There are over thirty different racket sports. Each has its own rules and variations, although many draw inspiration from the others. So, it’s only natural for players to compare them. For example, a tennis court is often likened to a badminton court.

Amidst these variations, you’ll find a sport known as padel (or “pádel”), often compared to pickleball. Now, to be upfront, padel is obviously not the same as pickleball. Both games share various traits, but they remain distinct entities.

What Is Padel?

Like pickleball, padel is a newer entrant to the organized sports scene. Its inventor, Enrique Corcuera, initiated the sport’s development by modifying his squash court to incorporate aspects of platform tennis. Since then, it has slowly expanded beyond its roots in Alcopoulco, Mexico.

However, like pickleball, padel’s popularity soared during the global COVID-19 pandemic. It, too, met the basic requirements of a socially distant activity: It could be played outdoors and with a decent distance between each player. This interest spike led to a similar growth pattern between the two sports. Both have quickly overtaken local racket sports scenes, with developers racing to convert old tennis courts into padel or pickleball courts.

The Basics of Padel

Another similarity between padel and pickleball is the ruleset.

Both games are often played as doubles — two teams of two. Moreover, a game of padel starts with a movement closely resembling pickleball’s drop serve. This resemblance is due to padel’s rules, which mandate all serves be underhanded hits below the server’s waist.

However, unlike pickleball, padel equipment more closely resembles traditional tennis gear. Players use a hole-riddled paddle and play with an air-filled, tufted ball. (That said, a padel racket’s shape more closely resembles a pickleball paddle. Its face is similarly structured, using a solid surface with pre-drilled holes instead of traditional netted mesh.) In fact, in casual play, a padel player may simply use a regular tennis ball!

The Basics of Padel Courts

Nonetheless, both padel and pickleball share similarly sized rectangular courts. Moreover, the two sports have a relatively smaller court, allowing them to fit snugly within the confines of an existing tennis court complex.

The more common doubles padel court is 32 feet 10 inches wide by 65 feet 7 inches long (or 10 by 20 meters). Singles court dimensions are even smaller, measuring 19 feet 8 inches by 65 feet 7 inches. Switching from a padel to a pickleball court is not a huge leap; a standard pickleball court is 40 feet wide and 64 feet long.

However, unlike pickleball courts, padel courts are surrounded by walls. Traditionally, these 4-meter walls were made of brick or wood, as they derived from existing squash courts. Modern courts use glass walls.

The 3 Biggest Differences Between Padel and Pickleball

Overall, there are more differences than similarities between these sports.

Pickleball is based on a mix of badminton and table tennis (or “ping-pong,” if you prefer). Padel, comparatively, is more closely related to platform tennis and squash.

Interestingly, thanks to their origin stories, padel is more popular in Spanish-speaking countries, while pickleball has a more “English” appeal. Even the vocabulary is different; most of padel’s official terminology is in Spanish!

1. The Equipment

Let’s start with the equipment. There are two notable differences between pickleball and padel supplies.

The Padel Racket vs. Pickleball Paddles

Despite their visual similarities, padel rackets are not the same as pickleball paddles.

A padel racket is closely related to its predecessor, the platform tennis racket. More importantly, there are multiple precise specifications for competition-worthy padel rackets. Per official padel rules, rackets are no more than 18 inches (45.5 centimeters) long and 10.2 inches (26 centimeters) wide. The maximum handle length is 7.9 inches (20 centimeters), while the width cannot exceed 1.5 inches (38 centimeters). The racket face may be textured, but it always has perforated holes.

Pickleball paddles have far fewer qualifiers. Aside from banning textured paddle faces, official pickleball rules only require that paddles be no longer than 24 inches (61 centimeters).

Padel Balls vs. Pickleball Balls

The balls are also different. A pickleball ball closely resembles a Wiffle® ball — a hollow, hard plastic ball with evenly distributed perforated holes. A regulation pickleball has a diameter of 2.9–3 inches (7.2–7.5 centimeters). It flies well in the air but lacks significant bounce, even when used on perfectly surfaced pickleball courts.

A padel ball is smaller, possessing a diameter of 2.5–2.7 inches (6.35–6.77 centimeters). Official offerings are solid white or yellow rubber. When dropped, a padel ball behaves like a tennis ball, bouncing 53.7–57 inches.

2. The Rules

Obviously, padel courts have different rules. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have those lovely glass walls!

In pickleball, the ball is considered “dead” under two primary conditions: faults or out-of-bounds hits. In the latter case, balls are declared out-of-bounds when they bounce outside the court’s boundaries.

However, in padel, “out” balls do not exist. Instead, players gauge a ball’s validity by its number of bounces and positioning. (We won’t dig too deeply into the topic. Pickle Goddesses is a pickleball blog, after all!)

3. The Scoring System

Finally, each game has its own scoring system.

Pickleball uses a “side-out” scoring system. Only the serving team can score. Conversely, padel uses a traditional tennis scoring system, wherein either team can score a point. (Although there are pickleball variants that eschew the traditional side-out scoring method.) Moreover, padel is organized like tennis. Players must win six games to succeed in a set.

However, both padel and pickleball have similar serving sequences. The server must switch sides according to the score.

A Surprising Similarity Between Padel and Pickleball

Still, despite their many differences, both sports share a surprisingly similar origin story!

According to padel legend, the sport began in 1969 when a group of friends—namely Luigi Carraro and Enrique Corcuera—needed some entertainment. Originally, they played a game similar to basque, but the ball would often fly into the neighbor’s yard. So, the pair devised a plan. They established new rules and started playing padel!

Similarly, the first pickleball court was born in 1965, when two fathers needed to entertain their energetic families. Armed with little more than some table tennis paddles and a badminton court, they formulated the rules for playing pickleball! Interestingly, pickleball’s initial growth spurt began in 1968, a year before padel’s conception.

Learn More About Playing Pickleball

Not surprisingly, we’re partial to pickleball at Pickle Goddesses.

We adore America’s fastest-growing sport and want everyone to try their hand at it. That’s not to say we hate padel. We think it’s a delightful diversion, although we certainly prefer to play pickleball.

You won’t find much on padel courts here, but you will find more information about pickleball! Browse the rest of our blog to find more pickleball comparisons, tips, tricks, and equipment insights. We also encourage you to share this post if you learned something!