Padel and Tennis are much more similar than different. Surprisingly, these similarities extend to the types of courts they play on, with few key and notable differences. Padel courts feature a wall where which players can legally hit a Padel ball off of, while the other (tennis) features no wall whatsoever. This is one of the main difference between a Padel court vs Tennis court, along with a few others. Let’s take a look at how they differ from each other.
What is Padel
Padel is racket sport that is played within an enclosed space. Padel takes elements of Tennis and Racquetball/Squash, and combines them into a unique racket sport that is played with both a net in the middle and walls that can be used along the back end of each side of the court. The game was invented in Mexico in the late 1960’s and has since become popular in Latin America and Spain. It slowly made its way to America and in 1993 the US Padel Association was formed in Chattanooga, TN.
The scoring of the game is similar to tennis. Other than that, the game differs from tennis quite a bit. The paddles used in padel are similar to those of paddle tennis and platform tennis. The ball used is similar to a tennis ball, and can even be substituted for a tennis ball. A padel court is larger than a pickleball or platform tennis court and smaller than a regular tennis court. The dimensions of a Padel court are 65.6 feet (20 meters) long and 32.9 feet (10 meters) wide with each of the back walls residing at the back line boundaries. As we mentioned, balls can be played off of both back walls making plays on the ball very similar to that of Squash and Racquetball.
The game of Padel is regularly confused with Paddle Tennis, however these are two different sports. Paddle Tennis was invented in the USA, features a smaller court, and is much less popular globally than Padel.
Padel Court vs Tennis Court: A Comparison
While Padel courts are not the same size as Tennis courts, they have a comparable size when it comes to the area.
The main difference however is the walled nature of a Padel court. A padel court will have glass walls at the back end of both sides of the court which wrap slightly around the sides. The back walls are 3 meters in height wrapping around the corner edges of the court in the back continuing for another 2 meters along the sidelines where the end of the wall measures at 2 meters in height. A padel court measures 10 meters wide by 20 meters in length with a total area of play measuring at 200 square meters.
In contrast, a Tennis court features no walls and strictly is played within the boundaries of a flat court. The court’s size is 23.77 meters long, and almost 11 meters long for doubles. This comes in as almost 60 square meters in area larger than a Padel court.
Conclusion
The court sizes of a Padel and Tennis court are comparable where the main difference is that each back line features a 2 meter high wall. These are the main ways Padel courts and Tennis courts differ.