The origins of Padel

There are various stories about the origin of the game of padel, but the most accredited one is that shared by the International Padel Federation (FIP) headed by the Italian Luigi Carraro. This version states that padel became known towards the end of the 1960s - or more precisely, in 1969 - in Mexico. In Acapulco, a certain Enrique Corcuera had a little piece of land free in his grounds: this measured 20 metres by 10, with a wall closing off the shorter side. Mr Corcuera initially thought of using this area to play a game similar to the Basque game of pelota, a sport very popular in the north of Spain. The only problem was that the ball would frequently end up in the grounds of the next door neighbour.

To avoid this inconvenience, Mr Corcuera had an identical wall built on the other short side and thus unwittingly built the first padel court in history. “For the racquets - he would explain later - I thought of the game of paddle tennis, which was already popular in the United States, but which didn't use the walls to play. I tried to put the two sports together and noticed that my friends really enjoyed themselves”.

The real leap in quality came five years later. The merit for this goes to Prince Alfonso de Hohenlohe who would take this new sport invented by his friend Corcuera to Marbella in Andalusia, now a world paradise for the sport of padel. From the first two padel courts built in the city, the phenomenon grew first throughout Spain and then to the rest of the world, but with South America leading the way. In particular, it was Argentina (thanks to the billionaire Julio Menditegui, and friend of Prince de Hohenlohe) that experienced a veritable boom already in 1975, taking padel to second place after football for the most popular and practiced sport in the country.