Rob Salmon with… Michael Gradon, CEO of Game4Padel
Our new regular columnist Rob Salmon, host of the brilliant My Tennis Journey podcast, talks to people from all walks of tennis life. He’ll be bringing us his unique take on the chats he has with his extraordinary variety of guests, each of whom has a special tennis story to tell.
In his latest instalment, Rob reflects on the extraordinary rise of padel tennis and talks to Michael Gradon, CEO of Game4Padel, about where this fun and exciting sport is going to go next…
How big is Padel Tennis going to be?
by Rob Salmon
So when I was a lad, one of the first albums I had was Wham Make It Big. It’s an album title I’ve thought of recently when thinking about padel tennis. This is one sport which is in the process of Making It Big.
In Spain, there are now more padel players than tennis players and padel is now the no.2 participation sport behind football.
If you’ve not played padel before, it’s like a cross between tennis and squash that is played in an enclosed court using rackets that look a bit like Swing Ball rackets - but with a whole lot more technology thrown in. A bit like squash because you can play the ball off the back wall - a shot padel players love to master.
One of the things people enjoy about padel is how easy it is to play.
Take the serve - something beginners can struggle with in tennis. In padel, you bounce the ball and serve underarm. It is something that anyone with a bit of coordination can do within minutes of starting.
Padel is generally played as a doubles game so it is sociable and in my experience people come off after playing with a big smile on their faces. It’s a fun sport.
Is padel a threat to tennis? Some people may think so - but we have a padel court at our club and I see it as complimenting our tennis offer. We’ve seen the padel court bring in new players who haven’t been to the club before and I’m hoping we’ll be able to introduce them to the wonderful game of tennis too!
GQ magazine recently called padel the biggest fitness trend of the summer. Jurgen Klopp loves it, Pep Guardiola loves it, Annabel Croft loves it, Zlatan loves it, my Mum loves it and so does my wife and my children.
If you’d like to find out more about the game of padel and hear just how big it is going to be, please take a listen to my interview with Michael Gradon of Game4Padel - a company who can count Andy Murray as one of their investors.
To hear Rob's interview with Michael Gradon and find out more about the rise of Padel Tennis, head to My Tennis Journey: The Rise and RISE of Padel Tennis.
