A comparison between padel and pickleball is bound to happen. While padel is by far the fastest growing racquet sport in the world, pickleball is the fastest growing racquet sport in the US. So how big is the overlap?
Even though pickleball and padel may look similar at first glance, the truth is that they evolved from completely different sports. Pickleball evolved from badminton, while padel evolved from tennis. This means very different court dimensions, scoring and rules of play.
In padel, the ball can be hit after it hits the transparent glass walls, while in pickleball you are playing on an open court where there is no possibility of a ball bouncing off the glass.
Singles and doubles
If you like to play doubles, both games are ideal. In padel, however, doubles is played on a standard padel court. There are a few purpose-built singles courts for padel, but the vast majority are doubles courts. In contrast, pickleball is not restricted, you can play either singles or doubles on the same court.
Pickleball has a so-called non-volley zone, also known as the "kitchen". This zone is treated specially. Read about it here the rules of the game.
Racket
The hitting surface of the padel racket is thicker and perforated, while the pickleball padel has a solid hitting surface.
Ball
The ball used in padel is very similar to tennis, with the difference that padel balls have less pressure, so they bounce lower.
In pickleball, you use a perforated plastic ball that moves much slower through the air.
Both sports tend to have long rallies. In pickleball, it's the slow wiffle ball, while in padel it's the surrounding walls that keep the ball in play.
Net
In both games, the court is divided by a net. In pickleball, there are lines on each side of the court that resemble badminton, while in padel the lines are similar to those used for service blocks on a tennis court.
Field size
Pickleball 13.41 x 6.1 meters (like a badminton court) vs. Paddle 20 x 10 meters.
Gameplay
Playing pickleball gives the feeling of standing on a large ping pong table, while padel feels like standing on a short tennis court.
Rules
Are very different.