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Padel tennis is a racquet sport.As it’s often described, padel is a cross between tennis and squash (although avid players will tell you it’s unlike either). Typically played in doubles, it takes place on an enclosed court roughly three-quarters the size of a tennis court.
According the official Padel rules the playing field should be a rectangle 10 meters wide and 20 meters long (with a 0.5% tolerance), enclosed by walls. In line with its popularity, there seems to be a new venue dedicated to the game opening up every day. Eisa Al Marzooqi, a board member on the UAE Padel Association, says there are roughly 350 private and public padel courts  Available in Dubai, UAE.

Rules

– To a large extent, the rules of padel are the same as in tennis, except that in padel, you serve by bouncing the ball on the ground and below hip height. In addition, special rules apply with regards to the walls.

– Padel matches should be played on a regulation padel court that is 20m x 10m and is blue, green or terracotta.

– Padel games shall be played between two pairs of players using padel racquets.

– Before a match, a coin is tossed. The winner gets to choose whether to serve first or which end of the court to start on.

– Each match begins with a serve, which must be done underarm but like tennis must go diagonally into the opponent’s court.

– Both teams must attempt to score more points than their opponents.

The opposition wins a point when any of the following occurs:

• The ball bounces twice.
• The ball strikes you or a teammate.
• The ball hits the wire fencing or another fixture before going over the net or going into the opponent’s court (classed as out of bounds).
• If the ball hits the ground before hitting the walls (or fence) is considered a valid point. The player can hit the ball with or without a previous bounce, but always respect the maximum of one bounce. After the first bounce, the ball may hit the walls.
• Any player can hit the ball in any area of the court.

Matches are made up of 3 sets, with each set made up of six games. The winners of two out of the three sets will be declared winners of the padel match.

Head coach at Central Padel Dubai, which opened in January, says that the most common mistake is not understanding that the game is all about strategy. “As you start padel, you will improve really fast and reach the intermediate level,” he says. “Once you are there, most players stop improving and get stuck because they don’t have the tactical tools to move up.  

“I get lots of new students thinking they’ve hit an invisible ceiling; this is generally right before I introduce tactics and strategy to them – then they really discover what padel is about. “Much like other partner games – such as badminton – padel focuses on the strength of teamwork. Finally, Alonso advises players to “play with your opponent – not against”. “Most beginners try to hit the ball where the opponent is not and take too much risk to win the point. My idea is to play aiming for your opponent; this way, you take less risk and develop consistency. Consistency is the most important when you start padel, always keeping the ball in.”

Padel tennis is a very popular sport in Spain, where it originated. It’s also played in various spots around the world, including South America and UAE.Padelx10 Indoor padel tennis court Dubai is a place where people can play this sport. The court has two nets and is surrounded by walls on all sides except for one side, which faces the ground outside of the court. The game can be played on either hard or clay courts with different rules for each type of surface.

There are a lot of reasons for its exponential rise – starting with the fact it can be played by almost everyone.

“The thing about padel is that you don’t need to get to a certain level to have fun,” says Audrey Descols of Matcha Club, a boutique padel venue that opened in Dubai’s Al Quoz last year.

She says they have clients who are very young, as well as those over the age 60, trying out the game. A lot of their customers are beginners who want to learn more about the sport, or yoga enthusiasts who catch a yoga session in the studio, see the game taking place in the courts outside and want to try it out.