Padel enters the sport industry's biggest night - does this herald racquet sport's arrival at the main stage?

The sport that's taken Britain by storm has found its way onto one of international sport's most prestigious shortlists. Padel 22's finalist status in the Best Newcomer category at the 25th Sport Industry Awards feels like a broader signal of where the industry is heading.

Cast your mind back only a couple of years, and if you asked who was helping shape the narrative of the sport in its new territories, one name would regularly surface: Padel 22.

As an early adopter in a space with no clear category to call its own, the Ben Nichols-founded agency was, quite literally, building the plane while flying it.

Fast forward three and a half years, and the pioneering racquet sports consultancy now finds itself among the finalists at the 25th Sport Industry Awards.

For a sport with a rapidly evolving story, this recognition marks not only a milestone for the British-American agency - which operates across the UK and US - but also a breakthrough for padel, which features at the awards for the first time in their 25-year history.

It's a moment that says as much about the sport's rapid rise as it does about the agency that has helped grow its profile in Britain and the United States.

"For padel to surface on the shortlist of the Sport Industry Awards for the first time is a significant moment for the sport.

“Until now, so much discussion of padel has been viewed through the lens of participation - this cultural craze if you like," said Padel 22 Founder Ben Nichols.

"When the sport starts entering an Awards that have been at the heart of the UK's commercial scene for over two decades, it feels like something has shifted - padel has entered serious commercial, investment and media conversations alongside the football, golf and tennis of this world.

“The sport, in what I often call the 'New Padel World', is growing up - and that's something that should be embraced," he added.

The numbers back up Nichols' assertions that padel is indeed entering a new phase. According to racquet sport technology firm Playtomic, which operates around 80% of the UK padel market, new clubs are opening at a rate of approximately 20 per month.

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The LTA, Britain's tennis governing body, which expanded its remit to include padel in 2020, counted more than 1,553 courts in the UK by the end of 2025. A few years ago, however, that figure barely registered.

Some observers are now calling the UK the most compelling padel market anywhere in the world in 2026.

It's also earned a reputation as one of the most social, with strangers regularly sharing courts in numbers unseen in other sports.

For a sport that barely existed on British shores a decade ago, it's a remarkable turnaround.

What makes this shortlisting particularly meaningful isn't the inclusion in a best newcomer category itself - it's what it represents for the sport's maturation as a commercial proposition.

For years, the padel story in the UK was told primarily through participation numbers: new venues opening, players trying the sport for the first time, waiting lists building at courts across the country.

The story being told this week - with Sport Industry Group even hosting its own padel competition - is a different one. It perhaps signals padel's true arrival at the commercial sport industry's table.

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The 25th Sport Industry Awards takes place in London on Thursday. The full shortlist is available at sportindustry.co.uk.

Further information on Padel 22 at padel22.com.

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