Other Racket Sports

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Other racket sports besides padel

Some Saturday mornings there's a net strung across a spare bit of court at the club, or a sandpit squeezed in next to the padel courts. Padel has to share. Sports centres and outdoor spots have seen other racket sports move in over the last few years, and two of them crop up more than the rest, namely pickleball and beach tennis. Both pull in people who've never held a racket before. Plenty of padel regulars have wandered over too, mostly fancying a change.

Some of the footwork carries over from padel, and a rally soon settles into a rhythm you recognise. The kit, not so much. Pick up a racket from the other sport and the weight and balance feel off straight away, and the ball behaves differently too. Then there's the court, which never seems quite the size you expect on day one.


What changes compared with padel?

Item Pickleball and beach tennis
Racket Each sport has its own models.
Ball It changes from one sport to the next.
Net Height and set-up are different.
Surface Sand for beach tennis, hard court for pickleball.

Pickleball

Easy to pick up, and the exchanges are quick from the first minute. It uses a solid paddle and a perforated ball, so it has little in common with padel. As it has grown, a lot of clubs have started adding courts and sessions just for it.

Not bad for a sport most people hadn't heard of a few years back.


Beach tennis

Beach tennis is played on sand, and the ball isn't allowed to bounce during the point. That makes for fast exchanges, with most of the action close to the net.

Leave the padel racket at home for this one. Out on the sand you're holding a different racket and hitting a different ball, and once the first rally gets going the game feels nothing like your Thursday night match at the club. Your usual gear won't cut it here.


Coming from padel?

Plenty of players land here after years on a padel court. The basic movements feel familiar. The ball and the kit don't, and you notice within the first few shots.

You don't need much for a first go. A beginner's racket and balls made for that particular sport tend to cover it, and they're enough to see how either game feels on court.


Kit for other racket sports at Time2Padel

At Time2Padel there's pickleball and beach tennis kit too. Rackets and balls, mainly, plus nets and a handful of accessories. Plenty of it goes to padel players curious about what's happening on the court next door.