Popular racquet sport padel is popping up in metro Atlanta
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ITA Atlanta in Chamblee has four padel courts programmed by PATL. Credit: Josh Hart of Josh Hart Media/Courtesy of PATL
Padel, an immensely popular racquet sport you've probably never heard of and don't know how to pronounce, is establishing a foothold in metro Atlanta.
Why it matters: Invented in Mexico in 1969, "paddle" or "pah-dell" combines tennis, squash and racquetball and is growing in popularity in the U.S., particularly in Florida, Texas and along the east coast.
The latest: In December, Kevin Ye and Andrew Herring's company PATL partnered with ITA Atlanta to open four courts and start offering clinics and lessons at the racquet sports complex in Chamblee.
- The PATL courts are the only public options for the padel curious and serious in Georgia, Ye and Herring told Axios. The closest padel courts are more than 200 miles away, they say.
How it works: Padel is played with a slightly deflated tennis-like ball and perforated paddles on a shrunken tennis court enclosed within glass walls, Axios' Martin Vassolo writes.
- It's played by more than 25 million people around the world and is especially popular in Spain and Argentina. But there's only about 300 padel courts in the U.S., the Washington Post reported in January.
- Padel is more physically demanding than its American cousin, pickleball, which has become the fastest-growing sport in the U.S.
- And unlike pickleball, which can be easily played on re-lined tennis courts, padel courts are more expensive to install. Plus, it isn't free to play.
Yes, but: The different ball is less noisy than the ones used to play pickleball.
Zoom in: Players can book court space through ITA's reservation system for $60 an hour (padel games are doubles play, so roughly $15 per person) and rent paddles ($5) and buy containers of balls ($9).
- Clinics start at $30 and lessons are $120. ITA members receive a 25% discount on court reservations and clinics.
The intrigue: Roughly 70 to 80% of people who attend a clinic at the ITA courts return to play, Ye and Herring told Axios. On some days, Ye said, he teaches six hours of lessons.
What's next: PATL is scouting locations in west Atlanta and wants to surround the metro with courts.
Watch some of the best padel points here.