A Biased Commentary on the Popularity of Padel and How it Reflects Current Day Social Values
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I think they refurbished the flooring.
AND YES, I DO USE THE EM DASH BECAUSE I'VE BEEN A LONGTIME FAN OF THE EM DASH WAY BEFORE THESE SHITASS CLANKERS SPAWNED AND RUINED IT FOR ALL EM DASH ENJOYERS.
FUCK AI. FUCK SAM ALTMAN. FUCK ISRAEL. FUCK YOU AND YO MAMA FOR USING THAT AI-GENERATED DOLLAR-TREE ASS PIXAR FILTERS, THEY ALL LOOK LIKE DOGSHIT.
>=<
PREFACE
In this essay, I will be presenting my point of view on the latest trending sport, padel, and how it is perfectly symbolic of the 21st-century, late-stage capitalist society that we are all currently living in. The relatively low barrier to entry, the highly sterile, "modern" look of its courts, and, of course, the consumerism & "fashion" side of the players.
With that being said, this "essay" (I'm using that nomenclature very liberally here) is neither a scientifically backed nor thoroughly researched piece of writing. This will be an opinion-based piece, relying on the author's lived experience, principles, emotions, and "eye test." As such, it is not meant to be taken seriously in any way, shape, or form. Sure, some of the sentiments are real and very much palpable, but at the same time, I'm just trying to be tongue-in-cheek about it. Sort of an "Old Man Yells at Cloud" type of ordeal. With that, let's begin.
CHAPTER 1: Chains of One's Nature
Now, it really must be said that I, the author, am one whose view of the world is highly perverted. I detest a lot of things about our society, even the idea that "humans are fundamentally social creatures" is one that I am forced to agree with. I enjoy isolation. Well, to an extent, of course, but an extent that is much further than what many would consider "healthy." At the very least, I enjoy it more than I do social interactions (that don't involve my closest friends). I find the latter to be nothing more than a tedium most of the time. This is a sentiment I have had since the day I gained consciousness. Though perhaps, as years go by, it has grown less and less extreme, by no means of my own accord. Part of being an adult is to throw myself into the outerworlds, going to work, attending social events, playing sports, such and such. Like a rock eroded away by mere water droplets, all of those adult activities have conditioned me into a human being that fits the mold slightly better.
Even so, I judge others still. Silently, of course, and only to myself. With age, I've learned how to judge others without passing judgment, so to speak. Of course, I'm well aware that I am in no position to judge others, as I am a human being just as others are. Flaws and imperfections and all. But as a human being, I, too, forge the chain I wear. As it so happens, mine was forged out of pride & ego.
I cannot simply let go of the worldview I've held my whole life. I cannot just stop judging others when they do things I find disagreeable. I cannot help but raise an eyebrow at things that I find perplexing, things that do not align with my way of thinking. This predisposition is the result of a reclusive lifestyle, and at this point, my pride won't allow me to live any other way, even when I know my judgment is often misplaced & untrue. Thus, as a means of compromise, I live and let live, trying my best to stay positive with the "Hey, it's not for me, but you do you" attitude.
Another defining trait of mine, one that makes me an even more difficult person to be around, is my ultra-competitive nature in things that do not matter in the slightest. I could not care less about GPAs, titles, language test scores, salaries, what have you. But when it comes down to "playing?" Sports? Video games? Card games? Board games? A leisurely ice-breaking game at the company function? Over my dead body. I am going to be good at these useless things that will not serve much purpose and WIN, or die trying.
It feels as if my purpose in this world is to play. A direct descendant of Macuilxochitl in the flesh.
I hide behind my straight-faced, laidback, silent facade, but beneath it all lies an individual who is drunk on pride, perpetually angry, unnecessarily judgmental, unendingly hateful, and obsessively competitive.
Now, what do these things have to do with padel, you ask?
CHAPTER 2: Padel? You Mean Pickleball?
Up until around late 2024 to early 2025, I had always assumed that padel and pickleball were synonymous. Like, y'know, one of those Tom and Thomas kinda thing going on. Or James and Jimmy. I thought padel is the shorter, rolls-off-the-tongue-better name for pickleball. I learned, of course, shortly after that, that those two were indeed two distinct racket sports. Yeah, I know, silly old me.
Essentially, pickleball is a ripoff, excuse me, a variant of tennis appealing mostly to geriatrics.
Meanwhile, padel is a slightly different variant of tennis that appeals to younger audiences who possess the physical dexterity of a geriatric.
See? For all you uneducated simpletons out there, they are different sports, okay? Duh.
Just as an additional fun fact, I find it funny that both sports are equally hated by tennis puritans (maybe pickleball slightly more). Even way back in 2019, I remember coming across an Instagram page solely dedicated to hating pickleball. They'd take pictures of a tennis-turned-pickleball court and would rant their ass off in the caption, full on malding, foaming at the mouth. It was hilarious.
Now, a brief history lesson on padel.
According to the International Padel Federation (FIP), padel was invented in the year 1969 by a man named Enrique Corcuera, a tennis enthusiast hailing from Acapulco, Mexico. Basically, Mr. Corcuera wanted to build a tennis court, but didn't have enough space in his backyard. To circumvent this, he decided to create a smaller court, enclosed by 3-meter walls. And just like that, the sport we all know and love was born.
A few key differences that separate padel from tennis and pickleball:
Tennis uses a string racquet, 27 inches long, with head sizes ranging from anywhere between 95 to 135+ square inches. Tennis also has the biggest court, with dimensions measuring 23.77m x 10.97m for doubles and 8.23 m for singles.
Pickleball's racquet is more akin to a flat cutting board you'd find in the kitchen, with a ball that is also different than tennis (made out of plastic and has holes). The court is much, much smaller, only measuring 6.1m x 13.4m.
Padel is like the middle ground between the two; the racquet is distinguishable by its smaller size, head shapes (round, teardrop, diamond), and holey surface. The ball used is similar to that of tennis, only a tad smaller. A padel court usually measures 20m x 10m, along with a cage that surrounds it and a glass wall at each end (3-4m high).
From its humble beginnings in Mexico, the sport became a huge hit once it reached the shores of Spain. From then on, it was only up for padel. It saw an exponential growth throughout the decades, spreading far and wide internationally.
Fast forward to the early 2020s, the white immigrants residing in Bali were stuck in their luxury villas with not much to do due to the ongoing pandemic lockdown. Allegedly, this was when they brought padel to the Indonesian archipelago, the starting point of the domino effect.
The spread did not happen overnight. It was a slow, gradual process, up until the turn of the year 2025. Based on Google Trends Annual Index, Indonesia's "Padel" related search exploded by a whopping +1,283% in 2024-2025. Even though the rise in popularity came relatively later, this sharp spike marked a tipping point in awareness and adoption, positioning Indonesia as the clear up-and-coming major market in the Asian region (Pasha, R. & Al-Fateh, M. F., 2025).
Let me put down some more statistics for you. (Sidenote: most of the statistics will be taken from Indonesia Padel Report 2025 by Core & Court - Growell, authored by Pasha, R. & Al-Fateh, M.F. We're not in school anymore, okay? I can't be bothered doing APA or Chicago or whatever proper citation formats we used to do back in IB and college, alright? Cut me some slack here.)
In 2025 alone, the growth reached as high as +295%, 223 more clubs and 707 more courts than the year prior. That is roughly 2 new courts per day, a phenomenon I think everyone, especially those living in Jakarta, witnessed firsthand. These new courts spread faster than the black plague, reaching even the city's deepest nooks and crannies.
The padel business is booming, as seen from the subsequent Gross Monetary Value growth driven by transactions involving padel courts. The city of Bandung saw the largest surge, with a whopping +390% growth rate.
There's plenty more data & fun facts about padel's meteoric rise among Indonesians, local tournaments, the pro circuit, the national federation, et cetera, et cetera, but the point is, it's like nothing we've ever seen before. It's almost as if there's a Padel Pandemic (trademark pending, do not steal please, thank you) going on, and I, for one, am not planning on contracting it anytime soon.
Well, as a matter of fact, I don't plan on contracting it at all.
CHAPTER 3: The Meat & Potatoes
If it isn't painfully obvious already, let me spell it out for you real quick.
I despise padel.
And with a rough understanding of the very foundation of my personality and Padel's brief history, you shouldn't find it at all surprising that I find the buzz around the sport to be unbelievably irksome. See, my qualm isn't necessarily with the sport itself, nor with the real, serious players, but... y'know what, let me just get into it right away.
In the main section of our discussion, I'd like to break down my points into sub-chapters as follows:
3.1 — Positive Takeaways
3.2 — A Fashionable Fad Fueled by FOMO
3.3 — Gentrification Justified by Gold
3.4 — Low Floor, Instant Gratification
3.5 — A Physiotherapist's Payday
Now, before getting into it, I'll admit, I was never big on racquet sports until fairly recently. As an Indonesian, I play badminton (which I think comes embedded in your DNA by being Indonesian), but never really got deep into it. I have, however, always been a fan of tennis video games. Sega Sports Tennis for the PS2, Virtua Tennis, Sega Superstars Tennis, Mario Tennis, Tennis Clash, you name it, I played it. It wasn't until the final year of uni (circa 2019) that I actually decided to dive deeper into the "real" tennis culture. Watching match highlights, learning about the pros, racquet specs & setups, all the nitty-gritty of it. It was then that I found myself drawn into the sport. However, up until that point in my life, I had never played a single second of tennis. I never even picked up a racquet, I don't think. My familiarity with tennis was surface-level, if that. Sure, I know of the rules, the techniques, the pros and cons of having different-sized racquet heads and string setups, and yadda yadda yadda. But still, I was only an outsider, a spectator of tennis.
Thus, to further legitimize my hatred for padel, I started learning tennis. And yes, it is indeed a difficult sport to pick up. But holy shit, is it satisfying when you do hit a good ball.
Yes, this does automatically give me an official license of superiority to critique other racquet sports, by the way.
So with that, let's jump right into
CHAPTER 3.1: Positive Takeaways
As of late, we're seeing a massive surge in enthusiasm for health & wellness. People are more aware of their lifestyle habits, from diet, sleeping patterns, and, of course, exercise. When it comes to exercise, many people opt for the simplest ones, which are running (for cardiovascular exercise) and hitting the weights (muscle & bone strength).
But, see, these exercises are... how do I say this without offending my friends, boring. Running, when done alone, is extremely monotonous. Even when done in groups, I'd argue it's still equivalent to watching paint dry. Not to mention, it is also relatively heavy on the joints, not ideal for someone who is overweight or has any sort of issue with joint pain. Lifting weights is also not the most exciting of exercises, on top of the relatively high barrier to entry. Not everyone has the luxury of a personal home gym, so most likely you'd have to get a gym membership AND a personal trainer if you're a true beginner. These two factors are enough of a deterrent to keep people from starting.
So what alternative is there, where you can move your body, get a good sweat on, and not bore yourself to death while doing it?
Well, sports.
I think we can all agree that anything that gets people to be more active is a huge plus in everyone's book. Anything that promotes a healthier lifestyle is just good, no two ways about it. So in that sense, padel is currently a prime catalyst for it. I've seen people who've never had even an inkling of a thought about exercising start playing padel, find the sport uber enjoyable, and become much, much fitter. They genuinely want to be good at it, so they start playing routinely. With routine play/practice sessions and the drive to become a better player, they started losing weight, they became more conscious of their diet, hell, they even started doing extra workouts (e.g., going to the gym, plyometrics) to perform better, just absolutely crushing it.
On that front, I have no problem with padel at all, more power to these padel enjoyers. Making health gains, by any means, will always be something admirable that takes a lot of effort, both physically and mentally. So hats off to those who found their starting point through padel. Nothing but respect to those people.
Every other aspect of the sport, however, is a different story.
CHAPTER 3.2: A Fashionable Fad Fueled by FOMO
Ah, yes. Indonesia's leading economic driver.
Fear of Missing Out.
Better known and more frequently referred to as FOMO.
Indonesian and FOMO go together like peanut butter and jelly. Like mie ayam and pangsit. Or maybe a double-barreled shotgun and my gaping mouth.
If you're not in on the hottest, newest thing, then I'm sorry, fellas, you're simply a lesser human being.
A phrase that used to have somewhat of a negative connotation, now utilized as a buzzword in a lot of marketing ploys. Products and services, garnering attention not for their quality, but simply because of "hype." Indonesians love this shit, man, and I mean, LOVE this type of marketing. You slap a couple of buzzwords on your Instagram reel ad, tell people it's the current hype, lure them in by saying that they're "missing out", and boom, you've got yourself a business.
As a former edgy loner contrarian teen (and current edgy loner contrarian adult pushing 40), I was not, have never been, and will never be a fan of "hype." Or buzzwords. Or FOMO. Or anything popular, for that matter.
If you market your product/service simply as something that I have to try because it is "what everyone's been talking about", I instantly do not want to buy it. To me, there's no value in just "being in with the crowd."
I disliked Justin Bieber (though, of course, much like the rest of the late millennial/early Gen Z population, I've come around on his music as it becomes nostalgic), I don't care about Seirock-Ya (MID ass ramen), and least of all, I crave nothing but the downfall of padel to come sooner.
In its current condition, the sport is heavily carried by hype. It's the brand new shiny thing, and everyone's head over heels over it.
Again, this is not a knock on the "serious" players (or should I say "athletes" to differentiate between the casuals and the try-hards), but one look at most of the demographic and you'd be able to tell that they're only in it for all the wrong reasons. A sport, marketed as a tool for performatism.
The sport looks good. It's like a fashion runway with a "healthy lifestyle" twist to it. Being in with the padel crowd becomes a sort of status symbol, a social currency, one you can use to boost your social status. From A-list celebrities to your regular office workers, posting pictures in the most unnecessarily expensive outfits, with their freshly bought, top-of-the-line padel racquets, topped off with a cheesy caption (often with grammatical & spelling errors). That was only the second time they've played, by the way. It is disingenuous. It is, and I hate to use this word, performative. It is just unsightly, for lack of a better word.
FOMO is a direct product of consumerism, and just like any other product within that "genre", it comes and goes. It is disposable in nature; it stays for a while and will be forgotten by many in a short period of time. The rapid expansion & growth are unsustainable, because it relies heavily on people's short attention spans and, well, "fear" of missing out. Once padel is no longer the new and hot thing, the popularity will wane, and the next big thing will take over.
I can only hope that whatever the "next big thing" is going to be isn't going to be as annoying a trend as padel.
CHAPTER 3.3: Gentrification Justified by Gold
This chapter can easily be a topic under Chapter 3.2. Technically speaking, this could also be considered FOMO. The FOMO we discussed in the previous chapter comes from the consumer's side, the players. The thing is, the FOMO is not limited to only the players. Business owners, property moguls, self-proclaimed "entrepreneurs", greedy bastards that they are, are falling for the whole padel bonanza as well.
Based on the data brought forth by Pasha, R. & Al-Fateh, M.F., if the growth continues at its current rate, there could be 722 total clubs and 2,527 total courts by the end of the year in all of Indonesia. That is 4 new courts per day. To go even further beyond, they went as far as to estimate that by 2027, we could have up to 4,693 padel courts, yes, FOUR THOUSAND. From a measly 15 courts in 2021 originating in Bali, the growth is unfathomable.
Business owners are frothing at the mouth, tripping over themselves to build their own padel clubs. Empty plots of land in January would no longer be empty by February. It doesn't even matter where the land is located; you could go into the deepest pits of Jakarta, and I PROMISE you, there'd be a padel club in there somehow.
Hell, it's gotten to a point where the land doesn't even have to be empty. Formerly non-padel-related buildings are transformed, mutated, desecrated into money-grabbing attempts by these slimy bourgeoisie. Yes, as exemplified by the images at the top of this article, even the legendary Senayan Trade Center (STC) Basketball Court, which has been a staple location for many basketball players since the 2000s, synonymous with Jakarta's hoop culture, is a victim of FOMO ownership. A sad reality, but sadly, the reality.
I don't know if this is just plain ignorance, the insatiable human greed, or a mixture of both, but these people just gentrify neighborhoods left and right. You're building a sports club for the middle- to upper-class right next to a traditional market. Like, hello? Are you out of your fucking minds???? In Semarang, there is even a HISTORIC LANDMARK, sold to a FOREIGNER, and turned into a padel club. What the hell was the thought process for that? Especially for whoever sold that land/building to the padel club owner. The guy being a foreigner's not even the problem, but for the government to allow a historic landmark to be sold and turned into, and I quote this from their own description page, a "social hub"?
And I get it, right, "Ooh but these buildings are abandoned anyway, no one cares, plus it generates money now, there's actual value and good for the local economy", and to that I say, go die.
It's a historic landmark. It was valuable. Not everything needs to be a money generator. Not everything needs to be a "social hub". These buildings, these monuments, their value lies in their very existence alone. It serves as a small window, a reminder of what once was. A cultural heritage that can be studied and admired. That's where the value lies.
The same goes for these empty plots in low-income areas. See, if there were a Venn diagram, there would be a big intersection between people who complain a lot about not having "third places" and people who jump in joy when there's a new padel club being opened. I remember seeing a news story about an empty plot of land in West Jakarta, hidden within a low-income neighborhood. It was up for grabs, and someone had made a bid. Yes, whoever made the bid wanted to turn it into a padel club. Luckily, the story had somewhat of a happy ending. The plan was heavily protested by the locals, as it served as a place for the children to play football. Surprisingly enough, the locals won, and the deal fell through. At least, that's how it was the last time I read about it.
See, it's already sickening enough to live in the city and having to pay exorbitant prices for all our amenities. We don't need any more of these free, public "third places" to be turned into Mr. Monopoly's Moneymaking Machine. There are already so few of them, and it just keeps getting fewer as time goes by.
Fortunately, businesses based on "hype" are, more often than not, unsustainable. It's a model with a flimsy foundation at best, more akin to a cryptocurrency rugpull than a true business. From what I can tell, the predictions made by Pasha, R. & Al-Fateh, M.F. failed to take into account the whole FOMO & hype factors into the equation. The market is now oversaturated, the supply (padel courts) has surpassed the demand (padel players). Courts are empty, prices are going down even for prime time slots. The trend is looking like it's on a downward trajectory.
The match that burns brightest goes out the fastest.
And this predictable plateauing of a passing fad brings a grand ol' smile to my face.
CHAPTER 3.4: Low Floor, Instant Gratification
I know "Instant Gratification" has become sort of a hot topic these days, especially when talking about social media and dopamine addiction (short video content > long form content, etc.), but I do think it correlates to padel's popularity.
For non-athletes, playing sports is often off-putting because there is a certain level of skill to be had, a level of skill that takes time to attain. Okay, let's take tennis as an example, as it is considered the OG racquet sport. To hit the ball "properly" in tennis (get it over the net, keep it within the lines, keep a rally going), you are going to need to learn the fundamentals. You are not going to feel satisfied when you first start because you'd most likely hit the ball all over the place. It seems easy when the pros do it, but trust me on this one, it is anything but. I've been practicing for a good three months now, and I can still just barely hit the ball. But when I do hit the ball, it feels unbelievable. The payoff, that rush you feel from getting that crisp sound & feeling off of your racket, requires a lot of work to be put in.
Padel, on the other hand, requires less technique to jump in. At the same time, it provides you with that same satisfying feeling of hitting the ball. It's not exactly "instant" per se, but compared to tennis, you get way more for way less. Quick satisfaction, instant dopamine rush, and badabing badaboom, instantly hooked. Now you may be thinking, "Oh, Rory, you silly old coot, how could you possibly have known that if you've never played padel before?"
Easy.
My mother plays padel. Only upon invitation, though, not regularly.
She had her athletic days way back when, I'll give her that, but she hasn't dabbled much in sports in a long while. Even then, she told me padel is piss easy.
It's not just my mother (who is an outlier), I mean, just look at the demographic, man. Rich old folks with way too much spare time, rich kids with no prior experience in sports, gym rats that are far too big and immobile for any other sports, dude, padel clubs are practically a glorified retirement home mixed with a physical rehab center. As for the argument of "Hey, even athletic people play padel", well, okay, that's not really an argument against my point, is it? If anything, it solidifies it even further. The sport is so accessible that it requires no particular skill set of any kind. You can just pick up a $500 piece of equipment and start smacking away.
Now, is it entirely a bad thing? Of course not. As I mentioned in Chapter 3.1, I think the accessibility of the sport is a good catalyst for a more active, healthy lifestyle. Not only that, based on my tennis coach's testimony, padel actually became a good pipeline to get people to try out tennis. However, similarly to that of short video content, I can't help but think, "Why?"
Why do people prefer TikTok to YouTube? Hell, even YT now has YT Shorts, basically a carbon copy of TikTok. Hell, why does every social media now seemingly have a "TikTok" section? Why don't people just start playing tennis and badminton right away? Why are people flocking to a sport that has a lower skill floor rather than investing time in developing a skill for pre-existing sports?
And maybe that, right there, is it.
Time.
The system we are forced to live under simply does not grant us the benefit of time. As such, we're forced to get our "feel good" from sources that are most convenient and time-efficient. For regular people, like you and me (unless you're LeBron James reading this, which, if that is the case, hello Mr. LeBron, say hello to Savannah for me), our time is dedicated to surviving.
Surviving under the system means working. Making money. Paying the bills. Paying taxes. Moving the economy. To afford the luxury of time, you have to have the luxury of material.
It's crazy, isn't it? People keep saying money isn't the most precious thing; time is. But evidently, you need to have a level of material wealth to be able to make use of your time to your heart's content.
But... then again, ironically enough, padel's an expensive sport, so... what's up, rich folks? Just can't be bothered to actually put in real effort on something, for once? All that money for what?
CHAPTER 3.5: A Physiotherapist's Payday
What do you get when there's a sudden influx of non-physically active players getting into sports and going ham without prior training or conditioning?
That's right, injuries.
According to my physiotherapist, Mas Nabiel (shoutout young GOAT), the majority of sports-related injury patients that roll into the clinic are either people who frequently play sports or people who don't play frequently enough, suddenly going ham.
Padel's not a particularly "athletic" sport, like say, compared to volleyball, basketball, or even its original counterpart, tennis. No, plenty of other sports are more physically demanding, but then you hear stories from your physiotherapist, and it's almost comical.
Within the past year or so, I'd ask him from time to time to make conversation, right, and you'd be surprised at how many of his patients are victims of a padel-related injury. It's always a consistent 75-80% of all his clients, all within the age range of 20-35. And it's not like, Ouchie-I-Got-A-BooBoo kinda injury. It's the actual brutal ones.
ACL tears, ankle sprains, shoulder & elbow dislocations, and upon hearing this, I was just like, "Holy shit, is padel really that serious?"
Of course, injuries can happen to anyone (God forbid). I'm not necessarily blaming the padel newcomers for their injuries, because even the fittest, most well-conditioned athlete can fall prey to serious injuries. However, I do think it is important for people to at least be aware of it. Do their due diligence, take preventative actions (physio, plyometrics, etc.) to minimize the risk.
Again, this part's not really a big gripe necessarily, but as someone who has, and I quote my physiotherapist again here, "chronic ankles" (yes, with an 's', both of my ankles are fucked), it would do you a lot of good to train your physique more before going the extra mile on any sport. Make sure your tendons and ligaments are all in great shape, y'know?
A little PSA for you all.
CHAPTER 4: Cogs in the Capitalist Machine
Now, I'll be real with you, I don't really know how to conclude this long, overblown, incoherent rambling of mine. It started out as a crusade against padel, and honestly, that was my sentiment (and main motivation) when I first started this essay. After writing out all my thoughts, it became abundantly clear that my hatred is, at its core, not quite for the sport itself.
My disdain for padel lies not in the game's accessibility, or even its derivative nature. The annoyance comes from what surrounds it, the culture, and how new adopters seem to treat it. When I watch the pro padel highlights, I see nothing but serious athletes doing absolutely inhuman feats. Fox-like reflexes, silky-smooth footwork, creative shotmaking, amazing teamwork, a testament to their hard work.
But then you look at it at eye level. The blatant gentrification at so many levels, the trendiness, the social media flaunting, the performatism, it becomes such an eyesore.
The worst part is, I don't really know who to blame for this. Well, obviously, I do know, but... it becomes a far larger issue than just a gimmicky, trendy sport.
Before I even realized, this essay has become an exploration of class consciousness. A big flaw in the system that has long been normalized. Consumerism is the name of the game. Something that is unnatural for a human being, planted into us perhaps since our very first breath, so much so that we are all conditioned to accept it as something normal, as if part of our nature.
Consume, consume, consume. Try as we might, the hunger remains insatiable.
That is all the conclusion I can come to. Perhaps my stance on padel, as negligible as it may be, is a stand that will lead to something much, much greater.
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