Paddel: What is the sport that everyone talks about

padel and padel are two sports which, while sharing some similarities, have important differences between them.

First, it is important to clarify that the right way to write them is "padel" and "paddle", although they are often written as "paddel“.

padel is a sport similar to tennis, but played on a smaller court enclosed by glass walls and wire mesh.

Paddleboarding, on the other hand, is a sport played on a surfboard with a paddle, and originated from Hawaii. In this article we will look at the characteristics of both sports, to understand which could be the most suitable for your needs.

Paddle Tennis

The Paddle Tennis, known now as POPTennis, is a sport that in recent years has gained more and more popularity in Italy as well. This game is played in a similar way to tennis, but with some important differences: the the size of the court is reduced, the rackets are shorter, smaller and more solid, a low compression tennis ball is used and the serve is close at hand. All this makes it a sport accessible to people of all ages and all physical abilities.

In Italy, POP Tennis is a relatively new game, but it is becoming increasingly popular across the country. Accessibility is one of the factors that make this sport so attractive, as you only need one court, one racket and one ball to play, and the size of the court is smaller than in traditional tennis. This means that it is possible to play wherever there is enough space for a pitch 18 meters long and 8.23 meters wide.

The founder of Paddle Tennis, Frank Peer Beal, was an Episcopal minister who wanted to create sports for neighborhood kids in New York City who didn't have access to expensive clubs and tennis courts. He worked with the city's Parks and Recreation Department to build and develop paddle or pop tennis courts in Washington Square Park.

To play POP Tennis in Italy, you need to have the right equipment. The field must be long 18 meters and 8.23 meters wide, While rackets have no strings, they are more solid than the traditional ones and are shorter and smaller, with a length of about 46 centimeters and a width of about 24 centimeters. The official POP Tennis balls are tennis balls with a lower compression of 25% than traditional balls.

The basic rules of POP Tennis are similar to those of tennis and paddle tennis. There are some important differences, such as the serve that must be done layup, but in general, if you know the rules of tennis, you can play POP Tennis. For example, players must stand behind the baseline to serve, serve diagonally, and cause the ball to land in the opponent's court.

POP Tennis is a sport suitable for people of all ages and physical abilities. The accessibility, simplicity of the rules and the absence of expensive equipment make it suitable even for those who are not familiar with traditional tennis. Furthermore, the fact that it is played on smaller fields means that it is possible to play even in limited spaces.

Ultimately, POP Tennis is becoming increasingly popular in Italy, thanks to its accessible nature, ease of rules, and the availability of courts in many public parks and sports centers. If you are looking for a fun and suitable sport.

If you want to know more about rules of pop tennis, on shoes to use or on others sports similar to tennis, I leave you these articles.

What game is Padel

The Padel is a racket sport similar to tennis, but is played on a smaller court with walls. It's a quick game and perfect for beginners. If you've ever seen people play Padel and wondered what it's all about, here are some basic rules for beginners.

The score consists of 15-30-40 and game, with four points needed to win a game. When both players are tied at 40, the player with a two-point lead wins. A set is won by a player after winning six games with a minimum lead of 2 points. To win a match, a player or team must win two out of three sets.

If the game is tied 40-40, two consecutive points must be won to win the game. If the score is 6-6, whoever wins the tiebreaker wins the game. The tiebreaker lasts until one side has 7 points or more and is at least two points ahead of the other.

During the game, players switch ends in the first and third games. When playing a tiebreaker, players switch ends every six points. When players change ends, they have a 90 second break. During the tiebreak, however, they only have 20 seconds of rest. After each set, the players have a two minute break.

The first serve of the match is always taken from right side of the field. The server switches sides after each point until the game is over. The player serves for the entire game, while the receivers change after each point. The serve must be made below the elbow and below the waist.

There are two service options. The server must stand behind the service line, while the receiver can stand anywhere. The service needs to drop diagonally over the net to land in the other player's service square. The catcher cannot return the serve until the ball rebounds. If the ball bounces in the service box and hits the net before crossing the service line, it is an error.

In general, Padel is played in pairs (2 vs 2), the teams have to hit the ball in turn, but there is also a variant that is not officially recognized by the federation where players face each other 1 vs 1. The ball ends the turn after bouncing twice, touching the fence or hitting yourself or your fellow player. The ball is in play if it hits any part of the court (including the walls) after landing in the opposing team's court. While the ball can bounce off any wall, it can only touch the floor once before being returned.

If you want to know more about best padel rackets or the clothing ideal to play, we leave you our guides.

As we have already written articles about how to play padel and on rules of this sportI'll leave you the links for further information.

Conclusions

In Italy, the padel is becoming more and more popular, especially among young people. It is not difficult to find padel courts in cities, holiday villages or sports clubs. Furthermore, padel tournaments are becoming more and more frequent and attracting more and more participants, which demonstrates the growing interest in this sport.

Paddle, on the other hand, does not have a large following and seems to be little known but, just like padel, one day it could become a real mass phenomenon.