A little bit of history about padel

Today we dedicate our post to some history about padel, and very few people know that the origins of padel go back to the late nineteenth century on English ships. On these ships, adapted games were played to entertain the passengers. Then in 1924 an American introduced this adapted game in the municipal parks of New York, where it became known as “padel tennis”.

In the following years, this sport evolved, with some modifications, such fencing the perimeter playing area to prevent the balls from flying out of the courts, the game was also played in pairs, a wooden floor was built to overcome the uneven terrain, and this type of game became known as “Platform Tennis“.

But the main and most famous origin of padel goes back to the 70´s, when Enrique Corcuera, a Mexican businessman using tennis platform as a base, made some changes to the “fronton” that he had in his home in Acapulco. The reform he made was that he built in an opposite wall about 3 meters high, installed a net in the center of the playing surface and covered the perimeter with a metal mesh. This was the origin of what we now know as a padel court.

In 1974 Enrique Corcuera invited Alfonso de Hohenlohe to travel to Mexico and he became interested in padel tennis. Upon his return to Spain, he built the first padel court at the Club of Marbella, making some changes to Corcuera’s court in Acapulco, and developed the rules of the game with some variations to improve them.

After the first padel court was installed in Marbella, the sport gradually became known not only among Spanish players, but also among Argentine players… although this is part of the history of how padel spread in Argentina.

I hope you learned more about the history of padel.