Editor’s Note: The following post is a (lightly edited) article penned by guest author Scott Matulis, a long-time public relations pro who was once the PR Director for the Worldwide Senior Tennis Tour. He discovered padel in Las Vegas in 2024 and can now hit balls off of the glass occasionally. He is the author of the LinkedIn and Substack serial novel The Applicant.

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Current United States Padel Association (UPSA) No. 1 Vinny Di Francesco returned to Las Vegas, Nevada this past weekend with partner Ivo Andenmatten looking to win his third consecutive Division 1 title at the 2026 Playbypoint Las Vegas Open, a USPA 2000-level event, after winning it last year with Andenmatten and the year before that with Nicolas Agritelley.

“It’s incredibly important for us to be able to attract good young players like Vinny and Ivo to our event,” said Las Vegas Open tournament director Phil Martinez. “Padel is one of the fastest growing sports in the U.S. and putting on a high-level tournament with the best players is crucial to helping it grow and also to the success of our club.”

For a player still in his teens, Di Francesco’s résumé is filling up fast. He entered the tournament ranked No. 1 in the USPA’s men’s rankings, was part of the USA team that won the 2023 Pan-American Open Championship, and currently plays for the USPA National Team. He was also the top pick in this year’s Pro Padel League PPL 2 draft.

Di Francesco’s path isn’t the typical American one—although it could become a blueprint for future pro hopefuls. Born in New York to Argentine parents, he took a liking to padel by watching and playing with his father after his family moved back to Argentina.

The Road Less Traveled

“I started playing padel when I was seven with my dad, who would take me when he played,” Di Francesco explains. “I watched him first, and little by little I started taking classes and getting more serious. This was in Salta, Argentina. I don’t think we had that in the United States at the time.”

Di Francesco, who also played soccer and dabbled in swimming, soon dedicated himself fully to padel, entering the same pipeline that has produced world-class players like Agustín Tapia, Franco Stupaczuk, and Juan Ignacio de Pascual. Top-flight competition came quickly.

“When I was 12, I had already played in national junior tournaments and my first World Cup,” Di Francesco says. “I played my first professional event at 16.”

He trains in Argentina, but when he’s in America, he’s based in Miami. His brother Leo is a padel coach at a local padel club and he trains with his good friend and mentor José De Armas, who has taken Di Francesco under his wing.

De Armas, a former professional tennis player who is influential in the U.S. padel scene, has nothing but praise for Di Francesco.

As he explains:

“When he’s here, he’s based at my house. We train, but also I try to help him out as much as I can, and make his life a bit easier. He’s obviously a talented kid, and he has a great mindset, very mature for his age. He loves the game and as long as you love the game and are committed to it, then it’s perfect. The sky’s the limit, I think, for him.”

A Partnership That Clicked

Di Francesco’s partnership with Andenmatten, a 23-year-old Argentine, came together serendipitously. The two met at a FIP tournament in Mexico when Di Francesco discovered — just before registration closed — that his intended partner had signed up with someone else. Andenmatten happened to be standing nearby, and the two decided on the spot to play together.

While both typically play on the left side, Andenmatten shifted to the right, and the adjustment paid off. The pair won their first event together—the 2025 Las Vegas Open—defeating Nicolas Xiviller and Sergio Conde 7–6, 6–2 in the final.

They followed that up with another title at a USPA 1000 event in Mission, Texas, where they entered as the top seeds. After cruising through the early rounds and eking out a three-set semifinal win, they defeated Argentine standouts Leo “Tolito” Aguirre and Matías Almada in the final.

A Changing U.S. Padel Landscape

If Di Francesco represents the future of American padel, he’s also seen firsthand how quickly the present is evolving.

“When I played my first USPA tournament in 2024, it was very unbalanced,” he says. “There were maybe five very strong teams, and the rest were just starting out. But last year, the sport exploded in this country. Suddenly there were 12 or 15 teams that could compete. Now you can lose in the early rounds. That didn’t happen before.”

His partner Andenmatten has noticed the same trend:

“My first tournament in the U.S. was this one last year with Vinny. And I feel that from last year to this one, there has been a big change. There are a lot more players. The circuit became more competitive, and it’s continuing to grow with more tournaments across the USPA. I think the growth is very good.”

What Happens in Vegas…

Back at P1 Padel, things progressed smoothly for Di Francesco and Andenmatten, who advanced through their first four matches in straight sets.

But in the final, they faced third-seeded Daniel Díaz and José David Sánchez “Joseda” Serrano — a Spanish team that had previously beaten Di Francesco (alongside longtime training partner Juan Manuel “Guga” Vásquez) at a USPA 1000 event in Miami earlier this year.

In Vegas, the Spanish pair again proved too tough, playing an almost flawless match to win the title 6-1, 6-4.

“It was a combination of things,” Di Francesco said after the match. “We didn’t really have a great start and we could never get back into rhythm. And you know, they’re a great team and they played a great match. We just got outplayed.”

Despite the tough luck in the Las Vegas final, Di Francesco represents the vanguard of American padel.

“He’s always played for the U.S.” De Armas says. “He’s always wanted to represent the U.S. even though he’s Argentinian. We’re lucky to have him.”

You can follow Di Francesco on Instagram @difrancescovinny.

Enjoy this article? If so, please be sure to subscribe to Padel Nation (for free!) to get exciting updates and important insights on the rapidly emerging U.S. padel scene like this one delivered directly to your inbox 2X weekly — or share it with a padel-playing friend.

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Interested in becoming a friend or preferred partner of Padel Nation? Drop us a line here and let’s talk!

Oh, and one other thing… I’ve actually got a full-blown padel book coming out in July. So, if you enjoy the work I’m doing in the U.S. padel space, you can support me by pre-ordering a copy (or two!) online at Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Many thanks in

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Nearly every single day I learn about a new padel club that’s opening somewhere in the U.S. — and now, suddenly, I’m also starting to hear about a fair number of them closing, too.

Case in point, earlier this week, I stumbled across a new eight-court club known as Punto Azul Padel Club that’s coming to Houston. And unlike so many other new clubs out there, the Punto Azul folks actually let people know exactly where they’ll be located and how many courts they’ll have.

(Which is simple — but incredibly important — information that frustratingly few other padel clubs ever make readily available!)

So, as soon as I discovered it, I went to add it to my interactive Google map that tracks (almost) everywhere you can play padel in the U.S.

However, when I did, I also started checking in on some of the nearby clubs in the area only to find that at least three of them have shuttered, including:

• A one-court outdoor facility known as SB Padel Houston…

• A one-court indoor facility known as Houston Padel Indoor, and…

• Most surprisingly, Solarium, an upscale, industrial-chic restaurant, bar, lounge, and event space that offered two outdoor padel courts in addition to pickleball — yet has already closed its doors less than a year after its splashy grand opening, despite being backed by a former MLB pitcher and generally getting very positive reviews from thousands of customers on Google.

Speaking of which, one reviewer recently stated that:

“Solarium is now permanently closed as of the middle of this week. Do not book any further reservations to play or eat there. We had 11am reservations and showed up only to find the pickleball and [padel] courts being torn down. New ownership is coming in and going to repave the courts back into a parking lot for the new restaurant.”

And Houston Isn’t the Only Place This Is Happening, Either

In fact, despite having incredibly lob-friendly 40-foot ceilings, a three-court indoor facility in Oakland, NJ, has now opened and closed its doors not just once, but twice, in the span of about 18 months.

The original club, known as &Padel, made it less than a year before abruptly shuttering and then being re-opened shortly thereafter by another ownership group under the name RaxNJ — which, unfortunately, was also very short-lived, as well.

Meanwhile, the first club to open in the greater Boston area, known as Sensa Padel, turned over operations of its four-court indoor facility (also with very pleasantly high ceilings) to the larger sports club it was housed in, known as Bosse Sports, shortly after I visited there last July while it sought out a new location closer to the city.

And now it appears that Bosse Sports has closed its doors altogether.

Beyond this, I’m also aware of multiple U.S. padel clubs that are now up for sale in California, Florida, and Illinois — and not necessarily because things are going well — in addition to two others that recently changed hands in Los Angeles and Dallas.

The Beginning of the End or Just the End of the Beginning?

Granted, five U.S. padel clubs with eleven total courts closing is a just a drop in the bucket compared to all the big-time club openings on the horizon, like…

• Los Angeles Padel Club, with its seven outdoor courts that should be opening in the next month or so…

• Icon Padel, which will also be opening seven (covered) outdoor courts in Aventura, FL, in the near future…

• PURE Pickleball & Padel, a sprawling racquet-sports facility with 40 pickleball courts and eight indoor padel courts that is set to open next year in the Phoenix area…

• Padel Haus Denver, which is finally getting ready to open its five-court indoor club any day now, and…

• Padel Club Newtown, whose four outdoor courts on the east side of Cincinnati should be open next month with a planned expansion set to add eight additional indoor courts down the road…

Not to mention, all the clubs and courts that are getting ready to open in the greater Salt Lake City area alone.

So, while these closures definitely aren’t good news, at this point they seem to be less of a cause for major concern for the industry as a whole, and instead just more of a reminder that no matter how popular the sport may be, U.S. padel clubs aren’t immune to the economic realities facing all businesses.

What’s more, it highlights the importance of club owners and operators doubling down on programming, building community, and providing their members with an unbeatable experience they simply can’t find anywhere else (much like Alma Padel is doing just outside Chicago).

Enjoy this article? If so, please be sure to subscribe to Padel Nation (for free!) to get exciting updates and important insights on the rapidly emerging U.S. padel scene like this one delivered directly to your inbox 2X weekly — or share it with a padel-playing friend.

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Finally, as always, a big thank you to the friends and preferred partners of Padel Nation who help make posts like this possible, including:

Interested in becoming a friend or preferred partner of Padel Nation? Drop us a line here and let’s talk!

Oh, and one other thing… I’ve actually got a full-blown padel book coming out in July. So, if you enjoy the work I’m doing in the U.S. padel space, you can support me by pre-ordering a copy (or two!) online at Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Many thanks in advance!

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If you pay any attention at all to the U.S. padel landscape, then you’ve probably heard plenty about the fact that:

• Miami has a padel “obsession” (as The New York Times puts it)…

• Burgeoning padel empires like Bay Padel, Ballers, and Padel Haus are bringing courts and clubs to cities like Atlanta, Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Marina del Rey, Nashville, Philadelphia, San Jose, San Francisco, and Silicon Valley, among other places…

• The Pacific Northwest is finally getting in on the action with padel clubs opening soon in Boise, Bend, Kirkland, Portland, and Seattle…

• Privé Padel just opened the 1,000th court in the U.S. at the THesis Hotel Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, and…

• Even Salt Lake City is starting to experience an all-out padel avalanche.

But what you’re likely hearing much less about is all the courts that are popping up across the U.S. at private country, city, and racquet clubs.

In fact, just last week we officially got word that new courts have either opened or are about to at John Newcombe Country Club in New Braunfels, Texas and Fort Wayne Country Club in Indiana (whose new court is being built by our friends at Off the Glass).

Meanwhile, clubs with legendary racquets programs like The Piedmont Driving Club in Atlanta, The Tuxedo Club in Tuxedo Park, New York, and The Philadelphia Cricket Club and Merion Cricket Club outside Philly have all added padel courts in recent years — which, from what I’ve heard, are constantly packed.

To this list you can also add other one-court private clubs, including:

• The Saddle & Cycle Club in Chicago…

• Paradise Valley Country Club in Scottsdale, Arizona…

• La Valle Coastal Club in Rancho Santa Fe, California…

• The Greencroft Club in Charlottesville, Virginia…

• The Edgewood Country Club in Charleston, West Virginia…

Speaking of which, here in the Charleston, South Carolina, the private Daniel Island Club is getting ready to open two new padel courts in the coming days after nearby Kiawah Island Resort added two last year.

Other private clubs that feature multiple courts include:

• The Yellowstone Club in Big Sky, Montana…

• The Snowmass Club in Snowmass, Colorado…

• The Gozzer Ranch Club just outside Coeur d'Alene, Idaho…

• The Boulevard Tennis and Padel Club in Vero Beach, Florida…

• SH19 at The Stovall House in Tampa, Florida…

• The Cliffs at Mountain Park in Marietta, South Carolina, and…

• The North Hills Club in Raleigh, North Carolina…

… just to name a few.

What’s more, some of the longest-standing courts in the U.S. are at private clubs like The Traditions Club in Bryan, Texas, and The Greens Country Club in Oklahoma City (which is hosting a USPA 100-level tournament next week).

Is This Good for the Sport?

I’d say yes — and potentially also no…

On the one hand, most private clubs in the U.S. are notoriously competitive. So, with dozen of private clubs across the U.S. starting to add padel courts, it’s a fairly safe bet that dozens more will soon likely start feeling like they have no choice but to also add courts — which will undoubtedly grow the awareness and visibility of the sport around the country, not to mention, the total court count.

However, on the flip side, this doesn’t exactly help quell the growing perception that — similar to what many people think about squash — padel is an elitist, white-collar sport that’s generally only available to the small handful of Americans who can actually afford to play it.

It could also very well negatively affect all of the publicly accessible padel clubs that are opening around the country. After all, many private clubs charge a five- or even six-figure initiation fee to join, plus hefty monthly or annual dues on top of that.

So, if you’re already shelling out a small fortune for your family to be members of an elite country club that offers padel courts, how likely are you to also play regularly at a public padel that club that charges hundreds of dollars per month for memberships plus hundreds of dollars per hour for courts?

My guess is not very likely.

What’s more, if I had to guess what percentage of members at an elite-level padel club like, say, Padel United Sports Club in Cresskill, New Jersey, are also members of elite-level country clubs in the surrounding area, I’d wager it’s pretty high.

So, what will happen to PUSC’s membership base if and when those country clubs start adding padel courts?

I suppose only time will tell.

However, as frequent Padel Nation guest author, Hans Helmers, pointed out to me recently, practically every single padel court at a U.S. country club is currently outdoors, and it’s unlikely very many will ever be built indoors…

Which, of course, gives indoor clubs (like Padel United Sports Club) a major advantage — and selling-point — when it’s raining or winter hits.

So, maybe it’ll wind up being a net positive for these clubs after all.

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Finally, as always, a big thank you to the friends and preferred partners of Padel Nation who help make posts like this possible, including:

Interested in becoming a friend or preferred partner of Padel Nation? Drop us a line here and let’s talk!

Oh, and one other thing… I’ve actually got a full-blown padel book coming out in July. So, if you enjoy the work I’m doing in the U.S. padel space, you can support me by pre-ordering a copy (or two!) online at Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Many thanks in advance!

Editor’s Note: The following guest article is from friend, fellow racquet-sports lover, and author, James (Jim) Zug. When I asked him for a bio for this piece, he humbly responded with:

“James Zug is a veteran squash historian and journalist. He has a Substack newsletter, Spin for Serve, that covers many obscure racquet sports. His book, Squash: A History of the Game, just came out in paperback.” But I’m not going to let him get off that easy…

Because this isn’t just a squash history book, it’s THE definitive squash history book (which also delves into the fascinating history of all modern racquet sports via ancient games like jeu de paume, court/real tennis, and rackets — and has a foreward penned by George Plimpton, no less).

Jim was also a long-time contributor to Squash Magazine and Vanity Fair and has had his racquet-sports writings published by everyone from The New York Times to The Atlantic to Racquet Magazine.

Which is why, in the Acknowledgements section of my upcoming padel book, I thanked him for, “elevating writing about racquet sports to an art form” and inspiring me to (try to) do the same.

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Teaching Pros

In the 1970s squash was freaking out about racquetball. It was booming, it was exciting, it was the hot new thing.

Squash was staid, boring, still mostly a private game; racquetball was all about access: public courts, outdoor courts, ease of entry, no clothing rules. Thirty thousand courts appeared almost overnight in the States.

Then racquetball began a slow and steady decline.

Today it is a shell of itself. The U.S. Open has stopped. There are maybe 2,500 indoor courts. Many are empty.

I’ve been a member of two clubs with racquetball courts, a fitness club in DC and a YMCA in Delaware. Neither had teaching pros. In both cases, I watched as the racquetball cohort slowly leached away. You can argue about why racquetball has declined, but for me the biggest reason is they haven’t had enough teaching pros.

They are essential: texting, WhatsApping, calling and cajoling players, setting up box leagues and tournaments, helping with equipment, getting you to come back again for another match. I’ve seen this in the padel world — if there is a pro present and servicing the club, it thrives.

Kids

More than forty percent of the 3,000 squash courts in the U.S. are at high schools and universities. It is a central backbone of the game. Junior squash fuels squash, and then the teams take off. Over two hundred high schools send squads to the National High Schools—it is the largest annual tournament in the world; nearly a hundred middle school teams come to the National Middle Schools; over eighty universities have a varsity or club squash team (or both).

In many countries squash has suffered a decline in recent years, but not in the U.S., and one reason is this continual, institutionalized pipeline of players coming through the school and college systems. Each spring about three hundred people graduate from university having played organized squash. That adds up: a regular outflow of young adults who want to continue getting on court.

U.S. collegiate padel is a good start.

Travel

For adults, the key is travel. Many vibrant squash clubs have plenty of intra-club activity. But the essence of squash has always been getting out of your own home club and playing elsewhere, meeting new people, cementing friendships, getting connected.

In 1903, less than three years after the first squash court arrived in Philadelphia, there were seven clubs with courts in the city, and they decided to organize a league.

Ever since, teams have gone on the road. Singles leagues in two dozen cities are the winter anchor for the game; for cities like Philadelphia and Toronto, the squash doubles league occupies much frontal-lobe attention each winter, with Tuesday nights or Thursday nights being sacred.

Not only do you play for your club but often for your city. Today we have dozens of annual inter-city matches criss-crossing the country. One is the Hahn Cup, started in 1963, between Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and Louisville. I live in a city with four padel clubs but so far no inter-club matches.

Or your nation. There is an annual U.S. v Mexico match and a U.S./Mexico/Canada weekend; the granddaddy of them all is U.S. v Canada, started in 1922 (the oldest annual international squash rivalry) and still a major blowout each spring.

There is also continual reinvention: a post-pandemic newcomer is the Trans-Atlantic Masters Squash Test featuring teams from Canada, Great Britain, Ireland and the U.S. Sprinkle in tours, invitational cups, lost weekends and member-guests, and the squash map is thick with women and men driving and flying somewhere to represent someone larger than themselves.

That is why the Anglo American Padel Cup might be the greatest legacy of Bill Ullman’s remarkable tenure as president of USPA.

Olympics

Stop worrying about padel and the Olympic Games.

Squash spent many decades trying to get into the Olympics. There were efforts dating back to earliest days of the Games (especially after the war for Helsinki in 1952). In 1986 the IOC officially recognized squash as a sport, and the first real attempt came right then to get into Barcelona in 1992. Squash failed; badminton succeeded, with rumors of an alleged seven-figure “donation” smoothing the way.

Thereafter, squash’s world governing body and a few large and wealthy national federations spent oodles of time, treasure and sometimes talent attempting to get into the Games.

It mattered not at all. Outsiders thought that it would help when the Games were in a city renowned for squash (Atlanta in 1996; Sydney in 2000; London in 2012; and Paris in 2024).

Nope. Squash ran tremendously expensive campaigns that emphasized how squash fulfilled all the IOC criteria for admission: we are in all these countries, we have gender parity, we have youth, it would be the pinnacle to win a gold medal, etc. Nope.

We almost got in again and again, only to be tripped at the last furlong.

Squash got in for Los Angeles in 2028 based on relationships: who knew who, quiet conversations. If padel gets into Brisbane 2032, it will be for the same reason.

For padel, my advice is don’t waste your three T’s on it. Padel is unlikely to make the Games for the same reason why all the other sports recently added to the Summer Games got in: Does padel bring in big corporate sponsorship? Does it move the needle on television?

Rugby, cricket, golf, baseball, surfing, lacrosse—these are massive cogs in the sports industrial machine and dwarf padel (and squash) in every metric. Even flag football, hitherto unknown outside the States, will be a huge sport in the 2030s because of the world’s biggest sport’s league, the NFL, is behind it.

Instead: get Kevin Vaz, the CEO of JioStar, to fall in love with padel.

The Summer Games are apparently headed to India in 2036, and Vaz is the head of the country’s largest media and entertainment business.

You’ve got time.

Enjoy this guest post? If so, please be sure to subscribe to Padel Nation to get exciting updates and important insights on the rapidly emerging U.S. padel scene like this one delivered directly to your inbox 2X weekly — or share it with a padel-playing friend.

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Finally, as always, a big thank you to the friends and preferred partners of Padel Nation who help make posts like this possible, including:

Interested in becoming a friend or preferred partner of Padel Nation? Drop us a line here and let’s talk!

Oh, and one other thing… I’ve actually got a full-blown padel book coming out in July. So, if you enjoy the work I’m doing in the U.S. padel space, you can support me by pre-ordering a copy (or two!) online at Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Many thanks in advance!

While all the big, bold predictions of the U.S. having 30,000 padel courts by 2030 are starting to look a bit dubious, the Montauk-based, lifestyle-driven brand Privé Padel just held a posh IYKYK grand opening for what turns out to be the 1,000th padel court to open here in the U.S.

(Which we know thanks to Patricio Misitrano — who may be the only person that tracks U.S. court openings more closely than I do.)

This one-court pop-up, known as Privé at THesis, will be housed at the THesis Hotel Miami in Coral Gables, FL, for the next year — and while the court has been seeing play since Monday, April 6th, Privé held a VIP grand opening this past Thursday, April 9th to officially christen the court.

As part of the festivities, there was a high-energy professional exhibition match that, according to organizers, “brought together tastemakers, athletes, and key figures across Miami’s lifestyle and hospitality communities.”

Positioned just steps from the University of Miami, Privé at THesis has reportedly, “already become one of the city’s most in-demand new destinations” and is “drawing continuous interest from hotel guests, residents, and Miami’s in-the-know social set.”

Given that luxury lifestyle travel magazine Condé Nast Traveler recently dubbed padel “the new it-girl amenity at luxury hotels” and Privé’s focus on marrying upscale travel experiences with access to padel courts around the world via its Privé Passport program, it’s little surprise they chose this venue for their pop-up.

What’s more, with an ever-increasing number of luxury, lifestyle-focused hotels and resorts like…

• The Montauk Yacht Club…

• The Ritz Carlton Key Biscayne…

• The Breakers Palm Beach….

• The Boar’s Head Resort (in Charlottesville, VA — where I’ll be playing at the end of the month), and…

• The Parker Palm Springs (which hosted a VIP padel pro-am during the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament last month and is hosting another during Coachella this month)…

… now embracing the sport, Privé looks to be at the forefront of a massive new trend in the U.S. and around the world, which should help the sport to grow even further.

You can visit Privé at THesis at 1350 S Dixie Hwy, 33146, Coral Gables, FL, daily between 8am and 9pm and the court can be booked via Playtomic here.

Like this article? If so, please be sure to subscribe to Padel Nation to get exciting updates and important insights on the rapidly emerging U.S. padel scene like this one delivered directly to your inbox 2X weekly — or share it with a padel-playing friend.

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Finally, as always, a big thank you to the friends and preferred partners of Padel Nation who help make posts like this possible, including:

Interested in becoming a friend or preferred partner of Padel Nation? Drop us a line here and let’s talk!

Oh, and one other thing… I’ve actually got a full-blown padel book coming out in July. So, if you enjoy the work I’m doing in the U.S. padel space, you can support me by pre-ordering a copy (or two!) online at Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Many thanks in advance!

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A year or two ago, if you asked me to guess which U.S. state would have three padel clubs (and 18 total courts) opening within the span of about a month, I probably wouldn’t have guessed Utah.

Yet, while the Beehive State suffered a devastating lack of snow this winter, they’re about to see an all-out padel avalanche this spring thanks to four clubs that are leading the charge there (with another on the horizon).

These include:

Salt Lake City Padel Club (Woods Cross, UT)

If the greater Salt Lake City area ends up being the padel mini-mecca it looks like it’s shaping up to be, much of the credit for the sport’s boom should go to the pioneering Pedro Bautista and his team at SLC Padel Club, which opened in Woods Cross last year as Utah’s first dedicated padel facility.

Initially, SLC Padel Club featured three indoor courts, but the sport caught on so quickly in the club’s first year that Bautista, who originally hails from Venezuela, recently decided to add a fourth “premium court” that is, “designed exclusively for private corporate events, team-building experiences, and VIP gatherings.”

As Bautista recently told Utah Business for a feature article they ran on his club, after a stint in Florida for college he wound up in Utah about five years ago. And while he was never big into racquet sports, padel has always been on his radar thanks to family that lives in Europe and Miami.

Bautista and his father (who is also named Pedro and lives in Miami) had always wanted to run a business together, and after seeing padel starting to take off across the U.S. they eventually decided to combine forces and bring the first dedicated padel facility to Utah.

From the look of things (including its perfect five-star rating on Google with 109 reviews) SLC Padel Club is already thriving.

Conquer Padel Club (Lehi, UT)

Given the success of SLC Padel Club off the bat, it’s little wonder that the multi-club concept known as Conquer Padel is set to open their second location in Utah (after opening their first in Tempe, Arizona last year).

While SLC Padel Club is due north of Salt Lake City, Conquer Padel Club is instead due south in Lehi, a once small town that has experienced massive growth over the past decade and a half thanks to an ongoing tech boom in the surrounding area known as “Silicon Slopes.”

When it opens (likely sometime in the month or so), Conquer Padel Club will feature seven panoramic indoor courts along with fitness, recovery, and social areas. And if it’s anything like Conquer’s original location, chances are it’ll be pretty swank.

Best of all, in the lead up to opening, Conquer Padel Club is offering “Early Adopter” memberships for as little as $30/month, which you can learn more about here.

Padel Den (Orem, UT)

About 12 miles southeast of Conquer Padel Club, you’ll find the soon-to-open, five court indoor club known as Padel Den in Orem.

Much like Lehi, Orem is a burgeoning tech hub of nearly 100,000 residents — which has resulted in the surrounding Orem-Provo area becoming one of the fastest growing regions in the entire U.S.

Out of the gates Padel Den will be offering a trial membership that allows you to play as much padel as you want for 30 days for just $1 — and based on recent Instagram posts, it appears as though Padel Den could potentially already be open by the time you read this.

Padel Park (West Jordan, UT)

15 miles northeast of Conquer Padel Club, you’ll find another plush soon-to-open club known as Padel Park, which is bringing six indoor Mejor Set courts to the community of West Jordan (which you’ll soon be able to book via Playtomic).

While you may not be familiar with West Jordan (I’d never even heard of it before discovering Padel Park), this Salt Lake City suburb is actually among the three or four biggest municipalities in the entire state with an estimated population of between 115,000 and 120,000 residents.

Unlike other clubs in the area that are opening soon with bargain-basement membership offers, Padel Park will instead be offering:

• 50 “Founding Memberships” (for $2,000 apiece), which get you unlimited play for your first year along with a slew of other perks, or…

• $300/month “Unlimited Memberships” that carry no per-session court booking fees, two-week court reservation windows, and four guest passes per month among other benefits.

The Hive Padel Club (Salt Lake City, UT)

Last but not least, this summer will see yet another padel club open in the region, this one known as The Hive Padel Club.

As you can see in this in-depth behind-the-scenes tour from co-founder and club director, Hollye Shepherd, in addition to four indoor courts and the first outdoor court in Utah, The Hive Padel Club will offer a slew of wellness amenities and design-forward work, lounge, and family areas, plus a gym, pro shop, cafe, and DJ booth.

Too Big to Fail?

Is his interview with Utah Business, Pedro Bautista said he and his father decided against opening a club in the Miami area (where his father lives) because it was already too saturated with padel courts and clubs.

But with the number of courts in the greater Salt Lake City metro area shooting up from just three to 22 in only about a month’s time, it might seem like this region could be in danger of becoming over-saturated as well.

However, if you take the time to dig into the World Padel Report 2025 from FIP, you’ll discover that across the world there is one padel court for every:

• 2,515 residents in Sweden 🇸🇪

• 2,820 residents in Spain 🇪🇸

• 5,760 residents in Italy 🇮🇹

• 6,540 residents in Argentina 🇦🇷

• 16,200 residents in France 🇫🇷

• 50,000 residents in Mexico 🇲🇽

Meanwhile, in a place like Doral, FL (just west of Miami), there is now approximately one court for every 1,925 residents — which, admittedly, does seem a bit worrisome.

However, when you consider the fact that the greater Salt Lake City-Provo-Orem metro area has an estimated 2.9 million residents and only 22 padel courts (or one court for every 131,818 residents), it seems as though the Utah padel market may have a long runway ahead of it yet.

Like this article? If so, please be sure to subscribe to Padel Nation to get exciting updates and important insights on the rapidly emerging U.S. padel scene like this one delivered directly to your inbox 2X weekly — or share it with a padel-playing friend.

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Finally, as always, a big thank you to the friends and preferred partners of Padel Nation who help make posts like this possible, including:

Interested in becoming a friend or preferred partner of Padel Nation? Drop us a line here and let’s talk!

Oh, and one other thing… I’ve actually got a full-blown padel book coming out in July. So, if you enjoy the work I’m doing in the U.S. padel space, you can support me by pre-ordering a copy (or two!) online at Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Many thanks in advance!

Editor’s Note: The following post is a (slightly edited) excerpt of an article penned by guest author Scott Matulis, a long-time public relations pro who was once the PR Director for the Worldwide Senior Tennis Tour. He discovered padel in Las Vegas in 2024 and can now hit balls off of the glass occasionally. He is the author of the LinkedIn and Substack serial novel The Applicant.

Also of note: For the third strait year, P1 Padel will be hosting the Playbypoint Las Vegas Open this April 24 - 25 — which is a USPA 2000 level tournament with a $25,000 total prize pool.

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I moved to Las Vegas in April of 2024 for a job. And, like a lot of tennis players who suddenly find themselves in a new city, the first thing I did was start driving around looking for courts.

One afternoon I was cruising down Buffalo looking for the All-American Tennis Club when I noticed several glass-walled padel courts that looked vaguely familiar.

“Man,” I thought, “I’ve seen that on YouTube. Those guys are nuts.” Also: “I could totally do that.”

I pulled into the parking lot and walked inside to check it out.

One of the staff members gave me a quick introduction to the sport and signed me up for an entry-level round-robin event called “Courts and Coffee” that the club holds every Sunday morning.

He was a tennis player, too. Padel, he explained, was a great landing spot for aging tennis players like me who still wanted to compete but weren’t particularly jacked about the wear and tear of hard courts or chasing drop shots into the doubles alley. I’ve had both my knees replaced so that sounded good to me.

The next morning I showed up and put the hammer to a fair number of beginners who had not spent the last 50 years hitting tennis, pickle, and racquet balls. About 25 of us played a four-round, 90-minute Americano format tournament. Courts and teams reshuffled every twenty minutes, giving me the chance to meet just about everybody.

No pressure. No USTA-league-type weirdness. Just people playing, socializing and having a good time.

Almost two years later, I’ve got a place to spend several nights a week with an ever-increasing group of friends from all over the world — some of whom have been playing padel most of their lives, and some of whom, like me, discovered padel in the middle of the desert.

Actually, almost none of them are like me. Meaning: an aging American tennis player from the suburbs of Southern California. The only two I’ve met are Casey from San Diego and John, who oddly enough grew up a mile away from me and played tennis for a rival high school in my hometown (who I will say we crushed regularly).

The three of us share two things: a love of padel and a love of half-priced drinks at the Rustic House after a three-set match.

Most nights though, I’m the only American on the court or at the table. Which has forced me to confront the fact that my flippant attitude toward high school Spanish was a huge mistake. Even though I grew up in SoCal, I thought, “who am I ever going to meet that speaks Spanish?”

Now just about everybody I meet speaks Spanish. And even though I am sure my friends from Argentina, Spain, and Brazil are goofing on me, I have absolutely no idea what they’re saying.

But the Real Secret of Padel Isn’t the Sport Itself — It’s the Community It Creates

In 1989, American sociologist Ray Oldenburg introduced the concept of the “third place” in his book The Great Good Place.

A third place is a gathering spot separate from home and work where people can relax, build friendships, exchange ideas and feel part of something bigger than themselves. A place where everybody knows your name.

Think neighborhood pubs, coffee shops, barber shops and “Norm!” A lot of them — Elks clubs, the general store, the soda fountain, and the pool hall — are not nearly as popular as they used to be. But people still need a place to unwind.

I’m a huge believer in the need for a third place, especially now that I live in a whole new town.

P1 Padel in Las Vegas is exactly that.

The People

The first thing you notice about P1 is the mix of people.

My regular playing group includes players named Pablo, Jorge, Chava, Casey, Alex, Sarah, Michael Smith and Zoltan, as well as more Scotts than I’ve met in my entire life.

Zoltan is from Hungary. He and his childhood friend Daniel came to the United States to play college soccer. Neither of them had ever picked up a racquet before discovering padel. Neither had Alex from England. Now all three of them can hang with anybody at the club.

There’s a picture on my phone of me with Zoltan’s mom that he took of us when she came to visit him. I also have a photo with Chava’s grandmother and sister when they came to town a few months ago.

Pablo is from Argentina. Chava’s family lives in Tijuana. Sarah is from the Philippines, teaches special education and goes on padel trips around the world.

Mo is from Lebanon. He worked at the Wynn and was recently relocated to London to help open a casino there. Parisa brought me ice cream after my latest knee surgery.

The next day, Michael Smith — we all call him Michael Smith, never Michael — brought me Tylenol and kept me company before he moved back to Australia.

It’s a great group. And they’re pretty representative of the clientele at P1 regardless of the level of padel they play. No attitude. No “I was ranked number 45 alphabetically in the fourteen-and-unders.” No “our USTA team went to sectionals, so you’re going to have to earn a spot.”

Just people who like to go at it and get better.

The Origins of P1

The club itself was built by an affable English guy named Martin Sweeney who discovered padel when he moved from the U.K. to Spain in 2009. At the time, he was a squash player but quickly realized that in Spain it was much easier to book a padel court than a squash court.

Sweeney explains:

“Like many of us, I immediately became addicted to padel. In 2011, I moved to Dubai and discovered that there was no padel in the Middle East so I decided as a bit of a passion/ hobby to open three courts at Emirates Golf Club.

That facility continues to operate and now has 20 courts. We originally had to call our sport ‘paddle tennis’ as the word ‘padel’ was already under copyright in Dubai.

Real Racquet Academy was born in 2013. I named the club Real Racquet Academy in recognition of the location where I first played padel, which was Real Club, Marbella.”

The Las Vegas club helped put the United States on the padel map. According to Sweeney it was the first purpose-built padel facility in the country and only the seventh club nationally when it opened in 2019.

In 2022, Real Racquet Academy hosted the Seniors Padel World Championships, welcoming 450 players from 16 countries.

Sweeney eventually leased the club to escape-room entrepreneur Simon Davison, who renamed it P1 Padel in 2023. Sweeney still owns the club and plays doubles with our advanced men’s group Sunday mornings.

The Engine of the Community

While the courts draw people in, the community exists largely because of the people running the club.

General Manager Phil Martinez, along with his girlfriend and co-GM Codi Hollomon and a rotating crew of young guys named Jake, Tommy, Anthony and Mane, run the show and make everybody feel at home. All of them know your name.

Phil is the nerve center of the operation — organizing tournaments, running leagues, managing logistics and acting as a conduit between members and ownership. He’ll also fill in if somebody cancels at the last minute, which hardly anybody ever does.

Neither Phil, Codi or any of the other club employees had played tennis or any racquet sport before discovering padel.

But they all play well now, which tells you something about the sport’s learning curve and the fact that they all like being at P1 as much as everybody else does.

The Funnel

P1 has developed a really effective funnel for bringing new people into the community.

The first entry point is often “Courts and Coffee”, the Sunday round-robin that hooked me. Another popular option is “Try Padel”, a one-hour introductory session led by one of the coaches.

For ten bucks newcomers get an hour-long intro to the rules, basic tactics and the social rhythm of the game. Afterward there’s coffee. People usually stick around to watch matches and feel the vibe.

That’s how my friend Michael Smith got started. An Australian who flies planes for Spirit Airlines, he saw ads for P1 on Instagram and decided to give the sport a try.

As Michael Smith remembers it:

“Coach Jeff went through some basic drills and pretty quickly realized I’d played racquet sports before and could hit the ball, so he gave me a little bit more of an in-depth introduction.

He put me in touch with a few guys who were reasonable players that played mornings and I played some social matches with them. From there I started to play men’s night on Monday nights and then signed up for Club Night on Wednesdays and sort of from there decided to improve.

I got to meet some people and find people of a similar level who were available at similar times and started arranging matches.”

Much later, after he was already much improved, he was laid off and started spending most of his waking hours at the club. Granted, he’s a tennis player, but over six months or so he turned himself into arguably the best over-40 player at P1 and started beating the daylights out of the rest of us. He also lost 40 pounds doing it.

“Being newish to America, and certainly new to Vegas, padel became my circle of friends, really, outside of work,” Michael Smith tells me. “Those are the people I know from Vegas.”

The Rhythm of the Club

Most nights the social center of the club isn’t the clubhouse — it’s the patio outside the courts. Players hang around after matches drinking sports drinks, talking trash, and waiting for the next round of games.

There’s a small kitchen serving smoothies and pizza (the smoothies are excellent, Jake’s still trying to get the hang of making the pizza).

Because the club sits next to a Methodist church and a high-end residential neighborhood P1 doesn’t have a liquor license, so if we want a post-match cocktail, we hit the Rustic House.

Still, the club regularly hosts birthday parties, barbecues, leagues and special events hosted and staffed mostly by the players.

As you can imagine, Las Vegas attracts a lot of out-of-town celebrities and a fair amount of them end up on the P1 courts.

According to Hollomon, actor Woody Harrelson has played here. So has DJ Martin Garrix. Formula One drivers — including Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll — have stopped by.

I once played on the court next to the Prince of Qatar.

Even if you’re not a celebrity, if you find yourself in Las Vegas, Phil and Codi can arrange matches for you while you’re here.

Why It Matters

In her book Daring Greatly, Brené Brown writes: “Connection is why we’re here; it is what gives purpose and meaning to our lives.”

In one of his essays, Desmond Tutu says something similar:

“A person is a person through other persons. We need other human beings for us to learn how to be human, for none of us comes fully formed into the world.”

I’ve found both ideas to be true.

Ray Oldenburg called places where people find community third places.

I call it Club Night at P1 Padel.

You can visit P1 Padel at 1876 S Buffalo Dr, Las Vegas, NV 89117 between 7am and 11pm on weekdays and 7am and 9:30pm on weekends. You can call the club at (702) 575-1700 or book a court via their website.

Enjoy this article?

If so, please be sure to subscribe to Padel Nation to get exciting updates and important insights on the rapidly emerging U.S. padel scene delivered directly to your inbox — or share it with a padel-playing friend.

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Finally, as always, a big thank you to the friends and preferred partners of Padel Nation who help make posts like this possible, including:

Interested in becoming a friend or preferred partner of Padel Nation? Drop us a line here and let’s talk!

Oh, and one other thing… I’ve actually got a full-blown padel book coming out in July. So, if you enjoy the work I’m doing in the U.S. padel space, you can support me by pre-ordering a copy (or two!) online at Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Many thanks in advance!

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Dear Padel Nation readers,

March was arguably the most eventful month in the entire 32-year history of U.S. padel thanks in large part to:

• The second-ever Premier Padel tournament being held on U.S. soil in Miami — which featured packed stands and jaw-dropping points like this one…

• The third edition of RacquetX taking place in Fort Lauderdale, with padel predictably stealing the show yet again (despite the rise of new challengers like TYPTI)…

• Padel being featured on Good Morning America for the second time in a segment about teenagers playing padel at Nicol NJ as part of “The Balance Challenge," an initiative aimed at helping kids build a healthier relationship with screens…

• Leading U.S. business publication Inc. magazine featuring an in-depth article on the rise of U.S. padel and Padel United Sports Club co-founder Jonathan Krieger, which declares that “entrepreneurs are flocking to tennis’s cooler cousin”…

• A whole slew of big U.S. padel investments being announced, most notably the Pro Padel League raising $15 million in a round led by Rick Schnall, co-chairman and governor of the Charlotte Hornets of the NBA…

• All-time padel legend Fernando “Bela” Belasteguín playing his way across Southern California before heading on to Miami for the Premier Padel P1, and…

• The National Padel League hosting its National Finals and crowning a number of National Champions from around the country.

Meanwhile, we saw new padel courts and clubs added everywhere from Chicago (at my friend Alex Vainberg’s new venue Proximo Padel)… to New York City (at SPORTIME Randall’s Island)… to Katy, Texas (at the newest — and perhaps most impressive — Racket Social Club location yet)… just to name a few.

We also got word of splashy new clubs coming to locations across the U.S. including San Jose… Palm Beach… and Chicago (at what looks like it could easily become one of the most iconic padel venues anywhere on Earth).

And, last but not least, we got expansion news from Salt Lake City Padel Club and a brand-new court from Privé Padel at the THesis Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida (which, according to Patricio Misitrano, is the U.S.’s 1,000th!).

On a personal level, it was also an incredibly busy month, largely spent knocking out the final chapters of my forthcoming 21-chapter padel book, which you can pre-order on Amazon here or from Barnes and Noble here.

Oh, and I also managed to publish a few U.S. padel articles, too, which you can find directly below.

Thanks for reading and play up!

ae

««« Reebok Joins Padel Party Via GLDN PNT »»»

Big name brands like Rolex, On, and Golden Goose have all been getting into the padel game lately (namely via partnerships with World No. 1 Arturo Coello) — and to that list you can now add the nearly 70-year-old iconic yet irreverent sports-culture brand, Reebok.

This is thanks to a recently announced collaboration with leading padel fashion brand and Padel Nation preferred partner, GLDN PNT. Everything you need to know about this exciting new development (including how to get your hands on some of their limited-edition gear) can be found here.

««« The Ultimate Show Stealer at RacquetX? »»»

Last month, I traveled all the way to Goshen, Indiana in the middle of winter to see something I think has the potential to completely re-shape the U.S. padel landscape going forward — and this month, what I saw there debuted at RacquetX.

Here’s what you need to know.

««« Padel Set to Pop in the Pacific Northwest »»»

Three new states (Idaho, Oregon, and Washington) will soon get their first-ever publicly accessible padel courts thanks to (at least) four new padel clubs.

This includes Pacific Padel in Seattle — whose co-founder, Pablo Arcuschin, wrote a great guest post we published this month entitled, “From Courts to Culture: What Actually Makes a Padel Club Successful,” which you can read right here.

««« The “Hidden” Key to U.S. Padel Growth? »»»

In yet another great guest article we published this month, Rodrigo Fernández —who is the co-founder and CMO of Kraken Padel Club in Dallas — explored one of the biggest (yet least talked about) drivers of padel growth in the U.S., which may well also hold the key to the sport’s future here in the States. Check it out here.

««« Padel Pro-Am Heats Up California Desert »»»

While pro tennis has always been the main reason for racquet-sports fanatics to head to the California desert in March, the recent Palm Springs Padel Pro-Am proved that padel has a place in the conversation, too — as you can see for yourself here.

(And this month there will be even more padel pro-am action in Indio, CA, thanks to an exciting collaboration between Padel Up, Playbypoint, and Siux — so be sure to stay tuned for more details!).

… and that’s a wrap — until next month, at least!

Please be sure to subscribe to Padel Nation to get exciting updates and important insights on the rapidly emerging U.S. padel scene delivered directly to your inbox — or share it with a padel-playing friend.

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Finally, as always, a big thank you to the friends and preferred partners of Padel Nation who help make posts like this possible, including:

Interested in becoming a friend or preferred partner of Padel Nation? Drop me a line here and let’s talk!

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Granted, most all eyes in the U.S. padel world have been fixed squarely on South Florida these past several weeks, thanks to game-changing developments like this at RacquetX and show-stopping points like this at the just-wrapped Miami Premier Padel P1 tournament.

But, while everyone has been focused on the Sunshine State, something exciting has also quietly been taking shape in the opposite corner of the country. Namely that the Pacific Northwest’s padel scene is finally starting to wake up in a big way.

This is thanks to (at least) four clubs across three states, including:

Boise Padel Club (Boise, Idaho):

While details are a bit scant at this point, we do know that a trio of padel-loving entrepreneurs (Neel, Umber, and Shaan Kohli) are working to bring the sport to the Idaho capital later this year via their project, The Boise Padel Club.

Although these won’t be the first padel courts in the state (as there are currently two outdoor courts at the stunning Gozzer Ranch & Lake Club just outside Coeur d'Alene) they will be the first publicly accessible courts at a dedicated padel facility in Idaho.

Of course, for those who live and play in a padel hotbed like South Florida, Boise might not exactly seem like the kind of place you’d expect padel to take off — but you might be surprised…

Because in addition to being the home of one of my favorite musicians and bands of all-time (specifically Doug Martsch and Built to Spill), Boise is also the home of Micron — a leading U.S. semiconductor company that is helping to power the AI revolution and has pledged to invest up to $50 billion into expanding its footprint there.

Between this and the fact that thousands of young people continue to flock to Boise each year for its hot job market, relatively cheap cost of living, and outdoorsy lifestyle, the Gem State’s capital city might just turn out to be a hidden gem when it comes to the U.S. padel market.

Foundry Padel (Portland, Oregon):

Meanwhile, about 425 miles northwest of Boise, the husband and wife team of Jacob and Monica Killion (who discovered padel several years ago on a trip through Spain) are set to bring four indoor courts to the Cathedral Park neighborhood of Portland —very near the University of Portland — via their project Foundry Padel.

In addition its four courts, Foundry Padel’s nearly 14,000-square-foot warehouse space will feature 40-foot-high ceilings (great for lobs!) and a bar area serving wine and beer — which, given the fact that it’s in PDX, you can count on being über-artisanal.

Portland’s distinct attitude also shows up in its co-founder’s plans to make the sport as accessible as possible for Portlanders by reportedly charging as little as $60 per hour for court time (which would make it one of the more affordable padel facilities around the U.S. at this point)…

Not to mention, his choice comments about pickleball, with him hilariously telling WHATNOW Portland in a recent interview:

“Pickleball is what your mom plays. [Padel] is much more fast-paced. You’re not using a whiffle ball and a cutting board.”

In theory, Foundry Padel could be open as early June, but if their Instagram feed is any indication, they may be one of the few clubs around the country that is actually running ahead of schedule.

(Oh, and speaking of Instagram, it appears as though Foundry Padel may not be the only padel club in PDX for long).

Pacific Padel (Seattle, Washington):

As I reported back in February, Pacific Padel — which is co-founded by Pablo Arcuschin, who penned a fantastic and very well received guest article for us earlier this month — is looking to be among the first padel clubs to open in the entire region.

Since publishing that piece, it has been reported this will come in the form of a 25,000-square-foot indoor facility in the hip, heavily Scandinavian-influenced Ballard neighborhood of Seattle later this summer (which, for what it’s worth, is also home to one of my favorite oyster establishments of all-time, The Walrus and The Carpenter).

Cascadia Padel Club (Kirkland, Washington):

On the other side of Lake Washington from Pacific Padel, you’ll soon be able to find Cascadia Padel — a 20,000-square-foot five court indoor facility in Kirkland (very near the Google campus) which reportedly already has a 1,000+ person waitlist.

While no official opening date has been announced yet, given the area’s young, prosperous, internationally diverse, and highly educated population, it seems like an area where padel should thrive right off the bat.

Know of other padel projects that are underway in the Pacific Northwest (or anywhere around the U.S.) that should be on our radar? Please be sure to let us know here in the comments below.

Also please be sure to subscribe to Padel Nation to get exciting updates and important insights on the rapidly emerging U.S. padel scene delivered directly to your inbox — or share it with a padel-playing friend.

Subscribe now

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Finally, as always, a big thank you to the friends and preferred partners of Padel Nation who help make posts like this possible, including:

Interested in becoming a friend or preferred partner of Padel Nation? Drop us a line here and let’s talk!

Oh, and one other thing… I’ve actually got a full-blown padel book coming out in July. So, if you enjoy the work I’m doing in the U.S. padel space, you can support me by pre-ordering a copy (or two!) online at Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Many thanks in advance!

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Dear Padel Nation readers,

As some of you may know, over the past few months when not cranking out articles about the rise of U.S. collegiate padel… or padel pro-ams in Palm Springs… or Reebok getting into the padel game, I’ve been busy finishing a comprehensive book on the sport that will be released later this summer.

Among many other things, this 350+ page book covers:

• The fascinating history of padel here in the U.S. and beyond (Did you know the first court in North America went up in 1992 in Calgary, Alberta, followed by the first court in the U.S. in 1994 in Houston, Texas? Or that the inaugural Team USA set foot on a padel court for the very first time the night before competing in a televised multi-national tournament in Acapulco, Mexico in 1993?)…

• How the sport has evolved over the past 50+ years since it was first invented in Mexico (like the fact that the back walls have gone from being concrete to glass and the racquets have transformed from flimsy plastic ones to thick foam ones made with space-aged materials)…

• The rise of padel tourism (including details on padel camps, resorts, and retreats you can go to in places ranging from Bali to Barcelona… Cyprus to Croatia… and even the Maldives)…

• The ins and outs of pro padel (including the mind-blowing records set by Argentine legend Fernando “Bela” Belasteguín — who was World No. 1 for 16 consecutive years… the rise and “fall” of the World Padel Tour… and other pro leagues and events you should be aware of like Premier Padel, the Pro Padel League, and the Reserve Cup Series)…

• The top 10 reasons you should play padel… the 10 most important padel-playing countries across the globe… and 10 must-visit padel clubs around the world (including one right here in the U.S.).

And until the end of today Barnes & Noble is offering 25% off all pre-order books, including mine, when you sign up for their free Rewards program and use code PREORDER25.

Place Your Pre-Order Now

Granted, this book is geared more towards the “padel-curious” crowd who are aware of the sport but don’t really know much about it than it is hard-core padel players or enthusiasts like most of you reading this right now.

Even so, I like to think it has a little something for everybody and, if nothing else, will help grow awareness and acceptance of the sport here in the U.S. and beyond. It also might make a great gift for a friend or family member who hasn’t yet caught the padel bug (but you’d like to give a nudge in the right direction!).

And even if you don’t use this discount to pre-order my book, you might consider using it to order one of the hundreds of other pre-order books available on barnesandnoble.com right now.

(In our household, we’ll personally be pre-ordering copies of the new David Sedaris and Maggie O’Farrell books).

But please keep in mind, this pre-order discount is only good through the rest of today.

Place Your Pre-Order Now

Thanks in advance for your interest and support!

ae

And as always, a big thank you to the friends and preferred partners of Padel Nation who help make this all possible, including:

Interested in becoming a friend or preferred partner of Padel Nation? Drop me a line here and let’s talk!

Editor’s note: The following guest article came out of a series of conversations I’ve recently had with the team at Kraken Padel Club in Dallas, TX.

Except for my brief introductory remarks, all insights below are from Kraken’s Co-Founder and CMO Rodrigo Fernández — who leads the club’s brand, marketing, and brand collaborations, helping to position Kraken as one of the fastest-growing and most active padel communities in the region, with multiple weekly tournaments and recent NPL D3 National Championship success.

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In a recent article, I noted that despite Dallas being one of the only places you could play padel in the U.S. about a decade ago (at T Bar M), the growth of the sport there hasn’t been quite as explosive as it has in other places like Miami, Houston, or Southern California — at least not yet, anyway.

However, that’s all starting to change thanks to pioneering clubs like Kraken who aren’t just opening some of the DFW area’s first clubs, but also helping to build the community from the ground up.

And as I leaned from my conversations with Fernández, he sees the Latino community being a key driving force in the growth of padel — not just in Dallas, but across all of Texas and even the U.S. as a whole.

Here’s why:

Latino Culture Naturally Aligns With Padel’s Social DNA

Padel is as much about connection as it is about competition. In many Latino cultures, sports are closely tied to gathering, conversation, and spending time together. The doubles format and interactive nature of padel make it a natural fit for communities that value social experiences around sports.

Texas Is Becoming a Key Gateway for the Sport in the U.S.

States like Texas are seeing accelerated growth thanks in part to their strong Latino population and cultural ties to countries where padel has long been popular, particularly Mexico andArgentina.

Globally, the sport is especially strong in places like Spain, where padel has become one of the most played recreational sports. Clubs like Kraken are seeing this momentum firsthand as new players continue discovering the sport through friends, social networks, and community events.

Padel clubs are becoming modern social hubs

Unlike traditional sports facilities, many padel clubs function as social gathering spaces. Players often stay after matches to watch games, socialize, or participate in community events. For many people, especially those living far from extended family, these clubs recreate a sense of community and belonging.

The rise of the experience economy is fueling sports like padel

Consumer behavior is shifting toward experiences that combine wellness, social connection, and entertainment. According to Eventbrite, about 75 percent of millennials prefer spending money on experiences rather than material goods.

The global wellness economy has surpassed $5.6 trillion dollars, reflecting growing demand for active lifestyles and social activities. Sports like padel sit at the intersection of fitness, entertainment, and community.

A growing lifestyle ecosystem around the sport

As the sport expands in the U.S., padel is evolving into more than just a game. Clubs are hosting leagues, tournaments, youth programs, and social events that turn matches into broader lifestyle experiences.

This dynamic is beginning to attract interest from brands looking to engage with active and highly social communities in authentic ways.

As Fernández tells me in closing:

“What makes padel special is not just the sport itself, it is the community that forms around it. In places like Texas, a lot of the early momentum is coming from Latino players who grew up with the social side of the game. People come for the match, but they stay for the connection and good vibes”

If you enjoyed this article, please don’t forget to subscribe to Padel Nation below to get exciting updates and important insights on the rapidly emerging U.S. padel scene like this one delivered directly to your inbox twice per week free of charge!

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Finally, as always, a big thank you to the friends and preferred partners of Padel Nation who help make posts like this possible, including:

Interested in becoming a friend or preferred partner of Padel Nation? Drop me a line here and let’s talk!

Oh, and one other thing… I’ve actually got a full-blown padel book coming out in July. So, if you enjoy the work I’m doing in the U.S. padel space, you can support me by pre-ordering a copy (or two!) online at Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Many thanks in advance!

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Just the other day I saw a post on social media from someone who was surprised that Nike hasn’t gotten into the padel game yet.

It’s a good point. But, truth be told, I’ve always been more of a Reebok fan ever since I got my first pair of Reebok Pumps clear back in the 3rd or 4th grade (which, at the risk of dating myself, was all the way back in 1990).

So, I was pleasantly surprised when longtime padel friend, Scott London, (who is the founder of Padel Nation preferred partner GLDN PNT) recently reached out to me with a little secret.

Namely, that GLDN PNT and Reebok were joining forces to design a whole line of high-performance, padel-specific apparel.

When I say it’s “padel-specific,” I don’t necessarily mean that you can’t wear it for other racquet sports (I actually wear my GLDN PNT gear all the time to play both padel and squash — and sometimes even ping-pong), but rather that it’s designed with padel’s unique ethos and aesthetic in mind.

In fact, one of the first times I ever spoke with Scott (who is the fashion legend behind iconic streetwear brands like Zoo York, Baby Phat, and Wu-Wear) for an article, he told me that not only did he think, “friends shouldn’t let friends play padel in tennis clothes”…

But also that padel deserved its own apparel line with a distinct look, feel, and vibe — much like Lululemon brought to the once-vanilla yoga space or brands like Burton, Dakine, and Never Summer brought to snowboarding to differentiate it from skiing.

Given that sentiment, it seems like Reebok will be the perfect partner, especially given the history and style of this nearly 70-year-old iconic yet irreverent sports-culture brand.

It also seems fitting that the collection was first unveiled last week at a private, pro-am padel tournament (with a $5,000 grand prize, no less) that was held at Sunset Padel in Miami Beach -- where Scott can routinely be found playing multiples times per week.

The Reebok x GLDN PNT collection (which goes on sale today here) features a range of high-performance apparel, including:

• A super lightweight, moisture-wicking tech tee…

• A unisex, ring-spun-cotton jersey tee, and…

• A women’s moisture-wicking tank top.

According to the masterminds behind this collaboration, each piece is, “designed with the modern padel player in mind, blending innovative materials, functional design, and bold style” — and they promise this partnership, “will bring Reebok’s legacy and GLDN PNT’s authenticity to the world’s fastest growing sport.”

GLDN PNT Founder, Scott London, further added:

“Padel is more than a sport—it’s a global movement, and we’re thrilled to partner with Reebok to raise the bar for padel apparel. Our mission has always been to celebrate the culture and community of padel, and this collaboration gives us the reach and resources to inspire even more players around the world. We’re making the moment count—on and off the court.”

Meanwhile, Daniel Schachne, the SVP of Reebok, had this to say in closing:

“Padel’s incredible growth represents the kind of energy and passion that Reebok has championed for decades. By collaborating with GLDN PNT, a brand deeply rooted in the sport, we’re excited to deliver innovative performance apparel to padel athletes everywhere and support the vibrant community driving the sport forward.”

See the GLDN PNT x Reebok Collection Now

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Interested in becoming a friend or preferred partner of Padel Nation? Drop me a line here and let’s talk!

Oh, and one other thing… I’ve actually got a full-blown padel book coming out in July. So, if you enjoy the work I’m doing in the U.S. padel space, you can support me by pre-ordering a copy (or two!) online at Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Many thanks in advance!

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While watching pro tennis at Indian Wells has always been the main reason for racquet-sports aficionados to flock to the California desert in early March, that all changed slightly this past weekend thanks to the first-ever Palm Springs Padel Pro-Am at the famed Parker Palm Springs.

The event was co-hosted by Fora Travel and L.A.-based Padel Up, which operates both L.A.’s only indoor padel club (with three courts and 30-foot-ceilings in Culver City) and an outdoor club (with three rooftop courts at the Westfield Mall in Century City) and featured:

• 12 total teams that included top-ranked padel pros from L.A., Miami, and Stockholm…

• $10,000 in prize money for the winners, and…

• An invite-only exhibition match featuring Argentine padel legend Fernando “Bela” Belasteguín, presented in partnership with Wilson Padel, alongside a surprise appearance by Argentine tennis icon David Nalbandian.

In addition to the Pro-Am itself, the weekend also featured a players’ dinner in one of the signature hedged gardens at the Parker Palm Springs (which is now also home to two stunning outdoor padel courts), as well as clinics, casual play, and court-side viewing for hotel guests.

According to organizers:

“The event reflects Padel Up’s strategy for growing the sport in the United States through experiential partnerships. By collaborating with brands and hospitality partners, the organization aims to introduce new audiences to padel and create unforgettable moments.”

With an estimated 500,000+ tennis fans descending on the area for the BNP Paribas Open, this certainly seems to be the ideal venue in which to try to attract new audiences to the sport, especially given the lavish surroundings of the host site.

This event also reinforces a growing trend we explored in a recent article about Privé Padel in Montauk, NY, and their new offering known as Privé Passport — namely, the rise of luxury padel tourism.

To that end, heading into this luxury padel event, its organizers also said:

“Tapping into the sports travel trend, th[is] weekend-long tournament and activation is designed to be a community-first experience for travelers to get close to the action in a relaxed yet elevated environment.”

From the looks of things, they succeeded at every level, and I, for one, am already looking forward to next year’s edition!

If you enjoyed this article, please don’t forget to subscribe to Padel Nation below to get exciting updates and important insights on the rapidly emerging U.S. padel scene delivered directly to your inbox — free of charge!

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Finally, as always, a big thank you to the friends and preferred partners of Padel Nation who help make posts like this possible, including:

Interested in becoming a friend or preferred partner of Padel Nation? Drop me a line here and let’s talk!

Oh, and one other thing… I’ve actually got a full-blown padel book coming out in July. So, if you enjoy the work I’m doing in the U.S. padel space, you can support me by pre-ordering a copy (or two!) online at Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Many thanks in advance!

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Editor’s Note: On January 5th, 2026, I officially launched Padel Nation. That very same day I received a somewhat unusual message from someone with a somewhat unusual name on LinkedIn.

Exactly one month and a day later, I was headed to Goshen, Indiana (in the dead middle of winter, no less) to check out what I now believe could potentially change the U.S. padel landscape forever.

This is the story of what happened — and is about to happen. And if you’re one of the thousands of people attending RacquetX in Fort Lauderdale, FL, this week, here’s why you might want to pay attention.

So, let’s just say I get a whole lot of people in the padel world reaching out to me all the time via LinkedIn, Instagram, e-mail, and every other sort of medium.

Not because I’m important… or influential… or able to actually do anything for them, mind you.

But simply because I try to pay attention to what’s going on around me in this space and then write about it as much as I can. Which, I guess, makes people think I’m important… and influential… and able to actually do things for them.

Maybe that’s what Brevin Bennett thought when he reached out to me back on January 5th to tell me about Off the Glass, the new 100% vertically integrated U.S. padel court manufacturing and installation company that he and his partner Len Morris had just co-founded.

But something felt decidedly different about Brevin’s message. There was none of the familiar desperation. None of the slick salesmanship. And most importantly to me, none of the used-car-salesman pushiness.

Instead, he just sent an honest message and a request to connect.

It felt a little bit like getting a note from Steve Jobs in the early-to-mid 1990s via Prodigy, CompuServe, or America Online saying, “Hey, I see you’re pretty into computers and I have something I’m working on that I’d like to tell you more about if you have time.”

In that initial message, Brevin also laid out one of his main mantras in life, which is that he’s always seeking to:

“Do Cool Things With Good People.”

(Well said, Brevin — as am I!)

So, I immediately responded to him, and one month later, after a brief detour to explore Chicago’s burgeoning padel scene, I found myself in front of an ominous looking industrial warehouse in Northern Indiana.

Inside was the panoramic padel court you see above along with a pretty heavy-hitting roster of U.S. padel insiders including:

• Brittany Dubins, who is the currently the highest ranked U.S. padel pro in the world (and is now officially sponsored by Off the Glass)…

• Bruce Townsend, who opened one of the the first-ever U.S. padel courts inside a mall in Connecticut…

• Tito Moreno, a true OG of the U.S. padel world, who is behind padel projects like AMET International, Urban Padel, and Wakit Rakit among many others…

• Pascal Collard of the Mouratoglou Academy and Bryan Ogle of CourtsApp, and…

• Andrew Won of Blanca Padel (for whom Brevin has cooked up something extra special to unveil at RacquetX this week — so be sure to drop by Booth #107 to check it out).

How’d They Get Here and Why’d We Go There?

One of the very first things Brevin tells me when we initially speak is that he’s taken a “non-traditional” path in life.

He didn’t go to college. Or grad school. Or do any of the other things so many young people here in the U.S. are “supposed” to do in order to be successful.

Instead, he focused on learning a trade inside and out. Namely, manufacturing — which, as you might imagine, is a pretty crucial component of what Off the Glass (OTG) is doing.

(It also allowed Brevin to become the CEO of Triton Metal Products for nearly five years at an age when most young people are still working their way through school or paying off student loans.)

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Brevin’s long-time mentor and OTG co-founder, Len Morris — who is also the founder of high-end, modern stair and railing company Viewrail — comes from a manufacturing background, as well.

When I ask Brevin how they initially met, he tells me:

“I first learned about Viewrail — and Len — in 2020. At the time, Viewrail was growing rapidly and quickly becoming recognized as one of Indiana’s premier manufacturing organizations.

Some companies hang their core values on a wall. Viewrail lived theirs. You could see it in how they treated customers, suppliers, competitors, and their community. Even people outside of Viewrail spoke about the company’s culture with respect.

I was in awe of what Len had built, both internally and externally. And as I stepped deeper into the metal fabrication space, I sent Len a message on LinkedIn asking if I could tour the facility. He graciously said yes.

From the sheer volume of production, to the design innovation, to the internally developed automation systems, I walked away thinking: this is the big leagues of manufacturing. It raised my standard.

Len and I stayed loosely connected for the next year or so. Then one day, a very wise man shared this advice with me: “Honor the wisdom of those ahead of you and pursue it with humility.”

Not long after, I found myself [reaching back out to] Len — this time asking not for a tour, but [instead] for mentorship.

Years later, I can honestly say I have never been more consistently challenged, humbled, sharpened, and encouraged than I have through Len’s wisdom and leadership. He has a rare ability to push you toward excellence while grounding you in faith and character.

That mentorship has been one of the greatest gifts of my professional life.”

The Why Behind the How

When I further ask Brevin how he and Len got connected to the world of padel in Indiana (which only very recently got its first-ever padel club) he starts off by telling me, “Len and I share a passion to solve big problems…”

From there we delve into the major problem they are looking to solve in the U.S. padel industry. Namely, the fact that almost all padel court manufacturers are located overseas — which means that, up until now, U.S. padel clubs operators have been forced to:

• Pay significant fees for the courts to be transported across the ocean on container ships and then often pay additional tariffs depending on where the courts are coming from…

• Wait weeks — or sometimes even months — for courts (or replacement parts) to cross the Atlantic or Pacific, get unloaded at a port, and ultimately be delivered to their final destination, and…

• Navigate the hassle of finding qualified installers to actually construct the courts once they arrive.

Meanwhile, OTG prides themselves on the fact that they can build a court in less than two weeks, and then have it delivered to any of the expert steel-and-glass structure installation teams that Viewrail has stationed all across the country within days, not weeks.

So, perhaps it’s no surprise that when another company that was supposed to provide a padel court for this week’s RacquetX conference couldn’t get it shipped from Spain in time, the organizers reached out to Brevin to see if he could provide a second OTG court at a moment’s notice.

Having gotten to know Brevin a little bit, I’m sure his answer was something along the lines of a casual, “Sure, no problem.” Which is why, if you attend Racquet X this week you’ll get so see not just one, but two, of OTG’s signature courts, including their:

• OTG-1X model — a true panoramic court (with no corner posts whatsoever) that is wind-load rated to 170 mph, and their…

• OTG-C5 — a court that is designed to withstand Category 5 hurricanes and carries a 215 mph wind-load rating.

Oh, and on one of these two RacquetX courts they’ll also be unveiling something pretty stunning that stopped us all in our tracks when they first showed it to us in Indiana. Trust me, you’ll know it when you see it.

1 + 1 + 1 + Brittany Dubins = 56+ (and Counting)

I won’t lie, when I first arrived in Goshen I had my doubts about what I’d find there, and if it would ultimately be worth my time.

Furthermore, I received more than a few snarky comments from what I assume are low-level competitors and general detractors when I first mentioned my investigative trip to Goshen on LinkedIn.

But, in the less than 24 hours I spent there, it became abundantly clear that if there are two things that Brevin and Len are experts in, they are steel and glass.

(In fact, in 2025 alone, Viewrail produced over 3.8 million pounds of glass, and with the addition of OTG, that number will jump to nearly 5 million in 2026.)

Of course, in addition to steel and glass, high-quality turf is key (as a local club I play at just learned the hard way), which is why OTG has partnered with the industry leaders at Real Turf.

And given that Brevin and Len are the first to admit they’ll never know as much about the sport of padel as they do the components that go into a court, it also seems smart that they chose to work closely with Brittany Dubins to perfect their court design.

As Brevin tells me:

“It was important for us to understand what was most important to the player at the professional level, and Brittany delivered valuable insight.

Additionally, we have assembled an advisory board, made up of industry professionals, club operators, and professional players, to help guide OTG on product design and strategy. This team will be announced at RacquetX.”

Brevin also reports that in just the first two weeks following the “official” OTG launch I attended, they were contracted to build and install 56 total courts (both indoor and outdoor) in the first half of 2026 in states including Florida, Texas, Indiana, New York, and California.

The Final Verdict

I’ll be the first to admit I’m no expert when it comes to padel courts.

I’ve played on a few I love (including our original court in South Carolina), plenty I like just fine, and a few I’m sure everyone who sets foot on agrees are total garbage.

Obviously, I wouldn’t be writing this if I didn’t enjoy playing on OTG’s model court in Indiana — but, if you’re at RacquetX, you should really stop by and judge for yourself.

At the end of the day what ultimately sold me on Brevin and Off the Glass was that Brevin didn’t try to sell me or any of us on Off the Glass (despite the fact he was obviously incredibly proud of what they’d built).

Rather than telling us how great their court was, he instead just asked for everyone’s honest advice and insights on how they could make it better and kept telling us, “I want this first court to be the worst one we ever produce.”

Much like the big surprise OTG will be unveiling in Fort Lauderdale, you definitely don’t see that every day.

So, if you’re at RacquetX this week, I’d encourage you to go have a look. It just might be the most intriguing thing you see while you’re there.

If you liked this article, please also be sure to subscribe to Padel Nation to get exciting updates and important insights on the rapidly emerging U.S. padel scene delivered directly to your inbox — or share it with a padel-playing friend.

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Finally, as always, a big thank you to the friends and preferred partners of Padel Nation who help make posts like this possible, including:

Interested in becoming a friend or preferred partner of Padel Nation? Drop me a line here and let’s talk!

Oh, and one other thing… I’ve actually got a full-blown padel book coming out in July. So, if you enjoy the work I’m doing in the U.S. padel space, you can support me by pre-ordering a copy (or two!) online at Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Many thanks in advance!

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Editor’s note: The following post is from guest author, Pablo Arcuschin, founder and CEO of Pacific Padel, a venture focused on bringing Seattle its first dedicated padel facility and growing the sport across the Pacific Northwest.

A certified padel coach and seasoned entrepreneur with roots in Argentina, Pablo is one of the leading voices driving padel's expansion in the region. You can follow his work on LinkedIn or learn more at the Pacific Padel website.

I’ve visited padel facilities across Spain, Argentina, Israel, the U.K., the U.S., and Canada. Some had stunning cold plunges. Premium lighting. Beautiful lobbies. And empty courts by 7pm.

Others had nothing fancy. Basic amenities, average everything. But full courts, waiting lists, and players who wouldn’t dream of going anywhere else. The difference?

The humans running the show were actually on the courts.

Here’s what I mean:

The manager who knows every regular by name. The coach who spots a player struggling with their backhand and stops to offer one tip, unprompted, uncharged. The sports director who watches the 8am session not to supervise, but because they genuinely care what’s happening on the court.

That’s not a management strategy. That’s a culture.

Culture is what retains players. Not the locker rooms.

I see operators invest months planning their facility: the layout, the surface, the tech, the food and beverage offer. All important. But ask them: when did you last spend an hour just watching your players? Not checking bookings. Not reviewing revenue reports. Just watching. Noticing. Being present.

The best insights about your club don’t come from a spreadsheet. They come from seeing the group of four who always rebooks and understanding why they keep coming back.

They come from noticing the new player who came twice and hasn’t heard a word about coaching. So you walk up, introduce yourself, and invite them to a free session. That one moment can turn a casual visitor into a loyal member.

They come from the head of sport who pulls you aside and says: “That group on court 3 is ready for a league. We should create one.”

The sports team is your best intelligence network

If they’re only responsible for teaching technique and filling court time, you’re underusing them.

The best operators I’ve worked with treat their coaches and sports directors as community builders. They organize tournaments, yes. But they’re also responsible for the social atmosphere of the club, making sure every player, at every level, feels cared for and connected.

They know who’s improving, who’s frustrated, who’s about to churn, and who might bring five friends if you just asked. That only happens when operators and sports teams are aligned, and when both are genuinely present on the courts, not just behind a desk.

Presence is the competitive advantage

The facility that wins long-term isn’t the most beautiful one.

It’s the one where players feel seen.

Agree? Disagree? Have anything to add? If so, please feel free to chime in in the comments below and let us know!

Also please be sure to subscribe to Padel Nation to get exciting updates and important insights on the rapidly emerging U.S. padel scene delivered directly to your inbox — or share it with a padel-playing friend.

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Finally, as always, a big thank you to the friends and preferred partners of Padel Nation who help make posts like this possible, including:

Interested in becoming a friend or preferred partner of Padel Nation? Drop me a line here and let’s talk!

Oh, and one other thing… I’ve actually got a full-blown padel book coming out in July. So, if you enjoy the work I’m doing in the U.S. padel space, you can support me by pre-ordering a copy (or two!) online at Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Many thanks in advance!

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Dear Padel Nation readers,

February was an eventful month on the padel front, both for me personally and for U.S. padel in general.

On a personal level, the month started off with an impromptu trip to the frozen Midwest with fellow padel addicts Andrew Won (of Blanca Padel) and Aris Sevastianos (of the El Remate padel newsletter).

First, we visited two stunning padel clubs in Chicago:

• Alma Padel — which I wrote a feature article on last month, and…

• The just-opened Proximo Padel — which I’ll be writing a feature article on this month.

(Unfortunately, visiting Union Padel Club ended up not being in the cards on this trip — next time, though!)

Then we made the trek to Goshen, Indiana, of all places, to see something that I believe has the potential to revolutionize U.S. padel going forward and I’ll be publishing an in-depth article on later this week (so please keep an eye out).

We were joined there by a pretty heavy-hitting crew of U.S. padel insiders, including:

• Brittany Dubins, who is the currently the highest ranked U.S. padel pro in the world…

• Bruce Townsend, who opened one of the the first-ever U.S. padel courts inside a mall in Connecticut…

• Tito Moreno, a true OG of the U.S. padel world, who is behind padel projects like AMET International and Urban Padel, among many others…

• Pascal Collard of the Mouratoglou Academy, and…

• Bryan Ogle of CourtsApp.

So, I think it’s safe to say that what’s happening in Goshen is definitely turning some heads and poised to make some big waves in this industry.

After returning home, I put in some more work on my forthcoming padel book (which you can now pre-order from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target, Walmart, and many other online retailers)…

And cranked out as many new articles about the U.S. padel scene as possible — all of which you can find links to below — before heading to Colorado for a squash tournament and a little padel in Denver at Racket Social Club (which just opened its newest location in Katy, TX this month).

But enough about me. Let’s get to the month that was in U.S. padel…

Thanks for reading and play up!

- ae

««« The Windy City’s Big Padel Moment Has Arrived »»»

While many padel clubs around the country are seriously struggling with occupancy during off-peak hours, when we arrived at Alma Padel at 1:30pm on a Tuesday this ^^^ is what we found. 👀 🤯

So, how exactly is Abigail McCulloch (who Forbes recently named to its “Top 30 Under 30” list for sports) pulling this off?

Here’s my take away.

««« Padel on Your Next Trip to Napa or Sonoma?! »»»

Thanks to Flyte Racquet Club in Marin County you can now play padel (or tennis or pickleball) on your next trip to California wine country.

As someone who loves racquet sports, travel, and wine, this development makes me pretty… pretty… prett-ay happy (to quote Larry David). So, I wrote a full feature article about Flyte and their incredibly affable new director of padel operations and member engagement, Javier Salamanca.

Oh, and if you’re curious about the club’s name, be sure to check out the video above. (I’m not a big emoji guy, but I think yet another 👀 🤯 applies!).

««« Pacific Northwest’s Padel Drought Set To End »»»

About 800 miles north of Flyte, we got some big news out of Seattle:

Thanks to a trio of racquet-sports-loving entrepreneurs and their new project, Pacific Padel, the long wait for padel in the Pacific Northwest will soon be over. Here’s what we know so far.

««« Playing Padel Abroad Soon? Read This First! »»»

With summer vacations right around the corner for many, you may find yourself itching to play padel on your next big international trip.

Before you do, I’d encourage you to check out this helpful guest article from a true padel globetrotter that has now played in over a dozen countries around the world.

««« Dallas Forth-Worth Padel Scene Is Heating Up »»»

Given its size and diverse, affluent population, it’s been a bit surprising that the greater DFW area has been so sleepy when it comes to padel up until now.

But that’s all about to change — and soon the DFW area will be home to over a half-dozen padel clubs and three dozen padel courts. Get the full details here.

««« U.S. Collegiate Padel Just Had a Very Big Week »»»

In less than seven days, two different U.S groups announced two major initiatives designed to help propel U.S. college padel participation to new highs — and right off the bat, they look to already be succeeding!

In Other News:

• The state of Rhode Island got its first-ever indoor padel court — with two more outdoor courts coming to the same facility later this year.

• On the heels of the big Cincinnati padel news I covered last month, we got not just one but two doses of even more exciting Cincy padel news this month (and I’m heading up there in late May to see all these developments for myself!)…

• The U.S. Padel Association (USPA) launched a new digital platform designed to “transform padel in the America.” Meanwhile, the USPA’s first-ever (and long-time) president and true U.S. padel pioneer, Mike May, received a well-deserved award.

• Even more top-tier pro padel is coming to the U.S. this year, thanks to a partnership between Spanish-based padel-court booking platform behemoth Playtomic and all-time Spanish tennis legend, Rafael Nadal.

• Meanwhile, the Parker Palm Springs and LA’s PadelUp (which are both powered by Miami-based booking platform Playbypoint) announced they would be combining forces to host a Palm Springs Padel Pro-Am next weekend featuring all-time padel legend Fernando Belasteguín (known to most simply as “Bela”).

• Reserve Padel welcomed over 600 guests and raised more than $150,000 for a charity event designed to “help protect vulnerable animals and empower children, while also advancing its long-term goal of opening an animal sanctuary in South Florida for older, injured, and overlooked animals.” 👏👏

• For what I believe is only the second time ever, padel graced the (digital) pages of the legendary U.S. publication, Sports Illustrated — and you can read this new SI article here.

• Following closely on the heels of Indiana getting its first two indoor padel courts, Fort Wayne Country Club will soon be adding the Hoosier State’s first outdoor court, as well.

… and that’s a wrap — until next month, at least!

Please be sure to subscribe to Padel Nation to get exciting updates and important insights on the rapidly emerging U.S. padel scene delivered directly to your inbox — or share it with a padel-playing friend.

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Finally, as always, a big thank you to the friends and preferred partners of Padel Nation who help make posts like this possible, including:

Interested in becoming a friend or preferred partner of Padel Nation? Drop me a line here and let’s talk!

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Having grown up playing tennis and then later squash, I was always shocked (and disappointed) by the massive gap between the two sports here in the U.S., especially at the collegiate level.

Tennis is practically ubiquitous on U.S. college campuses. Even the medium-sized school I went to in Virginia had over 30+ tennis courts and a D-1 tennis team, compared to just two sad, dilapidated squash courts that only a small handful of people ever played on (myself included) and no club team to speak of.

Meanwhile, nearly every imaginable variety of two- and four-year college and university in America has some sort of college tennis team, be it a full-blown D-1 squad, a National Junior College Athletic Association team, or even just a club program.

Yet, despite squash finally becoming an Olympic sport in 2028, there are only about three dozen total NCAA squash programs today plus a smattering of club programs, largely clustered in the Northeast at wealthy, private liberal-arts or Ivy League institutions.

And the trickle-down effect — or lack-thereof, rather — of this is striking at places like our local squash club in Charleston, SC, where the age of the average member is well over 60 and you can count the number of players under 30 on one hand.

Luckily, U.S. Padel Already Looks to Be Going in a Much Different Direction

This is thanks in part to the American Collegiate Padel League (ACPL), which held its official launch tournament last weekend at Padel Haus in Brooklyn (and was sponsored in part by our Padel Nation partners at Kanso Sports).

All told, seven different schools — including Yale, Babson, U-Penn, Drexel, Duke, Columbia, and NYU — competed, with the team from Yale ultimately declaring victory.

As Rahul Verma of the Columbia University team put it, “ACPL is a great league. It’s the start of something big and I think it’s gonna be instrumental in helping padel growth in the U.S.”

Beyond this initial event, the ACPL plans to launch a full-blown collegiate padel league, whose inaugural season will kick off this coming September and include:

• Self-organized "City Stages" (running Sept-Oct, Dec-Jan, and Mar-Apr), where official ACPL chapters will compete within their metro areas to accumulate qualifying points before major events…

• Regional Majors, where chapters will travel to compete in the Fall Invitational (pre-Thanksgiving) and the Winter Classic (late February), facing off against broader regional talent to secure conference standing, and…

• A National Final, where the inaugural season will culminate in early May 2027. Conference champions and top-ranked squads will advance to these National Finals to compete for “the ultimate collegiate padel title.”

In the meantime, the ACPL will be hosting a series of “Courtside Events” in places like Boulder, CO… Fort Lauderdale, FL (at RacquetX)… and Boston, MA (which, as I recently noted is finally starting to claim its rightful place on the U.S. padel map).

Doubling Down

As if this ACPL news wasn’t intriguing enough, yesterday the U.S. Padel Association (USPA) added to the U.S. collegiate padel momentum by announcing the first-ever National Collegiate Padel Championships, which are scheduled to take place April 10-11 at Padel Club Austin in Austin, TX.

During this first-of-its-kind event, American university students — from schools including the University of Miami (FL), the University of Texas, and Harvard Business School among others — will battle for the USPA national collegiate title and a chance to represent the U.S. at the FISU World University Championships in Málaga, Spain from July 6 - 11.

In a prepared statement, Rodrigo Ortiz, President and Founder of Longhorn Padel at the University of Texas at Austin, said:

“We have been working toward this moment since the very beginning. When we started Longhorn Padel, we knew there was something special here: the energy, the talent, and the passion our students bring every time they step on the court.

The National Collegiate Padel Championship gives our club the chance to be amazing hosts and welcome [c]ollegiate [p]adel [p]layers from around the country. We’re bringing Texas energy, Burnt Orange pride, and Longhorn hospitality to the national stage.”

As soon as we have further details on either of these collegiate padel initiatives, we’ll be back with more — so please stay tuned.

In the meantime, please also be sure to subscribe to Padel Nation below to get exciting updates and important insights on the rapidly emerging U.S. padel scene like this one delivered directly to your inbox for free twice weekly.

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Finally, as always, a big thank you to the friends and preferred partners of Padel Nation who help make posts like this possible, including:

Interested in becoming a friend or preferred partner of Padel Nation? Drop me a line here and let’s talk!

Oh, and one other thing… I’ve actually got a full-blown padel book coming out in July. So, if you enjoy the work I’m doing in the U.S. padel space, you can support me by pre-ordering a copy (or two!) online at Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Many thanks in advance!

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While I have recently written articles about the fact that padel is starting to gain some real traction in both Boston and Chicago, I’ve also had my eye on Dallas — and with good reason…

After all, not only did Kraken Padel Club (a four-court, indoor facility in Farmer’s Branch) just host a USPA 250 tournament this past weekend, but recently Dallas has been all over the padel news, albeit somewhat quietly.

These Dallas padel headlines include:

• Austin-based upscale padel purveyor Padel39 recently acquiring the Dallas Padel Club and undertaking a multi-million-dollar renovation that will add seven outdoor courts to its existing three indoor courts along with premium food and beverage offerings, a HYROX fitness and recovery area, wellness facilities (including sauna, cold plunge, etc.), and luxury locker rooms.

• Leading U.S. padel-club operator Padel Haus announcing late last year that it would be opening its seventh location in the heart of the Dallas Design District. This six-court indoor club is scheduled to open in late 2026 and, in typical Padel Haus fashion, will offer premium locker rooms and showers, a fully equipped gym with dedicated recovery and wellness spaces, several multipurpose rooms, a unique padel art collection, and the brand’s signature Juice Haus café.

• Announcements from both Ace Padel and Studio Arenna that they would be opening padel clubs in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. While Ace Padel is looking to open a six-court indoor facility in a building that formerly housed the Metropolitan Community Church of Dallas, Studio Arenna has signed a lease for an 18,000 square-foot, build-to-suit indoor facility at The Railyard Crossing, a new mixed-use development located North Richland Hills, Texas.

As soon we have further details on all of these various DFW padel club openings, we’ll back with more.

In the meantime, please be sure to subscribe to Padel Nation below to get exciting updates and important insights on the rapidly emerging U.S. padel scene like this one delivered directly to your inbox for free.

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Finally, as always, a big thank you to the friends and preferred partners of Padel Nation who help make posts like this possible, including:

Interested in becoming a friend or preferred partner of Padel Nation? Drop me a line here and let’s talk!

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I first set foot on a padel court in 2021 (at the original PADELphia location outside Philly). A few minutes later, I became hopelessly addicted. And about a day after that, I started thinking of how to help bring padel to South Carolina.

If, back then, you would have told me that five years later…

• The Palmetto State would be rapidly pushing towards 20+ courts…

• States like Indiana, Vermont, Minnesota, Kentucky, and Rhode Island would all be home to padel, and…

• Far-flung places including Lowell, AR… Pikesville, MD… and even my hometown of Colorado Springs, CO would all have padel clubs with 3+ courts…

… YET Seattle (and the entire Pacific Northwest, for that mater) would have zero clubs or publicly accessible courts, I would’ve been willing to make a substantial wager that you’d be dead wrong.

Shows what I know!

Where Can You Play Padel in the U.S. Right Now?

Here’s (almost) everywhere.

So, What Gives?

As long-time Seattle resident and budding padel enthusiast, Josh Kerns, who also serves as Chief Marketing and Member Officer for the International Association of Pickleball and Padel Facilities (IAPPF), recently explained to me:

“The coming of padel to Seattle and Washington state is long overdue. It’s not for lack of interest or trying. Hundreds belong to a NW padel What’s App group and regularly discuss bringing padel to the NW. Many drive three plus hours to play in Vancouver, BC, at the nearest club.

Several interested, well-funded parties have actively searched for suitable locations for several years. But the Seattle real estate market is extremely difficult.

Between exorbitant rents, a lack of suitable inventory, and a morass of bureaucratic hurdles, even the several groups who have signed leases face plenty of headwinds before they’ll be able to get their clubs built and opened.”

Yet, based on multiple things I’ve seen online and conversations I’ve had recently, one group does seem to have finally broken through.

What We Know About Pacific Padel So Far

While details are still few and far between at this point, it’s clear that, unlike some padel clubs popping up across the country, the team behind Pacific Padel does actually have an extensive background in racquet sports in general and padel in particular.

In fact, the club’s founder and CEO, Pablo Arcuschin, is described as, “a certified padel coach who grew up playing padel in 1990s Argentina during the sport's explosive growth [there].”

Meanwhile, Ory Dank, who will serve as COO, was “born into a tennis family and a [was] former professional player in his youth.”

What’s more, he “brings over 15 years of experience in racquet sports facility management and operations, [having] successfully managed tennis facilities and academies across Europe and the U.S.”

As their website states, the founders (which also includes CFO, Nadav Porat):

The padel-loving trio also insist that they’re not just building courts — they’re also, “cultivating communities and creating lasting connections through the unique social experience that only padel can provide.”

Although an exact location for the club hasn’t been announced yet, the founders have promised they’ll be revealing that information soon — and we’ll follow-up with another post (and hopefully an in-depth interview, as well) once they do.

In the meantime, Seattle area padel-addicts like Kerns are left to wait a bit longer for their itch to be scratched — but they also know it’ll ultimately be worth the wait. As Kerns puts it:

“The demand is undoubtedly here. With so many high-income foreign nationals working for Microsoft, Amazon, and other major companies based in the Seattle-area, there are plenty of people with knowledge and passion for padel.

And given the ever-increasing buzz about the sport, Pacific Padel is poised to kick start what I predict will be one of the next high-growth markets for padel.”

As soon we know more about Pacific Padel’s locations and opening dates, we’ll back with more.

In the meantime, please be sure to subscribe to Padel Nation below to get exciting updates and important insights on the rapidly emerging U.S. padel scene like this one delivered directly to your inbox for free.

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Finally, as always, a big thank you to the friends and preferred partners of Padel Nation who help make posts like this possible, including:

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Editor’s Note: The following guest post comes from friend and fellow padel-addict/-scribbler Aris Sevastianos, founder and author of the El Remate newsletter, who has had the rare pleasure of playing padel in more countries than most people have ever even set foot in.

He’s rocked the boat a few times recently with his honest, well-thought-out “hot takes” on why the U.S. padel landscape has a long way to go if the sport is ever going to break out the way it has in Europe, South America, and elsewhere.

So, on a recent impromptu trip to Chicago to play padel in the middle of the winter together (yes, our passion often outweighs our intelligence), I asked him what Americans might find surprising about playing padel abroad. Here’s how he responded…

Howdy! I’m Aris, an American who spent 18 months playing padel everywhere I could find a court across Europe, Latin America, and back home in the States. I lived in Argentina and Spain, but also spent time playing in Italy, Greece, Germany, Bosnia, Panama, Dominican Republic, Serbia, Colombia… the list goes on and on.

Each place had its own flavor, its own quirks, and its own way of approaching the sport. I recently made an Instagram account documenting these distinct experiences here.

Rather than lecture about which is “better” (though I definitely have opinions), I want to use this piece to highlight the cultural stuff that genuinely surprised me - and might surprise you too if you bring your racket overseas.

Here’s what stood out:

1) You Kiss Your Opponents

Many times playing in different clubs across Buenos Aires, I’d meet my opponents (who I’d never met) before the match. While I’d expect handshakes or casual intros, they’d greet me with the classic Argentine right-cheek kiss.

The match, while undoubtedly still competitive, felt warm from the start and made the game feel intimate… almost familial.

2) It’s Their Pickleball Equivalent

Across Europe and Latin America, padel players came from every demographic imaginable.

My Uber driver Javi in Madrid plays twice a week. Grandmothers book weekly matches. Teens squeeze in games after school. It isn’t concentrated in one profession, income bracket, or archetype of person. Put simply, it’s affordable and accessible.

Most places operate on pay-per-play models. No memberships required. You book a court for 90 minutes, show up, play, hop off for the next group of four, then recap the match and shoot the shit over a local beer.

The barrier to entry is low, so naturally the player pool is massive. Which means finding games at your skill level during convenient times is much easier.

3) They’re Facilities, Not Clubs

This is a semantic thing, but it matters. In every place I played, calling them “clubs” doesn’t quite fit. They’re facilities.

A club implies membership, and a certain type of person who belongs. A facility is just a place with courts. You show up, you pay, you play.

I genuinely struggled to find membership-based padel clubs across these 12 countries I played in. They might exist somewhere, but they’re certainly not the norm. When the sport is common enough, the pay-per-play model works perfectly fine.

It’s just a different approach to how the sport is accessed and experienced.

4) Socialization with Strangers Is the Norm

While I haven’t (yet) played in Brazil and Paraguay, my buddy David (who I met while living in Buenos Aires) would show me these facilities with dedicated asado areas where you cook meat and drink beer with the people you just played with. There, it’s literally part of the infrastructure.

But the post-match hangout culture extends beyond just those countries. Across Europe (particularly Spain / Italy / Greece) and Latin America, staying after your match to socialize is standard.

While, sure, this still exists (mind you, to a lesser extent) in the US, I’d find that key difference abroad is who you’re socializing with. In the States, a post-match hangout (if any) disproportionately happens within a group that already knows each other. Abroad, it’s completely normal with total strangers. I’d show up solo, play with three people I’d never met, then spend two hours with them afterward drinking and talking about anything. It was completely normal to turn a pickup game into an entire evening of conversation, often followed by the swapping of WhatsApps with plans to run it back.

The sport is unquestionably a social ritual beyond exercise and competition. I never experienced anything like it in the other sports I grew up playing.

5) Worlds Collide

I’ve played matches where my partner was a CEO and our opponents were a construction worker and a college student. Doctors playing with delivery drivers. Lawyers with jewelry salesmen.

Compared to the US, where padel demographics skew heavily toward late-20s to 50-something urban professionals, padel abroad pulls people from wildly different socioeconomic backgrounds into the same ecosystem.

And I love it because you get perspectives outside your bubble. For 90 minutes, you compete, laugh, sweat, and connect with people you’d probably never meet otherwise. Padel creates these small micro-communities and friend groups almost instantly.

6) Youth Development Is Ubiquitous

Walk into a facility in Europe or Latin America and you’ll see kids as young as six or seven on the courts.

Youth programs, junior leagues, and tournaments are incredibly common, and there’s real infrastructure and pipelines designed to get kids into the sport early.

Kids grow up playing, develop serious skill by their teens, and the overall level of play rises across the country. You can feel it in the depth of competition, especially in places like Spain and Argentina (peep this video, for example).

7) Padel Is Rural (& Can Be in the US, Too!)

When visiting my cousins in small-town Italy, I was quite positively surprised to find an abundance of padel courts. Over time, I noticed that tons of other countries have courts in rural areas. I thought this was really cool to see, and this observation came full circle during a recent visit to Goshen, Indiana (a small northern Indiana town), visiting the first U.S. domestic padel court glass manufacturer.

They’d built a demo court in their warehouse. Word got around town (naturally), and people started showing up wanting to try this weird sport they’d heard about.

The response was immediate and enthusiastic. People loved it. The demand was so strong that the manufacturer’s founder bought 40 Blanca Padel rackets of because he knew he’d sell them quickly to the locals who wanted to keep playing.

To me, this was shockingly un-shocking. Even small-town rural Indiana loved padel just as much as cosmopolitan Berlin or Buenos Aires. Regardless of your background, when you actually try it, you get hooked.

The sport just needs to be accessible. The appetite is there.

8) Instantly Hopping in on High-Quality Matches Is Frictionless

Full disclosure, I’m not being paid to say this. I have no affiliate deal or sponsorship. I’m just sharing what genuinely worked well for me as a player traveling around Europe.

One of the biggest game-changers for me while traveling in Europe was Playtomic.

If you haven’t used it, it’s an app that lets you find open matches at your skill level with people you don’t know, in almost any city.

Here’s what it looked like in practice:

I’d land in Berlin not knowing anyone. I’d open the app, find an open match nearby with players around my level, book in, and show up. Done.

After the match, your rating algorithmically updates based on results and partner / opponent quality. Over time, the matchmaking gets smarter, and you get slotted into increasingly accurate games. The rating system also adds a competitive element that makes the app more engaging and addicting.

It’s hard to overstate how frictionless this is compared to the U.S.

In many American clubs, you still have to “know the right people” to get good games. Many clubs don’t assign ratings to each member, nor do members record scores from their matches. Instead of being able to jump into competitive matches right away, you have to work your way into the right circles over a long time (I’m talking several months, minimum). It’s messy and adds tons of unnecessary social drama into the mix.

What I Took Away From All This

Playing padel across 12 countries showed me just how differently the sport can be experienced depending on culture, infrastructure, and access. A lot of what I found abroad caught me off guard, but it also made me optimistic.

There’s massive potential for padel in the U.S. After all, we’re a country of immigrants and regional cultures, which means we can borrow the best elements of what’s worked elsewhere and build something uniquely American.

As I continue building El Remate, my goal is to share the same joy I experienced abroad by getting more people on the court, sweating, laughing, and connecting over this weird, beautiful game.

Enjoy this post? If so, please subscribe to Padel Nation to get exciting updates and important insights on the rapidly emerging U.S. padel scene delivered directly to your inbox — or share it with a padel-playing friend.

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Finally, as always, a big thank you to the friends and preferred partners of Padel Nation who help make posts like this possible, including:

Interested in becoming a friend or preferred partner of Padel Nation? Drop me a line here and let’s talk!