Yes, U.S. Tennis Clubs Are Slowly Starting to Embrace Padel
And this may be the biggest (small) sign yet...
When it comes to the question of whether tennis and padel can — and possibly even should — happily co-exist, there are certainly no shortage of opinions.
On the one hand, you’ve got tennis legend Novak Djokovic calling rapidly growing racquet sports like padel a “threat” to tennis during a 2024 Wimbledon press conference (despite the fact that he’s regularly been spotted playing it over the years).
Meanwhile, current men’s world-number-10-ranked Alexander Bublik made big headlines recently after telling reporters, “If you can’t play singles [tennis], you play doubles. If you can’t play doubles, you play padel.”
(Ironically, those comments were made during a tournament in Rome where he got bounced out early in both singles and doubles. Perhaps he should give padel a go?).
Then, on the other hand, you have notable tennis greats like Andy Murray, Rafa Nadal, and Dominic Thiem not only actively playing and promoting the sport, but also investing heavily in it, as well. Not to mention, AO Ventures, the investment arm of the Australian Open and Tennis Australia making a significant investment in leading U.S. padel club operator Padel Haus.
Beyond this, you are also starting to see big U.S. pro tennis venues adding padel courts. This includes LTP Daniel Island/Credit One Stadium, which hosts the WTA 500-level Credit One Charleston Open each spring in South Carolina and now has three padel courts, as well as the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, OH, which hosts the ATP/WTA 1000-level Cincinnati Open each August and now has two padel courts (which I’ll actually be playing on a week from tomorrow!).
What’s more, as I covered in a recent article, here in the U.S., we’re starting to see a growing number of legendary country, city, and racquet clubs — including the likes of The Philadelphia Cricket Club, Merion Cricket Club, and The Piedmont Driving Club — start to open padel courts at their facilities.
And to this ever-growing list, we now can now add one of the most iconic of them all…
West Side Story
Founded in 1892 in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens, NY, on nearly 12 acres, the legendary West Side Tennis Club is among the most historic — and heralded — racquet-sports clubs in the entire U.S. (and world, for that matter). This is thanks in large part to the fact that it:
Was the host venue of the U.S. Open from 1915 to 1977…
Features 38 grass, green and red Har-Tru, and hard tennis courts (along with three platform-tennis courts), and…
Is anchored by a picturesque Tudor-style clubhouse and the historic 14,000-seat Forest Hills Stadium, which has hosted major concerts from artists including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and Jimi Hendrix.
And, as of about a week and a half ago, it’s now also home to a brand-new Mundial court from Padel Galis.
Of West Side’s decision to finally add a padel court to its full-time offerings, the club’s Racquets Committee Co-Chair, Marnie Perez Ochoa (whose grandparents actually both competed in U.S. Opens that were hosted at West Side), tells me:
“We reviewed a number of the top court manufacturers throughout the process, but ultimately felt most comfortable moving forward with Padel Galis because of their experience and established outdoor footprint in the Northeast specifically.
Since padel is still a relatively new sport not just for many of our members, but operationally for the Club as well, it was important for us to work with a partner that had substantial experience installing and maintaining courts in climates similar to New York.
We wanted a group that could really guide us through the process and help educate us on the operational side of the sport, not just sell us a court. We also worked closely with them on some of the design elements.
For example, we selected a green turf color that subtly nods to the Club’s iconic grass courts, which are such a defining part of West Side’s identity. We also customized the protective coverings around the court to maintain a clean, minimal aesthetic while still incorporating the Club’s logo and branding in a tasteful way.”
As Ever With Padel, Patience Pays Off
While adding padel courts to West Side had been discussed by various boards and committees off and on for the better part of the past decade, the club’s first real introduction to the sport didn’t come until 2024 with the addition of a pop-up court from InstantPadel.
As Marnie recalls:
"It went up for the summer season as an introductory way for members to experience and learn the sport. The court was available throughout the summer and then removed in the fall. It served its purpose well by exposing members to padel and generating conversation and interest around the sport, but ultimately it was not enough at the time to justify moving directly into a larger permanent project.
Over the following year, the club continued monitoring both industry trends and member interest. We saw a broader shift across the racquet-sports industry, with many traditional tennis clubs evolving into more comprehensive ‘racquet-sports’ clubs. Peer clubs with similar membership bases, including the Philadelphia Cricket Club and more recently Sportime Randall’s Island and CityView, all embraced padel in thoughtful ways.
We also started seeing more and more West Side members traveling regularly to Brooklyn, Manhattan, and even New Jersey just to play padel, which reinforced that the interest and demand within the membership was real and continuing to grow.”
One and Done — or Just the Beginning?
While adding a single padel court to a very traditional club with over three dozen tennis courts may not exactly seem like a seismic shift, padel advocates like Marnie know that if you can get people (and especially racquet-sports junkies) to play padel just once, they’ll likely come back again and again.
She explains:
The idea behind starting with one court was to take a measured approach. It gives members the opportunity to experience padel on a true regulation court while allowing the club to evaluate demand, programming, and overall fit before considering anything larger long term.
Since installation, the surrounding area has also naturally evolved into another social gathering space for members, especially during the busy summer and concert season.
The membership has received the court and sport really well so far. There’s definitely been curiosity and some initial intimidation around the walls and mesh since it looks very different from tennis, but once members actually step on court and try it, that usually disappears pretty quickly.
A huge part of the early success and member buy-in has also been the engagement and energy from our Director of Racquet Sports, Chris Sanni. His willingness to embrace all racquet sports and help introduce members to the game in an approachable way has been incredibly important.
So Happy Together?
Shortly after the installers put the finishing touches on the West Side court, Marnie texted me the following video and a note that simply read: “We have a court!!”
While her excitement and sheer joy at finally having a “home court” is palpable (and very understandable — especially for me), she knows that, for the time being, she and her fellow West Side padel lovers will need to straddle the line between practical and cautiously optimistic, ultimately telling me:
“I think our approach is to remain thoughtful and member-driven as the sport continues to evolve.
In the near term, the goal is really just to continue introducing members to padel, build consistent usage, and learn from how the membership responds to the court and programming over time.
Longer term, we hope padel continues growing in a healthy and sustainable way both at West Side and across New York and the U.S. More broadly, we think racquet clubs are increasingly moving toward offering multiple sports and experiences under one roof, and we want to continue evaluating how padel fits into that future for our membership.”
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