Padel tennis is currently one of the fastest growing sports in the world and looks set to flourish in the UK.
The sport is played by 25 million people worldwide and is popular among Andy Murray, David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Neymar and Zlatan Ibra Celebrities like Himovich.
Padel is a hybrid of tennis and squash, usually played on an enclosed court with glass and metal mesh walls, and is a four-person doubles game.
The game is easy to learn and is a fun and addictive sport.
Currently, there are only 300 cricket grounds in the UK, but as it becomes more popular this number will only increase.
The Padium is a new cricket club that has just opened in the heart of Canary Wharf and is already extremely popular.
The place is packed with people every day, and even NBA superstar Jimmy Butler and Hollywood actor Jason Statham have been here.
Butler is a big fan of the game, having learned it from Brazilian soccer star Neymar after the two met at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
He’s even the honorary chairman of the Miami Padel Open, a six-day professional celebrity tournament.
“Padel complements my basketball skills mentally,” Butler explained. “This sport taught me to always compete, and that’s the most important thing in basketball. Physically, it’s about endurance, ankle stability and changes of speed and direction.”
Neymar built two cricket pitches at his sprawling mansion in Rio de Janeiro, such is his passion for the sport.
Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo is investing heavily in an ambitious project to build ‘Padel City’, a state-of-the-art infrastructure that will revolutionize sport in Portugal.
Given the popularity of the sport in Sweden (there are over 4,500 pitches in Sweden), Zlatan Ibrahimovic was one of the first superstar footballers to take part in the sport.
He opened his first Padel Zenter club in 2018 and has seven clubs in Sweden to date, with plans to open more clubs in Europe in the future.
Tennis legend Murray also saw his potential not long ago and invested in the sport in 2019.
Speaking last year, Sir Andy said: “If you look at how quickly the sport is growing around the world, I don’t think it’s a fad. It’s played all over South America and now It is the second most participated sport in Spain, after football.
“It’s really boomed in places like Italy, Scandinavia and Dubai over the past few years, so I think it’s going to continue for a while.”
Beckham is another superstar who has expressed his admiration for the game, as has Messi, who is understood to own a stadium at his home in Argentina.
Padel tennis hopes to become an Olympic sport, with Deloitte predicting it will be worth £3.5bn by 2026.
Paris Saint-Germain owner Qatar Sports Investments recently ended a bitter power struggle by acquiring the World Padel Tour.
The agreement unifies the sport, bringing together Qatar’s premier Padel Tour with the oldest global professional Padel Tour.
The two events will now be combined into one global tournament, with an end-of-season finale and generous prizes for participants.
Nasser Al-Khelaifi, chairman of QSI and PSG, is passionate about the sport and described the acquisition of the World Padel Tour as a “historic moment” for padel tennis.
Padium Houman Ashrafzadeh, the Swedish-born entrepreneur behind the Urban Greens restaurant chain, hopes to build on this success.
“I was first introduced to the sport four or five years ago when I came back to Sweden,” Achrafzadeh told talkSPORT.
“Cricket was surprisingly easy to pick up, which sparked my interest in playing. I was so excited, thinking I had discovered something my friends in London didn’t know.
“I’m excited to keep playing but there are only a handful of courses that can’t be booked.
“Zlatan owns several clubs in Sweden so it’s a market that people should learn from because it’s a bit of a boom and bust.
“There were once 4,500 courts for a population of 10 million. Imagine London with 4,500 courts!”
The Canary Wharf site is just the beginning for Padium, with the site’s popularity already demonstrating the demand for the courts.
“I want to grow,” Ashrafzadeh continued. “My aim has always been to be the number one cricket operator in the UK, both in terms of scale and philosophy, which is to really give players the best experience before, during and after cricket. “
The opportunity for growth is huge, with footage of stunt shots and wild rallies already generating millions of views on social media.
Ashrafzadeh added: “It’s a very spectator sport because there’s a lot going on. If people watch on Instagram or YouTube you’ll see the rallies lasted for several minutes and were tantalizing.
“So if it was in the Olympics, I’m pretty sure people would be more accepting of it than they are now.
“Then hopefully it becomes a grassroots sport as well. “That’s what we’re aiming for, we’re aiming to open a junior academy in 2024. “
Padium is headquartered in Canary Wharf, London. Visit their website for more information.