When thinking about paddle and racket sports, it’s hard to think of two racket sports that look more different than padel and beach tennis. One is played with a net and in the sand, where the other is played in a futuristic-looking court enclosed by plexiglass. But however different they may look, they are still quite similar in many ways as well. In this article we will explore the similarities and difference between padel vs beach tennis.
What is Padel
Padel is racket sport that is played within an enclosed space. Padel takes elements of Tennis, 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 boudnaries. 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.
What is Beach Tennis
Beach tennis is a paddle sport that takes after both tennis and volleyball played on (you guessed it) the beach. The game started gaining popularity in Italy in the 1970s and spread to other parts of the world with a strong beach culture such as Rio De Janiero, Aruba and the California coast. Today, beach tennis is very much a global sport, with over 300 official tournaments being held in almost 40 countries.
Beach tennis can be played in singles or doubles (two player teams) on a regulation volleyball court. ALthough the game is played on a volleyball court with a similar net to volleyball, the rules take after tennis. Both the scoring and volley rules are similar to tennis. Players use a depressurized tennis ball and paddles as equipment.
Differences between Padel vs Beach Tennis
Although they are both alternative racket sports that use paddles, dadel and beach tennis have their fair share of differences.
Court Size and Makeup – First and most obvious, the nature of a padel court and a beach tennis court are very different. Padel is played on a court smaller than a tennis court with a hard surface with walls similar to racquetball or squash at the baseline to give it a feel similar to a racquetball court. Beach tennis is played in the sand with a tall net much like volleyball. A beach volleyball court is slightly smaller than a padel court.
Padel racket vs Beach tennis racket – The paddles used in both beach tennis and padel have different standard sizes as well. A beach tennis racket. The hitting surface of a beach tennis racket must be smaller than an area the size of 30 cm in length and 26 cm in width. A padel racket’s hitting area must stay within a slightly larger area of 45.5 cm length by 26 cm width.
Rules of Padel vs Beach Tennis – The rules of padel differ quite a bit from beach tennis. One of the major rule difference in beach tennis is that once the ball hits the ground it is a dead ball. On the other hand, a padel ball has many instances where it can bounce and still be in play. When a player returns the ball in padel, it must bounce once within the boundary of play.
Another rule that varies between both sports is that beach tennis abides by a “no-fault” rule and padel (ironically more like tennis) follows the double fault servings system. In other words, in padel you get two opportunities to serve as opposed to beach tennis where you get one.
How are beach tennis and padel similar
Padel and beach tennis are similar in many ways as well. Here are some of the similarities that padel and beach tennis share:
- Both sports use paddles instead of traditional tennis rackets.
- Both beach tennis paddles and padel paddles are often made of carbon.
- Tennis balls are sometimes used to play padel, so technically both padel and beach tennis could use the same ball.
- Both padel and beach tennis can be played in doubles and singles.
- Finally, the scoring systems in beach tennis and padel are very similar. They both model the tennis scoring system. Although there is no advantage, beach tennis is played with the Love-15-30-40 scoring sequence and at Deuce (tied 40-40) then the next point wins. Padel uses the same system as tennis including the advantage, win-by-two scoring methodology. Both Padel and Beach Tennis are played in sets of games with the caveat being that padel is played best of 3 sets and beach tennis can be played to best of 1, 3, or 5 sets.
Conclusion
Within the world of racket sports, padel and beach tennis share some of the most drastic differences. Beach tennis is played in the sand with a raised net like volleyball where the ball never touches the ground during live play. Padel on the other hand has a very unique court that resembles an enclosed pickleball court with walls along the baseline that can be used similarly to racketball and squash. But they also share similarities such as the scoring system and their use of similarly sized paddles. Both are growing sports, so its best to hop on both bandwagons now to see what these two racket sports are really about!