Padel news: The past, present and future of the sport in the UK as grassroots enthusiasm grows
After a rapid rise in popularity across the United Kingdom, padel has become the favourite sporting pastime for many Britons.
Notably, over £6 million has been invested by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) to promote the sport.
Here, Sports News Blitz writer Vanely Barumire explores the history of padel in the UK and considers its future.
The past
Padel was popular across the world long before it hit British shores.
Invented in 1969 by Enrique Corcuera in Acapulco, Mexico, and made popular in Spain by Prince Alfonso of Hohenlohe, the sport has been part of the lifestyle of many sun-drenched countries for over 40 years.
Padel’s history in the UK began in 1992 when a group of expats living in Spain formed the British Padel Association in order to compete in the first Padel World Championships.
The sport, however, did not get an official start in the UK until David Lloyd Leisure built the first padel court in 2011.
An indoor court then opened in Canary Wharf, London, the following year.
Despite reasonable popularity and some notable athletes becoming associated with the sport during this time, there were still only 40 public courts in the UK prior to the 2020s.
Today, the number of courts has drastically increased, with there over 1,000 padel courts in the country as of July 2025.
Such rapid growth was in large part due to the LTA’s official recognition of the sport as a discipline of tennis in 2019.
They further confirmed themselves as the national governing body of the sport, giving padel the impetus to grow at both a grassroots and a professional level.
The present
Supported by the LTA’s padel performance programme, professional and aspiring players are now able to compete in domestic and international competitions.
Currently, Aimee Gibson and Christian Medina Murphy are ranked as Britain’s best padel players, with both having played professionally for less than 10 years.
At the top level, British padel is not only being supported through domestic tournaments, but also promoted by them.
Major events like the FIP Bronze Hop London Padel Open and Acenta Padel Tour Leeds bring world-class competition while also showcasing what local padel talent has to offer.
READ MORE: Heineken become the global drinks partner for Premier Padel from 2026
The future
Given how quickly the sport has taken over the nation’s leisure centres, the future of British padel is bright.
“I think it’s going to be amazing. Give it another three or four years,” says GB number nine Laura Jackson.
“At the rate it’s growing, especially with grassroots kids coming through, I think it’s going to be huge.”
However, with countries like Argentina and Spain having a decades-long head start, British padel has a lot of catching up to do in order to see British players breaking into the world rankings.
Many padel enthusiasts are also campaigning for the game to be included in the Olympics in the near future, pointing to its global spread and millions of dollars in investment.
Ultimately, professional padel in Britain has a mountain to climb before it can compete competitively against the rest of the world, yet the journey will be worth watching and even perhaps worth getting involved in.
MORE FROM VANELY BARUMIRE: What Spain’s dominance in Padel says about football’s debate between culture and investment
