From Acapulco to Marbella: The Surprising Story of How Padel Took Over Spain

What connects Acapulco in Mexico with Marbella on Spain’s Costa del Sol?

Surprisingly, the answer is Padel Tennis, the world's fastest-growing racket sport, with over 35 million players in 150 countries. As of 2026 there are over 30,000 padel clubs operating globally with the sport generating more than one billion Euros in equipment sales alone. Padel is now the second most popular sport in Spain, beaten only by football. But how did it all start?

The sport was invented in Acapulco, a coastal resort on Mexico’s Pacific coast in 1962 by Enrique Corcuera, who built the first Padel court by adapting a squash court at his home there called Las Brisas. Enrique was a wealthy businessman who enjoyed tennis and squash. Reports differ as to how he came to invent the game: some say that, as he got older, he found both sports to be too strenuous. Other reports say it was because he did not have enough space at his house to build a full-size tennis court. Whatever the reason, he is unarguably credited with the invention of a game he called ‘paddle tennis’ and he designed the 20 by 10 metre court enclosed by high walls which remains more or less the standard today.

The Spanish connection is thanks to Marbella’s Prince Alfonso de Hohenlohe. Born into German aristocracy, after World War II Hohenlohe had moved to Spain with his parents and, in 1947 bought land in Marbella which back then was just a small fishing village. In 1954, on the land he had acquired, he founded Marbella Club, the Costa del Sol's first luxury hotel.

And then, while visiting his friend, Enrique Corcuera in Acapulco during the early 1970s, Hohenlohe fell in love with the new sport his friend had invented. He played constantly over the summers he stayed at Las Brisas and wanted to continue playing back home in Spain. In 1974, back in Marbella, he decided it might be a good idea to introduce the new sport to the Club’s clientele and so he built Europe’s first paddle tennis court at the Marbella Club.

The Club had by now become world famous, frequented by the celebrities of the day including Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant, Sean Connery and Brigitte Bardot. With the support of Hohenlohe’s influential friends, the sport began to take off and celebrity tournaments were instrumental in the expansion of the sport across Spain. Among those players during the early years was Spain’s King Juan Carlos who took part in regular matches at the Marbella Club which, naturally, attracted Spain's high society and garnered significant media attention.

From a court in a Mexican holiday home to one of Spain's most popular sports, padel has come a very long way.

Another early adopter was world number one tennis player, Manolo Santana, the first Spaniard to win Wimbledon who moved from Madrid to Marbella in the 1990s and helped popularize the sport as well as building his own club, the Manolo Santana Racquets Club. For ten years however, the game was only played by the few people who spent their summers in either Marbella or Acapulco. Then, in 1991 the International Paddle Federation (FIP) was formed in Madrid and the first World Paddle Championship was held in the city with the finals being played at the Expo 92 World Fair in Seville. The first participants were Argentina, Spain, UK and France. Finally, in 1993, the Sports Council of Spain recognised paddle as an official sport and subsequently changed its spelling to Padel.

There are two stories about the name change, one is that it is an acronym - P.A.D.E.L., which in Spanish stands for: ‘Promoción de Actividades Deportivas, Educativas y Lúdicas’ or in English, promotion of sport activities, educational and playful. However, other sources say that the name was changed purely because it was easier for the Spanish to pronounce that way!

Whatever the true story, there can be no arguing with the explosion in popularity of Padel since those early days. There are now over 17,000 Padel courts in Spain including 3,200 in Andalucia alone.

The sport still has a large celebrity following: Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham and Rafael Nadal are among those who play regularly. Eva Longoria also frequently plays at the Marbella Club and takes part in many local tournaments and charity games.

The International Padel Federation recently announced that Padel will be an official medal event at the 2027 European Games in Istanbul, seen as a vital precursor to acceptance as an Olympic sport. Many people were hoping to see Padel included in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles however, If the tournament in Istanbul goes well, the FIP are highly optimistic that Padel will make its official Olympic debut at the 2032 Summer Olympics in Brisbane, Australia.

From humble beginnings in a Mexican holiday home to an Olympic sport.