The first was opened in Lichtenberg in 2019, followed by locations in Ebensee, Leonding, am Attersee and in Wels. Most recently it was Lenzing’s turn, in June courts in Marchtrenk and Rohrbach will be playable, one is also planned in Linz for autumn, and padel courts are also to be built in Steyr and Gmunden. “The special thing about padel is that it’s fun from the first second because it’s much easier to play than tennis, for example,” says Eva Handl, President of the Austrian Padel Union. And Jakob Krocker, operator of the facility in Lenzing, or Manfred Nareyka, who founded the Padel Base in Wels with his son Björn, see it that way. Krocker adds: “The physical requirements are not that high, so all age groups can practice this sport.”
The box below shows exactly how the combination of tennis and squash is played. It is clear that the popularity of the sport, which originally comes from Mexico, is constantly increasing. “Around 2,500 players are currently ranked in the Austria-wide ranking, says Eva Handl. “It’s the world’s fastest growing sport,” she says. Incidentally, the professionals will be doing the Padel Open in the Steffl Arena from June 5th to 12th in Vienna Station.
Tennis is becoming popular again
And Hans Sommer, President of the Upper Austrian Tennis Association – which is also responsible for padel tennis – cannot escape the boom either. “I’ll definitely try it out soon,” he says, emphasizing that classic tennis is also enjoying increasing popularity again. “There are currently 42,000 registered members in our 470 clubs,” says Sommer. For comparison: before Corona there were 35,000 members. And the number of licensed players has also risen from 16,000 in 2019 to 19,500 since the outbreak of the pandemic.
So has Corona helped tennis gain new popularity? “The pandemic has helped us a little,” says Sommer, “after all, there is a certain distance to our teammates in our sport, which is why we were allowed to return to the field earlier than other sports. But we also started many projects to to increase the popularity of tennis again.” With success, because even if the results of Austria’s number 1, Dominic Thiem, are not that great at the moment, tennis is also very popular with young people again.
Dates and rules about padel tennis
- The racket in padel tennis is made of carbon or fiberglass. To reduce air resistance, it is perforated (but not covered like in tennis). In addition, the racket has a wrist strap.
- It is played with a soft tennis ball.
- The playing field is 20 by 10 meters in size, and the surrounding glass walls are included in the game.
- It is counted like in tennis (15/30/40), you need six games to win a set.
The rules of the game:
It is always played with four players, i.e. doubles. The server must first bounce the ball to the ground and then play it at waist height at most. The ball must be played into the diagonally opposite service field.
When the ball is in play, it must always hit the ground on the opposing side before touching the walls. Volleys are always allowed except on returns. After one or more wall touches, the ball may be played back to the opponent, but only before it touches your own ground a second time.
Source: Nachrichten
