing for maybe 20 minutes and they are hooked already.”
While the sports has seen significant growth here, Hivert explained that the UK falls short compared to other countries.
He said: “We have just short of 500 courts in the UK right now compared to France with a similar population who have 2100.”
There are three good quality courts that are free to play on at Liverpool Cricket Club that are often in use. However, there are only 200,000 players in the UK but that figure is growing.
In 2024 Spain had more padel players than any other country in the world, with a total of around 5.5 million participants. Meanwhile, Italy had the second-highest number of padel players, at 1.5 million.
