Tampa Bay joins Florida padel boom with new courts, clubs
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
On left, St. Pete Athletic's padel courts. On right, a branded padel racket. Photos: Courtesy of St. Pete Athletic
Move over, pickleball. A hot new racquet sport is on the rise in Tampa Bay.
Why it matters: Padel, often described as a mix of squash and tennis, is growing in the U.S., with Florida as the epicenter, according to the International Padel Federation.
- While the sport first took off in Miami, it's begun to pop up at clubs in Tampa and St. Petersburg.
The big picture: Padel, invented in Mexico in 1969, is played with a deflated tennis ball and perforated paddles on a shrunken tennis court enclosed within glass walls.
- It's played by more than 35 million people around the world and is especially popular in Spain, Italy and Argentina.
- While participation in the U.S. still pales in comparison, the sport has seen explosive growth from about 230 courts and 90,000 players in 2023 to more than a thousand courts and a million players in recent months.
Zoom in: Tampa Bay got an early taste of the sport in 2023, when the Pro Padel League kicked off its inaugural season at the Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center in Zephyrhills.
- The club and academy was ahead of the curve when it opened in 2020 with four padel courts.
- Luxury padel operator Ace Padel was set to open its first club in Tampa, but the plans were derailed by "environmental issues," the Sports Business Journal reported. The company has since pivoted to Miami.
- Last year, Tampa social club The Stovall House opened two padel courts at its members-only fitness amenity, SH19.
The latest: St. Pete got its first two padel courts this month as part of pickleball and social club St. Pete Athletic's 20,000-square-foot expansion.
- Courts are also on the way to Carrollwood via Flapjack Social, a pickleball and padel facility set to open this year.
Friction point: While padel is often compared to U.S.-born pickleball, it has more barriers to entry and expansion.
- It's more physically demanding. And unlike pickleball, which can be easily played on re-lined tennis courts, padel courts are more expensive to install.
- It's also more expensive to play. While cities including St. Pete and Tampa offer free pickleball courts at public parks, padel's growth has so far mostly been in clubs with membership or access fees.
- The Washington Post described padel as "pickleball's posher, privileged cousin" in a 2024 article delving into the sport's proliferation among the super-rich, particularly in South Florida.
How to play: Courts at St. Pete Athletic and the Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center are open to non-club members for a fee.
Axios' Martin Vassolo contributed.