I came to Spain looking for pickleball.

Instead, I found padel — pronounced roughly PAH-del.

That was not exactly the plan.

I love pickleball. I play it regularly. So when Alexis and I settled into Calpe for three weeks, one of the things I naturally wanted to know was where I could play.

What I found was one pickleball court.

And five padel courts.

That got my attention.

So, being me, I signed up for a padel lesson.

Then another.

And yesterday, after those two lessons, I finally played for two hours.

I am not ready for the professional tour.

My instructor’s assessment after the first lesson was that I was a “medium below level” player.

I think that means beginner.

Or perhaps beginner with ambition.

Padel itself is not actually new.

It was invented in Acapulco, Mexico, in 1969 by a man named Enrique Corcuera, who did not have room for a full tennis court and created a smaller enclosed court instead.

Spain took to it enthusiastically.

Very enthusiastically.

Today more than 35 million people play padel worldwide, on more than 77,000 courts. Europe accounts for roughly two-thirds of those courts, and Spain has more than any other country — around 17,000 of them.

Even the Costa Blance community, where we are staying, has close to 2,000 padel courts.

So my discovery of five padel courts and one pickleball court was apparently not an accident.

But cross the Atlantic and the picture changes completely.

In the United States, pickleball dwarfs padel.

About 24 million Americans played pickleball in 2025, compared with only about one million who played padel.

Padel is growing in the United States — by early 2025 there were more than 650 courts at roughly 175 clubs in 31 states — but it is still a newcomer compared with the pickleball explosion.

So we have this curious situation.

In America, pickleball seems to be everywhere.

In Spain, padel seems to be everywhere.

And after playing both, I can understand why each has its appeal.

The first thing you notice about padel is the racket.

It is not really a tennis racket.

It is not really a pickleball paddle.

It is somewhere in between.

Thicker than a pickleball paddle.

Perforated.

More substantial.

And the ball travels much faster than a pickleball.

Then there is the court.

That is where things get strange.

A padel court is enclosed by glass walls and fencing.

Those walls are not boundaries in the usual sense.

They are part of the game.

That is the piece that has been hardest for me to get used to.

In pickleball, if the ball goes past you, the point is usually over.

In padel, that may simply be the beginning of the next shot.

You are sometimes supposed to let the ball go past you.

Let it hit the back wall.

Turn.

Wait.

Then play it after the rebound.

Every instinct I have from pickleball tells me:

Do not let the ball get behind you.

Padel says:

Relax.

Let it go.

Trust the wall.

This is not easy.

The corners are particularly challenging.

The ball can hit the back wall.

The side wall.

Both.

The fence.

Then come back into play from an angle that I am still trying to understand.

My first reaction is often:

Where did that come from?

The experienced players seem to know exactly where the ball will end up.

I am not there yet.

But I can already see the attraction.

Padel is faster than pickleball.

There is more court to cover.

The rallies can be long.

There is a great deal of strategy.

And the walls create an entirely different kind of geometry.

It feels part tennis, part squash, and part something all its own.

The game is also almost always played as doubles, which gives it the same social quality I enjoy so much about pickleball.

But there are important differences.

Pickleball is easier to get into.

The court is smaller.

The ball is slower.

It does not take long before a beginner can start having fun.

And a community can create pickleball courts relatively cheaply, sometimes by simply converting an existing tennis court.

Padel is different.

You need the court.

A real court.

Glass walls.

Steel.

Fencing.

Turf.

Lighting.

A proper foundation.

A single completed padel court in the United States can easily cost somewhere in the range of $50,000 to $100,000 or more, depending on the site and installation.

You are not going to create one by painting a few new lines on the pavement.

That helps explain why pickleball has exploded so quickly in the United States.

It is easier to build.

Easier to start.

Easier to learn.

But padel has something else going for it.

Once you begin to understand how the walls work, the game becomes much more interesting.

At least that is what I am beginning to discover.

And there is something amusing about the contrast between the two sports.

Pickleball has spent years being mocked by tennis players as too easy, too slow, too small.

Now padel comes along with a bigger court, faster ball, glass walls and more running.

So perhaps pickleball finally knows what it feels like to be the older sport looking over its shoulder.

I am not giving up pickleball.

Not even close.

I still love it.

But I understand now why padel has become such a big part of sporting life in Spain.

It is social.

It is athletic.

It is strategic.

And just when you think you have lost the point, the wall gives you another chance.

That may be the part I like most.

Yesterday, more than once, the ball went past me.

My pickleball brain said:

Too late.

My padel instructor would have said:

Not yet.

Apparently, that is the whole idea.