Inside smooth glass courts, padel’s reputation push 

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MUMBAI: A sport that started as an unintended invention in a Mexican yard has captured the creativeness of athletes, entrepreneurs, and sports activities lovers internationally. It has additionally discovered its solution to town of desires.

Inside smooth glass courts, padel’s reputation push 

The Asia Pacific Padel Tour (APPT) Mumbai Open made its India debut this month at Bandra’s St Stanislaus Faculty, marking a major pitstop for the game within the nation. With high worldwide expertise, a $6,500 prize pool and international rating factors on supply, the match drew a vigorous crowd.

The venue itself is a spectacle: smooth courts surrounded by glass partitions and metallic mesh fencing tucked inside the center of Bandra. There’s music, vitality, and an unmistakable vibe of one thing contemporary. But for many Indian gamers, this can be a re-entry level into elite sport.

“At 32, I thought my sporting career was over,” mentioned Jenai Bilimoria, a former tennis participant. “Padel brought me back into the field again. It’s easier to get a hang of it compared to other racquet sports.”

Vaibhavi Deshmukh, a part of the Indian contingent that gained bronze on the Asia Pacific Padel Cup (APPC) in Bali final 12 months alongside Bilimoria, spent almost a decade competing in junior and worldwide tennis circuits. “Padel felt like a natural progression,” she mentioned. “And the tournament in Bali really set the ball rolling for us.”

Invented in 1969, padel quickly grew throughout Europe and Latin America. India entered the scene a lot later in 2016 when Sneha Abraham and her husband Ronnie Sehgal, who ran a tennis academy in Bengaluru, found padel’s reputation in Spain. They constructed India’s first padel court docket in 2017 and helped set up the Indian Padel Federation the identical 12 months. Right now, there are over 100 padel courts throughout India.

Nikhil Sachdev, co-founder of Padel Park India, a number one padel firm, believes India has the right ecosystem for padel to thrive. “We’ve launched our own circuit, the Indian Padel Tour, and have successfully hosted six editions so far.”

On the APPC, newcomers India outperformed different rising nations to complete third. The success led to India bringing house an APPT match that includes over 100 gamers, starting from amateurs to professionals and from international locations like Spain, Argentina, France, UK, USA, Russia, Thailand and Singapore.

Padel’s rise

Is it squash within the solar or tennis with partitions? Neither, however padel hits the candy spot between each.

The scoring system mirrors tennis (the Golden Level rule is an exception), although the sport performs out on a smaller court docket enclosed by glass and metallic mesh partitions. This design means shorter sprints, longer rallies, and continuous motion, because the ball stays in play even after ricocheting off the partitions.

There are not any huge booming tennis serves; simply an underhand one as the main focus shifts to technique, reflexes and teamwork. The racquets are distinctive too: shorter, perforated and with out strings, providing better management and smash-friendly swings. The ball is tennis-like however with barely decrease strain, permitting for slower, longer and extra tactical rallies.

Padel nails the stability between depth and accessibility. It’s simpler on the physique than tennis, faster than squash, and far more social than both. With its doubles-only format, it’s constructed for camaraderie.

“The big boom for padel in most countries came during Covid (pandemic), when people couldn’t see each other,” David Maxwell, director of the APPT, mentioned. “Recently padel beat golf to become the number one networking sport.”

Recreation, Set, Swap?

Many former tennis gamers the world over and in India are actually leaping ship, discovering new ardour — and success — in padel.

Sharmada Balu, a former nationwide tennis champion, is constructing her padel resume at 31. So too is Aryan Goveas, as soon as among the many high Indian juniors who performed present world No.1 Jannik Sinner again in 2018.

Aryan Hemdev, competing within the APPT Mumbai Open, places it right down to padel being the right mixture of squash and tennis. “If you’ve played either sport at a high level, you’ve already picked up 50% of what padel requires. And it takes less toll on your body, so it becomes a more inclusive sport, especially for former athletes.”

Max Pickard, APPT participant, coach and host of the People of Padel podcast, mentioned, “Even at a beginner level, you can jump into a tournament like the APPT. That’s the beauty of padel, it’s competitive but accessible, and because it’s less strenuous on the body, it welcomes players of all ages, sizes and skill levels.”

The highway forward

For all its development, padel in India continues to be battling teething points. The largest hurdle? Infrastructure. Whereas new courts are popping up, they’re nonetheless concentrated in metro cities. Teaching is one other problem, with India nonetheless constructing experience there. After which there’s the issue of visibility.

“Even pickleball gets way more coverage online,” Hemdev mentioned. “Padel doesn’t yet have that kind of buzz in India and that needs to change. Once the infrastructure builds up, the marketing can follow.”

“For a sport to truly take off, it has to exist at three levels — recreationally, professionally, and in the public eye,” added Sachdev. Padel has already established the primary two, however is missing within the third. Company backing has already began pouring in, and in keeping with Sachdev, that is only the start.

Involvement of sporting icons — Pullela Gopichand has stepped in because the chief advisor to the Indian Padel Federation — can solely drive the momentum. “Big names can really move the needle for padel in India,” mentioned UK participant Ed Stoner. “MS Dhoni’s a huge fan of padel, which is great for visibility here and in the UK, even David Beckham has taken to the sport. That kind of star power makes a difference.”

On the worldwide stage, franchise-based padel is booming. The latest Hexagon Cup in Madrid noticed workforce homeowners like footballer Robert Lewandowski, tennis icon Andy Murray, the Rafa Nadal Academy, Hollywood star Eva Longoria, and F1 driver Pierre Gasly investing within the sport.

Sachdev believes it’s solely a matter of time earlier than India follows swimsuit. “India will also have franchise-based padel very soon.”

Padel is now not only a passion. For a lot of athletes, it’s a second profession. For buyers, it’s a enterprise alternative. And for India, it’s a contemporary sport that might more and more discover its place.