Peloton has peaked and troughed, wild swimming has made its splash – and now, it seems, it’s padel’s turn for the prime spot. Said to be the world’s fastest-growing racket sport, the game – a hybrid of tennis and squash, with a dash of ping pong – is fun and sociable (it’s played in doubles) and has been adopted by around 25 million people worldwide. Easy to get good at quite quickly, it’s also apparently the ‘new golf’ among retired footballers – David Beckham is a fan.
‘Padel has become an obsession in the shires… a padel court is the latest must-have in country houses’
Across the UK, any sports club worth its salt is putting in a padel court – from London’s Queen’s Club, Harbour Club and the Hurlingham to the newly opened The Club by Bamford, part of the Daylesford estate in the Cotswolds. And according to the experts, padel courts have also become a smash hit in the property market.
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