Miami, Hispanic Gateway for Padel in the United States

Three years after it started developing in Latin America, the paddle sport is looking to shed its elitist image and spread in the United States, starting from Miami where the practice is budding.

A racket sport at the crossroads between tennis and squash, paddle is played in doubles on a court surrounded by glass walls.

“It’s the sport of the future,” believes Argentine Fernando Belasteguin, considered one of the greatest players in history, as interviewed by AFP.

“It’s easy to learn, fun, and social,” he adds.

“The United States is a new market, but for paddle, the only thing missing is time. When a country discovers the practice, it always ends up developing there.”

Since retiring in 2024, Belasteguin has been running the professional tournament Miami Premier Padel, with a prize fund of nearly $480,000. The second edition concluded on Sunday with another success for the pair of Argentine Federico Chingotto and Spaniard Alejandro Galan.

These two countries share 90% of the top 50 global players, men and women, a supremacy that currently hinders the paddle’s ambitions to enter the Olympic program in 2036.

In Miami, the only American stop on the Premier Padel World Tour, sponsored by Qatar, over 5,000 supporters came to witness the final phase of the event.

– Rival of pickleball –

In the Florida city, the Latin American community, already familiar with this sport of Hispanic roots, has embraced it during the pandemic, and now its courts are proliferating in clubs, public parks, and luxury hotels. Some entrepreneurs have ventured to meet the demand of enthusiasts.

Florida houses 40% of the existing courts in the United States, where the sport, with a total of 770 courts, still remains minor compared to Argentina (7,000 courts) or Mexico (2,500).

The United States has mostly embraced pickleball, which is more popular and accessible with its small courts without walls.

“Paddle was born (in the late 1960s) in Mexico and spread to Argentina and Spain. Miami is by definition a Latin American hub,” notes Sergio Montaner, owner of the Wynwood Padel Club in downtown “Vice City.”

“Between 2018 and 2021, 90% of our clients were Latin Americans or Europeans, but that is changing more and more,” he observes.

– “Welcoming” –

A few streets away, still in the modern and booming Wynwood neighborhood, a group of enthusiasts plays their Sunday tournament at the Real Padel club, one of the oldest in the city.

“I love paddle because it is a more welcoming sport than tennis,” says 34-year-old lawyer Danny O’Neill, who also enjoys being able to strengthen his network, as he would on a golf course.

Montaner believes that the sustainability of these club developments will depend on their ability to create a welcoming atmosphere.

“In the United States, there is an appetite for investment (…) but without regular customers, there will be no business,” he warns, noting over 35,000 users in his facilities.

Montaner points out that the sport still has an elitist aspect, with “high investments” due to the courts and their walls. He hopes that the increase in supply will lower hourly rates.

A few stars like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, or Max Verstappen have popularized the sport with videos on their social networks.

Others have launched their own facilities, like Rafael Nadal in Spain, Neymar in Brazil, and even Zinedine Zidane in France.

[Context: Padel, a mix between tennis and squash, is gaining popularity in the United States, especially in Miami, challenging the dominance of pickleball. The sport is growing among the Latin American community in the region.]

[Fact Check: The article mentions future ambitions of paddle to enter the Olympic program in 2036. Currently, paddle is not an Olympic sport. The figures about court numbers in different countries provide context for the sport’s popularity.]