A lot of people claim that they never heard of padel until they look at the sport more closely. The similarity between padel and tennis is so lifelike that you cannot notice the difference at first glance. 

However, aside from padel rules being different from those of tennis, there are quite a few differences that only those that have played both sports know all too well. 

To normal people both sports look much alike because there’s a court, rackets, tennis balls and even a net so they must be the same right? On the contrary, in fact. Padel and tennis are quite different so here are a few major differences that set them apart. 

Court size differences

Padel court is about a third of a tennis court smaller. Tennis court is 23.77m (77.98ft) long and 8.23m (27ft) wide, whereas the padel court is 20 meters (65ft) long and 10 meters (32ft) wide. 

However, playing singles in tennis allows you to maneuver outside the boundaries whereas there are four walls surrounding the padel court which further shortens the effective playing area. That’s why even though the padel court isn’t that shorter than a tennis court when it comes to dimensions, the playing area makes it much smaller.  

Racket differences

A tennis racket has a longer handle and stringed core that allows tennis players to use power shots to clear the net. 

On the other hand, a padel racket has a shorter handle and a core made of foam that has a fiberglass or carbon fiber outer shell to dampen the power of a shot and allow more control of the ball in confined space. It’s impossible to use a tennis racket for padel and vice versa.  . 

Ball differences

Tennis balls and padel balls look exactly alike. They are both manufactured the same and even use the same rubber mold. It’s impossible to tell the difference until you play both sports. The fact of the matter is that padel balls have less bounce than tennis balls because the pressure used to inflate padel balls is different than with tennis balls. That’s why padel balls lose velocity when bouncing off the walls. 

Closing Words

Although they look much alike, tennis and padel are completely different sports. Tennis was originally intended for singles while padel is played in doubles. A lot of differences set these two sports apart no matter how much they might seem the same to the eye of the beholder.