By: Skye Slatcher
Illustration By: Sylvain Chan
A text I sent to my best friend before New Year’s Eve said ‘In 2025 we will become padel pros’. I am sure we aren’t the only ones who have been talking about starting the new ‘it’ sport of the decade. It’s now Spain’s second most popular sport, behind football. Stormzy, Andy Murray, and most of the F1 grid – they are all fans. The corporate world that LSE is no stranger to has also followed the trend, with some calling padel the new golf.
So what is padel? It is a racket sport, which, like squash, is played on an enclosed court and the ball can be played off the wall. It was created in Mexico in 1969 but on the popularity front is certainly still in its infancy. Its inclusivity and accessibility make it a great sport for anyone. Compared to almost any other sport, it is far less intimidating to get started in.
A 2024 Forbes article suggested that padel might be the new sport of business — ideal for networking opportunities. Marcos Del Pilar, former President of the US Padel Association, called it a “networking superconductor for athletic, like-minded, like-moneyed masters of the universe”. Arnaud Frisch said that padel has been the gateway to balancing work and sports. A PE industry insider told me that it has become almost inescapable, with teams regularly playing together.
I recently asked LSESU Padel Club’s treasurer Andrew why he plays the fastest-growing sport on the planet. He said that if he could summarise the sport, he would say this: “If tennis and squash had a kid, it would be called padel.” Andrew started playing padel at the beginning of his first year. As a tennis player, he found the new sport complementary to his existing tennis skillset. That combined with the community feel around the sport made it the ideal new pastime.
The growth really took off in 2020, when the number of players worldwide began to increase impressively. Now, an estimated 30 million people around the world are playing padel. The existence of an expanding padel club at LSE speaks to the same trend.
It is an increasingly lucrative sport too. Nike and Adidas have both launched padel-specific lines. Specialist brands like Pulco are growing their global renown. Even luxury fashion houses are getting in on the trend: Valentino, Prada, and Pucci have all released padel-related items or collaborations.
While the viewership side of the sport has yet to take off in anywhere near the same way that playing has, a professional league is growing. There are 4,874 FIP-ranked players as of the end of 2024, with all predictions expecting far greater numbers in coming years. Spain and Argentina dominate the rankings and account for the most players worldwide.
With the approval of icons like Andy Murray, it is pretty much guaranteed that there will be no stopping padel in the coming years, maybe decades. Is golf’s grip on the world the go-to sport of the corporate world? Maybe. And let’s hope this marks wider shifts in the culture of the industries, as they become more inclusive and accessible.
Will you be playing in 2025?
