Have you never heard of padel? It is a racquet sport in full development in France . We had already told you a little about it on Startin’ Sport a few months ago, especially here. Here is a brief overview of this highly popular discipline at the moment.
Padel is a sport similar to tennis . Indeed, the activity in question, classified in the category of racket sports, is a mix between squash and tennis .
Find in this video, very nice exchanges:
The International Padel Federation maintains that the sport was born in Mexico in 1969 thanks to the initiative of Enrique Corcuera . Today, it is experiencing strong growth, especially in Europe where there are more and more practitioners and many centers are flourishing.
Padel, like tennis, consists of an exchange of balls between two opposing camps . The opposing parties, called the server and the receiver respectively, can place themselves wherever they wish as long as they do not exceed their square.
To do this, the game includes essential steps including serving, rallying and rebounding .
The face-off starts underarm with two try serves, the first of which engages the ball after a bounce and hits it below the belt.
The Exchange , proper begins when the ball bounces into the opposite service box and is returned by the receiver. Note that the ball can be volleyed except for serve and service return.
Also, the ball can only hit the ground once. However, as soon as the rally has started, it can bounce on any other surface except the ground of its own side .
Points are counted the same way as in tennis . Thus, to win a match, each team must win two sets knowing that each set is made up of 6 games. In the event of a tie, a decisive game will decide between the two camps. This decisive game takes place in 7 points (with 2 points difference as in tennis).
Padel is played with rackets that more or less resemble beach tennis rackets. .
Rackets can be three different shapes:round, diamond or teardrop . Choose a racquet shape that matches your style of play.
Here is an infographic with everything you need to know about padel rackets and their characteristics:
The best known racket brands are Babolat , Head and Dunlop .
To find out more, do not hesitate to visit the racket-de-padel.fr website which offers advice on buying a padel racket.
A padel court is represented by a rectangle 10 meters wide and 20 meters long, bordered by walls and fences .
Usually covered with synthetic turf sanded or semi-sanded, it has a minimum free height varying from 6 to 7 meters.
Service squares , of the same dimensions, are each 5 meters from the sides of the court. They are also delimited by a central line, perpendicular to the let which extends over 20 cm, in addition to the service lines whose respective widths are 5 cm.
Padel is beginning to experience great popularity in France, whether among adults or among the youngest. Thanks to its friendly aspect, perhaps less complicated than tennis , we can expect that the enthusiasm for this game will grow strongly in the years to come.
Find all the official information on padel on the website of the Fédération Française de Tennis here:https://www.fft.fr/jouer-sante/padel/tout-savoir-sur-le-padel
