New to padel? Start here.
What padel is, how to play it, and where to find a court — open to everyone, no membership required.
What is padel
A racket sport that’s easy to start and hard to put down
Padel is played in doubles on an enclosed court about a third the size of a tennis court, walled in glass and mesh. You serve underarm, and the ball stays in play off the walls after it bounces — which makes long, social rallies the norm from your very first session.
Scoring follows tennis (15, 30, 40, game), the solid strung paddle has no strings to break, and the low-compression ball is far more forgiving than a tennis ball. Most players are rallying within their first hour on court.
Origins
A sport with a 57-year history
Padel was invented in 1969 by Enrique Corcuera, who adapted his squash court in Acapulco, Mexico into an enclosed doubles court. Spanish aristocrat Alfonso of Hohenlohe-Langenburg discovered it at Corcuera’s home and built the first courts outside Mexico, in Marbella, in 1974.
Argentina picked it up the following year, and Spain’s domestic scene grew steadily for two decades — past 500 clubs by the early 2000s, over 1,000 by 2005, the same year the Padel Pro Tour launched as the sport’s first international championship. Growth has been exponential worldwide since 2010, and padel is now widely considered the fastest-growing sport globally — a growth curve the Philippines is now part of.
How to play
The basics, in four points
01
Doubles only
Padel is always played two-against-two, on an enclosed court roughly 20m by 10m.
02
Underarm serve
Serves are hit underarm, diagonally, after one bounce — there’s no overhead serve to master.
03
Walls are in play
After the ball bounces on the court, it can go off the back or side walls and still be returned.
04
Tennis scoring
Points, games and sets follow tennis scoring — if you know tennis, you already know how a match is won.
Get on court
Three ways in
Find a court
Padel venues across the Philippines, affiliated with the federation or not.
Clubs & courts →Register with the federation
Get a national player record and a path into sanctioned competition once you’re ready to compete.
Membership →